Drawing from its heritage in the professional audio recording industry, the newly announced $65,000 per pair PMC Loudspeakers deliver a reference experience to home consumers.
With professional users that include Brian May, Tony Bennett, and Tori Amos, PMC has a long established reputation in the pro market, and its new fenestria loudspeaker utilizes many of the same technologies as its pro products.
The new speaker features a passive, three-way design that incorporates the company's proprietary Advanced Transmission Line (ATL) technology, along with customized drivers and twin Laminair vents for improved aerodynamic ATL airflow.
“fenestria is the perfect example of our holistic design approach,” notes Peter Thomas, owner and chief designer, PMC.
“Our aim was to make the best passive loudspeaker we could, with an open mind when it came to technologies and materials. We looked at all options to achieve the purest, more transparent sound and fenestria was the result.”
PMC fenestria Built From Scratch
The design of the speaker is intended to eliminate all vibrations from the cabinet and drivers. The company subjected the speaker's drivers, cabinet, transmission line, and crossover network to vibration analysis to help shape the fenestria's development.
The speaker's “distinguishing visual marker” is a central module housing the high-frequency and midrange drive units.
Made from a solid billet of aluminum, the module is decoupled from the rest of the speaker's enclosure to prevent the speaker's transmission line and woofers from transferring energy to the midrange and tweeter.
The speaker employs a 19.5mm Sonomex high-frequency driver (approximately 3/4-inches) that includes a neodymium magnet assembly and a PMC-designed dispersion grille. The Sonomex driver is isolated from the midrange driver and the module via a silicone-damped PMC suspension mount called Auriole.
The newly developed 75mm (2.9 inches) midrange driver is made from an acoustically inert spun aluminum.
Related: British Speaker Manufacturer PMC Backs Speaker with 20-Year Warranty
The fenestria's four 165mm (approximately 6.5-inch) “bass-piston drivers” feature “massive magnet” assemblies and flat diaphragm that employ two layers of hand-made, transverse-weave carbon fiber that sandwich a multi-cellular damped cone.
According to PMC, this configuration drives the transmission line without “deformation and consequent coloration.”
PMC Borrows Aerodynamic Design Principles From Motorsport Industry
Supporting the transmission line are Laminair vents placed at the end of the ATLs, which PMC notes are its bass-loading technology.
The transverse-weave carbon fiber that sandwich a multi-cellular damped cone and Laminair vents come from the motorsport industry.
Moreover, borrowing aerodynamic design principles from the motorsport industry, the Laminair vent is engineered to create a smooth laminar airflow as it exits the ATL. This is said to reduce turbulence and drag to eliminate air noise to help create a more coherent and dynamic bass response.
The fenestria's bass and ATL enclosure features heavy bracing, which is acoustically isolated from the drivers in the module.
In addition, the crossover, which is located in the speaker's plinth, is acoustically isolated from the rest of the cabinet, and the crossover's layout is engineered to eliminate interference between components.
The crossover also offers low-frequency tuning control to help dealers integrate the speaker into a variety of room environments.
The PMC fenestria loudspeakers are available in a choice of white silk, rich walnut, anthracite, and tiger ebony finishes.
