BOWERS & WILKINS PM1

TR14.09.2012

Stand mount monitors

The PM stands for "Prestige Monitor". Bowers & Wilkins ventured into Bugati and Bentley's world with the timeless and luxurious design, sleek aerodynamic curves and premium technologies. It has been long since I had such a exquisite piece of hifi at my home.

Function and form

90%

Ease of use

57%

Sound

100%

Appearance

The B&W PM1s are offered with matching stands and I strongly recommend to include the stands on your shopping list. They are visually complementing the speaker, are easy to assemble from 3 parts, and they have clever channels in their legs where speaker cables can be routed.

The PM1s are not heavy, 10kg each. They are made from MDF boards but this is someting you have no chance to learn from looking at the speakers - the fron and rear panels are sprayed by a kind of polymer finish that reminds me of Neopren, and for the side panels high gloss lacquered real mocca wood was used. The grilles are magnetic.

While in the Bowers & Wilkins's 800 series diamond tweeter domes are used, the 1"dome of the PM1s is all aluminum, with carbon fibre reinforcement around its diameter. Thus designers moved the break up frequency of the tweeter to unaudible 40kHz. The midrange/bass driver is proprietary yellow Kevlar cone. The driver is supported by a forward firing bassreflex port. The PM1s allow for bi-wiring.

Bass management

Weight

Slam

Articulation

The bass I heard in my room extended somewhere down to 50Hz, measured by ears with the help of Nordost's Tuning Disc. This corresponds to what the manual says and it is sufficient to handle bass fundamentals of a bass guitar or a kick drum. If you do not miss the bottom end harmonics of the instruments than Bowers & Wilkins offers few very good subwoofers (check our Subwoofers review section). The bass I heard from the PM was decently voiced, with nice definition and good dynamics. This is a good thing because it did not mask the all important midrange.

Clarity & delicacy

Detail

Air

Transparency

The proper in-room placement is the key for the PM1's performance. Closer to the walls I got weightier bass (even 5-10Hz deeper) but I lost its definition on the way. I preferred transparency over muscularity so I ended up again with the speakers far away from room boundaries. I also believe that top end spark (and openness of the PM1's sound) would really deserve the diamond Nautilus tweeter. The aluminum one is good but here we discuss Prestige Monitors, right?

Tonal accuracy

Timbre

Dynamics

Temporal resolution

The sound of the PM1s was a bit different that I am used to with Bowers & Wilkins. Whereas the B&Ws were always a bit understated for my ears, the PM1s' played as if they drank an energy drink. The songs like Summer Wind (Ray Brown Trio) became very alive and authentic through the PM1s. I loved the way the monitors portrayed the interaction of the live ensemble with the audience. Similarly, other live performances, like Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds or Eva Cassidy, were energetic and entertaining. The sound refrained from being too upfront, rather it was comfortable and warm, which matched the visual appearance of the PM1s.

The mids were as good as I suspected them to be - the Kevlar midrange drivers had been improved by B&W for many years and they became a kind of standard in the audiophile industry.

Spatial resolution

Holography

Soundstage width

Soundstage depth

I had no single issue with how the Bowers & wilkins PM1s imaged. The soundstage was three-dimensional, with instruments and voices nicely delineated within it. Lower bottom end extension and better top end definition would upgrade it from 3D to holography, but that's why we have 800 series. To sum it up, the PM1s are very good monitors that do not exceed expectations for the sound within the category, yet they are beautifully made.

Price as reviewed:64 000,- Kč

Recommended resellers

Eurostar Ostrava, Dobřejovice u Prahy, tel. + 420 323 606 877

Jasyko, Brno, 541 210 108

Manufacturer's website: http://www.bowers-wilkins.com

Associated components

Sources: C.E.C. TL-51XR, PrimaLuna ProLogue Classic, Ayon CD-07s
Amplifiers: a passive attenuator, Mark Levinson No.432 power amplifier
Interconnects and speaker cables: Kubala-Sosna Emotion

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