CEDIA 2019

U.K.-based PMC is bringing its studio magic to CEDIA Expo in the form of shallow-depth on-wall speakers that incorporate proprietary technologies used in its award-winning professional monitors.

The new CI Series kicks off with two models — the ci140 three-way speaker and companion ci140sub, each housed in an attractive black cabinet 55 inches tall, 11.8 inches wide, and 6 inches deep and featuring a milled-aluminum front panel and PML’s Advance Transmission Line (ATL) bass loading technology, which uses a proprietary aerodynamic vent instead of a conventional port.

Pricing was not available at press time.

PML says the ATL design uses bass energy in a “much more intelligent, efficient manner than designs based on ported or sealed boxes,” resulting in extended bass that creates the impression of a much larger speaker.

The cabinets are braced and lined with a special type of acoustic foam designed to absorb all but the very lowest frequencies. Bass exits through a front-panel “laminar” vent created by PMC head designer Oliver Thomas, who applied knowledge of aerodynamics from Formula One racing to reduce turbulence and drag which, in turn, reduces resistance and increases efficiency. The result, according to PMC, is a “smooth laminar airflow as it exits the line with obvious audible effects of a faster, higher definition bass with accurate timing and dynamics, without unwanted air noise.”

In the ci140, two 5.25-inch long-throw LTx woofers are situated above and below a 2-inch soft-dome midrange driver and the same 1.1-inch tweeter PMC uses in its professional studio monitors. The tweeter is offset in an effort to smooth out edge reflections and loaded in a custom wave guide designed to control off axis response and “eradicate” edge diffraction. A ferrofluid-cooled neodymium magnet with a built-in heatsink enables higher power handling.

The dome midrange incorporates a dispersion flange designed to flatten frequency response and improve off-axis performance and uniformity over a wider area, making it suitable for horizontal or vertical placement.

The LTx woofers boast high-power voice coils in a ferrite magnet and have a doped natural-fiber cone with an inverted dust cap, designed to reduce unwanted high-frequency reflections from the surface of the cone.

Intended to bolster low-frequency performance in home theater installations, the ci140sub houses four 5.25-inch LTx woofers — essentially a Ci140 without the midrange driver and tweeter. In both models, the cabinets are enclosed at the rear to minimize sound leakage to adjoining rooms.

The ci140 and ci140sub are rated to play down to 32 Hz (–3 dB) and boast a sensitivity of 93 dB. Both are finished in black and fitted with bezel-free square metal grilles that can be ordered in black or white.

PMC plans to expand the ci Series with four in/on-wall models in early 2020. All are two-way designs featuring an installer-friendly spring-loaded in-wall mounting system that requires only a screwdriver for installation. On-wall mounting requires the use of an optional interlocking wall bracket that provides level adjustment.

For more information, visit pmc-speakers.com.