At the 139th AES Convention in New York City, British reference loudspeaker manufacturer PMC will introduce the QB1-XBD-A (price TBA) as the newest addition to the company’s QB1-A Active Reference Monitor range.
Larger than anything the company has ever manufactured before, the twin-stacked cabinet design QB1-XBD-A on show at AES in New York City can be seen and heard in PMC’s Masters of Audio room (Room 15) and will go into full production in 2016.
To create the QB1-XBD-A, PMC has re-engineered its flagship QB1-A Active main studio monitor, which was launched last year and has already been installed at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles and the University of Westminster in London. For this new version, PMC has added a further cabinet (the XBD) per channel. This contains four identical piston drivers, each driven by four 1,000-watt independent Class-D power amplifiers, which gives a total of 8,825W of ultra-clean power per channel.
Although power handling is massively increased, the new QB1-XBD-A is said to maintain accuracy, transparency and clarity. The latest iteration of the company’s Advanced Transmission Line (ATL) bass-loading technology promises a faithful low-frequency response down to 20 Hz, while onboard DSP provides driver unit optimization, EQ and sophisticated crossover networks. Alongside its power ratio and damping per channel, the QB1-XBD-A offers ultra-low distortion, a “forensic sense of detail”, and dynamics and transience throughout the entire bandwidth. This configuration offers 3dB more headroom than the QB1-A single cabinet version.
In keeping with the QB1-A, the QB1-XBD-A features wired RJ45 desktop control, which provides access to user EQ settings via its backlit display and jog wheel, and the ability to store up to four user setup presets. The speakers can be either soffit-mounted or free-standing, with PMC’s ATL design ensuring that free-standing use has no impact on the speakers’ bass response.
Extra bracing and damping inside the speaker cabinet prevents noise and reduces resonance to insignificant levels beyond the limits of human audibility, while the newly introduced vertical strakes in the transmission line add further bracing and simultaneously reduce turbulence in the throughput airflow, making it laminar and contributing to a faster, more dynamic sound.
At AES in New York City, PMC’s new QB1-XBD-A monitors will be shown as part of a 9.1 immersive sound surround system for high resolution audio surround presentations. Among the events already scheduled for the Masters of Audio room is an AES presentation on 9.1 surround sound, a presentation by legendary mastering engineer Vlado Meller, a Blu-ray album launch presentation from Sono Luminus (Dan Shores/Morten Lindberg/Stephan Bock) and a presentation from Ozark Henry (mixed by Ronald Prent/mastered by Darcy Proper for Auro 3D).
Visit PMC Loudspeakers at pmc-speakers.com.
