An Appraisal of the New PMC twenty5 23i

Thank you for checking out this film.

A review of the new PMC twenty5i 23 floor-standing speakers, which are much improved from the twenty5 23 series speakers.

I checked these out at the Bristol HiFi Show earlier this year - see film here:https://www.13thnote.net/2020/02/25/a...

Also the old model here : https://www.13thnote.net/2018/02/28/p...

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Since my comments about upgrade routes I received the following from PMC in relation to the upgrade path, which seems to make perfect sense;

"The mounting points of the tweeters are in the same place but the profile and depth of the tweeter is very different in the new design. It is much thicker and it will not fit into the cabinet with protruding well outside the cabinet which is acoustically, mechanically (the grilles would not fit) and cosmetically a poor idea. The dispersion plate is far thicker, stiffer and less resonant and the profile/shape is far better for a smoother off axis response.

The Crossovers have been upgraded to accommodate the superior tweeter. They have not only been tuned to maximize the better tweeter but the crossover point has been lowered to 1.7kHz. This again improves better dispersion and provides phenomenal driver integration especially at the crossover point.

There no plans for an upgrade kit to convert a twenty5 to a twenty5i.
It is impractical and would involve a complete crossover change including back panel, an increase in the HF rebate depth of the cabinet, replacement of the plinth bars and mounts, and if you wanted the newer grille fabric they would need to be recovered or replaced.
We only offer improvements to products when we know in complete confidence that it will benefit the customer. We are not a marketing led company who simply stick on a badge and announce an upgrade.

The ecological question
It would not be ecologically viable to offer a factory upgrade from twenty5 to twenty5i. A factory upgrade would be the only satisfactory way for the customer.
New packaging would have to produced, transported to the customer who could be in any global location, product collected, cabinet re machined and refinished. The used unwanted components and drivers would have to be disposed of as we cannot re-supply used drivers, (though they would still no doubt have plenty of life in them), new ones produced, tested and fitted. Then the product would be returned to the same customer via a retailer or local distributor. The cost to the customer and planet would not be ideal. I hope that makes sense.
We would prefer if a customer wanted a buy a new better loudspeaker he bought a new PMC rather than another product that has been produced in a less than ecological sound way, transported across the globe and then disposed of within a few years as the quality wasn’t quite the ticket and it couldn’t be repaired. The Used and second hand market for PMC as you probably know is very healthy….nothing goes to waste. 😊"