B&W PM1 PV1D 2.1 amp


After reading quite a number of positive reviews on B&W PM1 PV1D integration, recently set up one in the living room which is about 40cm2. At this moment using Marantz PM8005 as amp, questions:

1) whether the power of the amp is not enough (only 70w) or it is ok since the subwoofer has its own power;

2) an improvement on amp will boost the performance significantly? if so, any recommendation?
loire

Showing 3 responses by loire

thanks for all the valuable inputs.

I am currently using pre-out of PM8005 to PV1D, and set PV1D low pass from "out" to "in". Is this a basic bass management? or if there is a dedicated bass management system such as CLasse CP800, there will be quite a improvement.

My thought on PM8005 pairing with PM1/PV1D is that: if there is only PM1, then definitely under powered but with PV1D it may feel less so given the supplementary bass generated. Is it a mirage or true?
Finally upgraded the amp to Hegel H300, thanks to on of the other discussion mentioning Hegel could be a good fit.

My preliminary observations:

1) apparently the pm1 is opening up significantly; it does prove pm8005 is underpowered.

2) Hegel h300 delivers 250w per channel which is strong and maybe a bit too strong, I have to adjust pv1d volume and line level upwards to keep up the powerful sound generated by pm1
Well, an update after one year of usage. Hegel H300 doesn't work, I think some of the comments here are misleading. H300 is just way too strong for PV1D to match the bass, it is not very enjoyable listening experience,  my old Marantz 8005 which is lower power but matches a bit better on this regard.

Good news is that I finally find one great amplifier/dac/streamer to match the whole system - Naim Superuniti. It pairs with PM1 and PV1D perfectly, soundstage much wider, powerful bass... Couldn't be happier and it is not cheap but reasonable compared with options like Classe or so...