 Since I bought new loudspeakers for my SETA1A I had requests to describe the sound quality. Running them in took quite some time and now that they are, it might be time to fulfill that request and describe the sound quality of my SETA1A. Yes, I deliberately said SETA1A and not PMC Fact 12 signature, for it is impossible to judge the one without the other. Of course, the PMCs must be able to deliver the sound quality and not, or as little as possible, reduce the sound quality. But if one of the components preceding the loudspeakers reduced the sound quality, the loudspeakers can't improve that. So, rather than describe the loudspeakers, I will describe the sound quality of the entire SETA1A. But first, some remarks. My SETA1A was gradually updated. That was partly planned. I knew that I wanted a DAC for reference that was of clearer, higher quality than the Mitraic Brooklyn DAC with Farron & Hipster's power supply, to be able to review higher end DACs. And I knew I needed a better amp and speakers to do so. The air amp and PMCs were also quite some time on the list to consider. I didn't expect to replace the fantastic Auralic RSG2 network player though. I had been saving for quite some time and after a long while, the plan came within reach. But when I reviewed the Grimm Audio Mew 1, I was blown away by the refinement in sound quality it offered. I broke open the budget and bought it, so postponing new speakers. Back to now, all components are thoroughly run in, which is important. If a dealer damage you a product in this price bracket, fresh out of the box, it might be time to look for another dealer for it will not sound even close to what it will be able. The easiest product to break in was the Grimm Player, that sounded already quite good after a few days of 24-7 continuous playing. The Cort Dave took over a week of continuous playing as did the RSG2. The air amp wasn't run in 24-7, it was played only when I was awake and stayed switched on during the night, not running music. During daytime music was playing, while during the evening it was playing the TV sounds, since it can function in processor playback mode emulating a power amplifier that was fed by the AV receiver left and right channel. This way it was playing 15 hours a day at levels varying from 50 to 75 dB SPLA. That's over 100 hours a week and still needed about 4 weeks to fully flourish. The PMC loudspeakers took about 2 weeks using the same drill. That means that we are still talking 200 hours. Now of course it's not that only after 200 hours they started to sound good. Right from the start you can hear the promise of good sound. But sibilance was badly controlled, the stereo image was messy and especially the tonal balance was far off. After the first week things started to fall into place and after 10 days I thought we were there. But then they surprised me by refining further up to the point they are now. So perhaps there's even more to come, but the real progression has stopped off now. Let me first give you a proper description of my setup 1A and start with the Air AX520 amplifier that now drives the PMC F12 signature loudspeakers over AudioQuest Robinhood 0 loudspeaker cables. The amp is connected over Grim Audio SQM XLR cables to the Core Dave DAC. That in turn is connected to the Grim Audio Mu1 digital player over a Siltek HF3G ASEBU cable. The connection between the Grim and the network is over an AudioQuest Diamond CAT 7 to the SOTM SNH 10G network switch that is connected over a CAT 6 cable to the internet router. Rune on the Grim Audio player is controlled using an Apple iPad Pro and a Logitech Harmony remote that also controls all other components in the setup. Again, just to be sure, this is a description of the sound quality the entire setup offers, another review either since I have not compared it with other setups in the same price category under the same conditions. But I had other people whose opinion I value listen to the setup. Okay, buckle up, let's start with the complete absence of loudspeakers. Then the deep black background. Then the tonal balance that remains the same at all volumes. The lows are very clean, deep and controlled. The mids come with enormous resolution, leading to voices that lack almost any sign of electronic playback, unless it is intentionally added to the recording and then it's clear that is the case. The highs are just as clean and offer the same resolution. The spatial information is very good, leading to a stereo image that is very deep and, depending on the towing of the loudspeakers, can be wired to without losing center staging. Another impressive property of this setup is its micro-dynamics. The ease to produce a single note that is only momentarily accented, which makes the music sound very live. It's all about music of course, and the way music is recorded depends largely on the monitor loudspeakers in the studio. I have mentioned the works of Floyd E. Tool on the subject already several times. He claimed he can hear from what period the recording is based on the sound of the recording, because with music producers there is a fashion of monitor loudspeakers. 70 Steely Den is JBL 4311 for instance. It also means that there is no ideal loudspeaker for the consumer market since that should be identical to the monitors in the studio. The best choice is to get the speakers that are in the middle of the spectrum, not the dull ones and not the bright ones. The only way to test this is to play lots of music, and that's exactly what I have done. I own a lot of compilation albums from the 50s up till now from the Dutch and Anglo-Saxon culture. A limited selection of French and Italian, Spanish and Brazilian music and even some music from the Middle East. Then some jazz, fado and of course classical music. I love Chopin and Beethoven piano music, Shostakovich and Mahler's symphonies and also Jordi Saval's work. Over the last week I have played an eclectic selection to notice that at least 85% of the music I played sound convincing. That leaves only 15% of the albums that don't convince. For instance Ennismoor by Colin Blunstone that has a strange distortion on the voice. But that's audible on even my setup 3. Most other albums sounded more than great. It's wonderful to hear White Room on Cream's album Wheels of Fire, or Writers on the Storm by the Doors on LA Woman. Albums from the 70s that still sound amazing and reveal so much more detail than I had heard before. Completely different sound wise, the Charles Nauvour, Les deux Guitars on the album with the same name. That must be a 60s recording, completely different sound character and again sounding fascinating. Perfect darkness from Finch's album with the same name is again a very different sound signature but is just as convincing. Renee by Talk Talk on their album It's My Life has a very nice intro that demonstrates deep lows with accents in the mids. That is followed up by a very nice recorded characteristic voice. Fireweed by Patrick Watson from the album Wooden Arms starts with a very wide and deep soundscape, followed by a very deep bass. Then some jazz. Keith Jarrett never let me go on standards volume 2. The impulse response on the right hand is fantastic, as is the double bass that sounds as it should be, not boomy, all notes being about as loud. For classical, let's start with Aaron Haylert and Stephanie McCullum playing the overture from Le Profet by Jacomot Meyerbeer on the album Le Profet works for four hands. Piano is a difficult instrument to record properly, for it has an 88 key range, over 7 octaves and a great dynamic range plus a fierce attack when played very loud. This recording has it all doubled since it's a guts for a man piece. The set-up plays it effortless at realistic volume. Staying with piano, Chopin's Nocturne by Fazil Sy, a far more amiable sound as it should be for Nocturne's, which means night pieces. Here the piano sounds warmer but keeps the lively attack that makes a piano a piano. Wagner, the master singer from Nürnberg, by the Chor und Orchester der Bayreuther Festspiele, on the Daniel Barenbaum, is a completely different recording. Full orchestra, lots of copper, strings and percussion, bombastic and therefore popular by Hitler's propaganda team, but also impressive and overwhelming and that's what Settler 180 delivers at home. There is so much more music I enjoyed on this set-up it was very difficult to stop listening. So addictive and I considered becoming a member of Audio Files Anonymous. Let me name another track I enjoyed a lot. Heart of Eyes by Joe Jackson from the album Body and Soul. It starts at a low level with the theme on a trumpet and flute, then piano is added followed by a bass drum, snare, bass, more copper and voices and then it grows and grows into an Augustic vinyl with hi-hat, bass and snare keeping the pace. Really addictive. The very high resolution of this setup clearly is the accumulation of all components. The Grimm Audio Mew one with its fantastic scaler and extremely low jitter clock that is transferred to the Core Dave over AES-EBU. The very high time resolution of Rob Watt's Timerlined Reconstruction Filter that is transferred to the Air AX520 amp designed by Charles Hansen and known for his extremely high resolution. And finally the original design of The Fact 12 by PMC founder Peter Thomas that was further developed into the signature version of this by his son Oliver that is now head of design. He made the crossover almost completely insensitive to vibrations and thus further increasing the loudspeaker's resolution. Something to notice is that The Fact 12 signatures are very easy to place, especially for a loudspeaker that is specified down to 26 Hz. I had questions on the low efficiency of 84 dB 1 Watt 1 meter. But as long as the loudspeaker has a decent impedance and phase behavior, more than amplifiers of sufficient quality have no problems handling that. This speaker needs 5 dB more power than the average loudspeaker, which is just under par duple the power. On average playing recorded music will ask a few watts, 2 watts is often more than enough. With this speaker you need less than 8 watts for normal listening levels. It's only when playing very loud that you need lots of watts. The Aereco 6 AX520 amp delivers 125 watts in 8 ohm, 250 watts in 4 ohm. Although specified at 8 ohm, in the lows the PMCs rather are 5 ohms, meaning that the amp will deliver around 200 watts. Anyhow it's more than sufficient for the PMCs, which brings us to the end of this video. As usual there will be a new video next Friday at 5pm C European time. But if you don't want to miss that, subscribe to this channel or follow me on the social media so you will be informed when new videos are out. Help me reach even more people by giving this video a thumb up or link to this video on the social media. It is much appreciated. Many thanks to those viewers that support this channel financially. It keeps me independent and lets me improve the channel further. If that makes you feel like supporting my work too, the links are in the comments below this video on Youtube. I'm Hans Beekhuyzen, thank you for watching and see you in the next show or on the HB Project at home. And whatever you do, enjoy the music.