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@DAMO 1147 I don't think the oak finish is available in Australia. I saw some pics on an English website, looks stunning, so much prettier than many like speakers in that finish. Only Walnut and Amarone in timber finishes for Oz. cheers.

Keen to hear your thoughts..

@cafe67 For that money you could also consider maybe a used pair of Magico S3's, Avalon Indra's, Focal Sopras, PMC 25.26 or left afield Devore Orangatang's which would probably be better suited for your amp. As you know there are stacks of speakers at this price, it's just finding the time to see what sounds best with your setup. cheers Frank.

Dynaudio Special 40's, and under 5k as well..

This is a special amp, whenever I'm at CAV, the 130+ more often than not is always used when auditioning their vast array of speakers. Extraordinary amp for the price. GLWTS..

Densen B200/B320 + pre power. I've had these amps for over 3years, bought many amplifiers home, some quite expensive to compare, but nothing comes close when it comes to sound, engagement or PRAT. Absolute bargain even though can be fussy with speaker pairing, brilliant with my PMC''s. If I could ever afford it, their monos' would be on the radar.

Gee, the PMC's are featherweights in comparison, didn't realize the dyns were that inefficient at 83db. Seems poles apart judging by specs.

@cafe67 Yeah, definitely go the 25..26 then, it would be interesting to hear your thoughts on current transmission line design 'V' older, more conventional setups

Going to listen to the 25.24 and 25.26 side by side. I want to know where the 25.26 increased performance might lye, judging by all comments here, looks as though it's in all areas. If it's a noticable improvement and even though I love the 25.24's, I'll put them up for sale and pull the trigger on the 25.26's. One caveat, they have to have timber finishes, prefeably amarone. This way I can seemlessly remove the 24' and replace them with the 26's all in one fowl swoop and the little lady would be none the wiser....he,he.. @cafe67 I heard the Confidence 5's years ago, big smooth sound, the 24's are more transparent and image better, Confidence have a larger sound stage even though the 24's are still sizeable. Amidst all this the 26's are supposedly another level on the 24's again. I'm loving the PMC sound so much that's why I feel the need to move up, incidently, I was yarning to a friendly aquaintance who has a pair of Wilson Sachas, and was interested in a pair of 26's. I asked him why the interest as his got some damn fine speakers, his reply, they're more fun. Thats saying something.

A revelation occurred when listening to my 25.24's today. The sound quality has dramatically changed, but for the better. Bass output is prodigious, there's so much more body to the sound, lean recordings are fully fleshed out, imaging is so focused, but most importantly the system is so engaging to listen to, to the the point where I truthfully believe it's the most entertaining system I've ever heard, mind you, I've only heard what's in stores and a handful of friends setups. It's such an egotistical assumption to make, as there are substantially better systems, but I'm being whole hearted, not because it's so transparent or to do with scale or even precision, it's how it made me feel. At first thought, I believed it to be a placebo affect, so for the next half hour or so, I took the CD out, left the system on and then took the dog for a walk. When I returned played the 'Love' album Forever Changes, stunning in one word, I've heard this on a number of systems, but this was easily the best rendition, all the drama, character just flowed so beautifully. The other albums played were : The Soundtrack to the Trilogy of the Lesbos Vampiros movie/Goyte Making Mirrors/Nick Cave Greatest Hits/Loyd Cole Rattle Snakes/Dianna Krall Look of Love SACD/and a Seventies compilation featuring Simon and Garfunkel, 3 degrees, Nillson, Albert Hammond to name a few, all sounded superb, regardless of sound quality. The 25.24's have very close to 300hrs on them, CAV, on more than 1 occasion mentioned dramatic changes will occur once over 200hrs, I now understand exactly what they meant. I'm truly gobsmacked, I just wish I had purchased these speakers a lot earlier instead of wasting my time with inferior ones, would've saved a small fortune. BTW, these comments are a personal opinion. cheers Frank.

Hi Murray, you said it, 'near- end- game', ha,ha....lol

@audio_file Dont worry, I've seriously thought about that, trouble is the missus hates black and another set of speakers would set her right off.

+3 for Mendes, also Eric Bibb 'Good Stuff' just bought this recently as I've acquired a fairly good SACD player. Beautifully balanced album, highlighted by gorgeous acoustic play. The Avalon SACD also portrays an entertaining ammount of energy that thrives through my speakers, in particular the percussion. I'm finding the dynamics on SACD sound alot more focused and intense. Fantastic medium, I'll be looking out for more in the classifieds on SNA.

HI NKMA, Many a good speaker mentioned here, but one I think might surprise is the Proac DT8, roughly 5-6k. I heard these at Clef in Melbourne and was very surprised at they're sheer musicality, fine all round speakers, down firing as well, so great for room placement. Apart from the Proac's, make sure you audition the PMC 25.26's. They are a very special speaker indeed and I personally know audiophiles that own very expensive speakers that have heard them and were gobsmacked after an audition. The pair for sale for 8.5k should be on your radar. I'm peed off as I've already purchased a pair of 25.24's before these came up.

I spoke to Rab from CAV a number of weeks ago, a Fenestra audition might be on the cards. I'd love to see how it compares to the other higher end PMC's i.e. ; BB5, MB2se. It is part of the 'Fact' series so a different presentation would be expected.