PMC’S QB1 LARGE STUDIO MONITOR

PMC have made some great studio monitors in the past, so it’s recent launch of the QB1 Active, should get a few seats wet, uhm, we mean appetites.

Believing there were no large, active studio monitors on the market, that utilise loudspeaker driver analysis or DSP control, so PMC decided to make its own. Using opto-acoustic interferometry from the UK’s National Physical Laboratory, the QB1 is a large-scale, ultra-high-resolution main studio monitor with analogue and digital (up to 192kHz) inputs.

Designed with the similar transmission line that’s found in the IB2 midfields and twotwo nearfields, each QB1-A incorporates the latest generation of PMC’s driver designs, Class-D amplification, Advanced Transmission Line (ATL), bass-loading technology, DSP control, and a quartet of 10-inch carbon fibre/Nomex piston bass drivers. Which (according to PMC’s marketing team) gives the “transparency, resolution, dynamic range, frequency response, forensic sense of detail, and wide, consistent imaging demanded by the international audio elite” – whomever they are.

A maximum SPL of 132dB at one metre, each channel has 4825W of Class-D amplification (275W on the HF driver, 550W on the mid-range, and 4000W on the four bass drivers), and provides a low-frequency response down to 20Hz. Wired RJ45 desktop control provides access to user EQ settings via its backlit display and jog wheel. The physical dimensions are 1092 x 820 x 520 millimetres (WHD), allowing the QB1-A to retrofit into almost any existing studio soffits. Alternatively, its ATL design means that it can also be used free-standing.

“We saw that there was a gap at the high end of the market,” explains Oliver Thomas, R&D Project Manager at PMC. “In the main, the current products on the market don’t offer the flexibility of analogue and digital inputs, and suffer from giving listeners an insufficient sense of resolution, compared to what can now be attained with good Class-D amp design and DSP-aided crossover management.”

Each speaker has three integrated proprietary driver types. PMC’s soft-dome 34mm and 75mm drivers deal with the high to mid-range frequencies, with four individually matched low-frequency drivers handling the bass, in a vented, cast-aluminium chassis.

“Many engineers record with one set of monitors to create a sense of excitement while tracking, but then use another set for the low-level, intensely detailed business of mixing and mastering,” continues Oliver Thomas. “The QB1-A is designed for both kinds of work, offering non-fatiguing reproduction for listening or for recording.”

The QB1 Active will be officially launched during the 137th AES Convention in Los Angeles, USA, October 6th-10th 2014. For more information about the product and its launch, see www.pmc-speakers.com/products/professional/active/qb1a, or come to PMC’s stand at the show (#1628).

Australian Distributor: TotalQ Pty Ltd www.ozhifi.com

Excerpts from PR