PRODIGY1 SPEAKERS FROM PMC

Looking to buy a pair of compact speakers priced around the magic £1k mark? Paul Rigby has a likely contender from PMC

In HiFi, there are – for want of a better word – choke points around which products gather to grab a perceived audience who apparently see them as important. One of those choke points relates to price and circles around the £1k mark. You will find a number of speakers who cluster around this figure to an exacting or rather looser degree.

PMC’s prodigy1 speakers (yes, no space and lowercase) are one such example of that. Priced at £1,250, the Prodigy 1s will certainly catch the eye of prospective buyers. But are they a serious proposition or just another ‘me too’ at that roundabout price point? 

Spanning 320mm x 165 x 237mm and weighing just 4.5kg, the prodigy1 speakers are compact and not particularly heavy units. 

Available in Silk Black (the colour as opposed to the material), the cabinets arrive with optional grills (£99). I like that stance because it trims the price point. As I never use grilles on my speakers and I know many others don’t, either, I always have a ‘what a waste of money’ thing going on in the back of my mind. ‘Opting in’ is, to my mind, a better option and should be used more often. 

That prodigy1 cabinet does nothing for the ‘go on, impress me’ crowd. It is a little dull and flat in aesthetic terms. Which doesn’t really bother me (it may bother you, though). For myself? I care more about the sound than pretty wrappers. As long as the work has been done elsewhere, I’m happy with the cabinet. On that score. the PMC speakers remind me of the Technics SB-600 which themselves had a basic, bland cabinet finish but the money was spent within. 

DRIVERS AND PORTS

In driver terms for the prodigy1s? You’re looking at a soft-domed tweeter spanning a healthy 27mm up top and a mid-bass unit below of natural fibre, spanning 133mm. 

The front-loading transmission line outlet (Laminair) bass loading port (see image below) is different from the norm at this price point though and that should provide a bass boost during testing. It should also help position the speakers in a relatively small room because you can push them further towards a wall with no real issues. 

One design item of note, I noticed that the crossover was physically positioned behind the drivers. I asked about that and PMC replied that it’s there to optimise the transmission lines for the speakers. That is, it gets out of the way of the Laminair .

These are 6 Ohm speakers which might concern some people who worry about driving their speaker set ups. According to PMC though, “The prodigy1’s impedance response is very benign – there are no dips below 5 Ohms at all, and most frequencies are above 7 Ohms. We rate the speaker at 6 Ohms just to try and give as much of an honest representation as possible of the load the speaker will present to an amplifier. We are sure that many companies would quite happily rate them as 8 Ohm speakers, based on their impedance response.”

Finally? The prodigy1 speakers have a decent 87.5db sensitivity so only need a 20W and over amplifier to run them.

So, how do they sound?

SOUND QUALITY

I still had a copy of Elton John’s Madman Across the Water on my turntable from the Star Six power block review I had just completed so I carried on with that and the single from the album, Tiny Dancer. 

vs SPENDOR A1

I brought in a similarly-priced pair of speakers from Spendor as reference, the company’s excellent A1 designs. 

So what did I think of the prodigy1s then?

Clarity. That’s what hit me. The soundstage sounded scrubbed and clean. In fact, it sounded like someone had been busy with a can of Mr Sheen. Every corner of the soundstage on this track positively sparkled.

With that came a focus around the vocals that added a slight debossing effect. Elements of Elton’s vocal chords were almost raised for inspection. The texture of the man’s voice was emphasised and promoted by the prodigy1 speakers so when he hit his double-tracking harmonies, they hit the ear with a tremendously rich effect. 

Also treble, because of that clean, spacious soundstage, had a perfect canvas to work from, so cymbal taps were sharp yet fragile and elegant. 

Piano was resonant but it rang with each finger strike, giving a rich and full-bodied response while lead and rhythm guitars were now precise and exacting.

Which didn’t mean that bass was left behind, either. Bass was also focused but sharply impactful. Each drum hit was sonorous and full toned but there was no flab here. So you got that 70s-era plump bass response but bass never dragged, the tempo was maintained. 

vs LEAK SANDWICH 150

I removed the A1s from the hot seat and decided to look at the recently released pair of Sandwich 150s from Leak, a design that physically dwarves the PMCs but retails for a similar-ish price. Slightly less, actually and I carried on with Mr John for now. 

The Leaks remain excellent speakers. I gave these recently released boxes a good review and I’m sticking to that. They competed well with the PMCs offering a big, big bass response from that large cabinet and a lean presentation (in comparison to the prodigy1s) which offered detail and also clarity. 

If anything, the prodigy1s provided a richer, fuller midrange with a resonant treble. The bank of violins impressed in the weight of sound they delivered with the separation in the upper mids adding complexity. That is, there was a gap between each instrument and between those and the vocal which added to the intricacy of the soundstage as a whole. Bass didn’t have the Leak bulk or that impressive, expansive breadth of the larger speakers but the PMC bass response was certainly impactful and tonally impressive.  

Moving to CD and shoegaze outfit, Lush and the album Spooky, I played the track, Stray and again was wholly impressed with the clarity, the guitar wash of noise didn’t stop me hearing the complexity of the vocal harmonies but also delicate cymbal taps. The PMCs were able to dig out such information with ease without resorting to compressive cheating.  

NEAR FIELD

I tried the prodigy1 speakers in my near-field, office AV system with a Samsung 4K TV hooked up to a Rega Brio-R amplifier, Topping E30 DAC and Spendor S3/5R speakers on a set of EQ Isolator feet from Stack Audio and QED cabling. 

To begin, I played a CD through my Sony Blu-ray player. I played the newly reissued/remastered Tuscany from Renaissance (Esoteric) and I sat about 5ft away from the speakers. 

And the sound?

Wow! I mean, wow! Performed at relatively high volume, the prodigy1 speakers offered a cultured performance. Clarity spilled out of the cabinets. The presentation was superbly clear and defined with a great sense of 3D imagery to added richness to the performance. Tonal realism from strumming guitars and string effects sat well with the emotive lead female vocal and because of that clarity, very low volume performance was similarly excellent. 

General viewing via YouTube was easy to do at all volumes, mixing speech with background music, I had no problems hearing any of the content while what was there provided a quality listening experience.

Late night listening will be a joy with the prodigy1s and if you have a gaming PC or similar console set up? This pairing will provide a to-die-for, high-end audio set up.

CONCLUSION

At first glance, the PMC prodigy1 speakers don’t look particularly special. And I guess that’s where the budget had been spent here, on the tech inside the cabinet, as opposed to the cabinet itself. And I like that priority. Because the prodigy1 speakers sound much more expensive than their price point suggests. They have a full, rich and bountiful suite of upper frequencies with a great supporting cast of bass frequencies that adds a solid and characterful response to the lower end. 

Relatively compact they might be but these speakers offer an attractive sound that will complement any HiFi system. Feed them a quality signal though and they will reward you in spades. 

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PMC PRODIGY1 STAND-MOUNTED SPEAKERS

Price: £1,250

Website: www.pmc-speakers.com

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GOOD: rich mids, elegant treble response, bass character, clarity, near field. 

BAD: aesthetically prosaic 

RATING: 9

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