PMC Prodigy 5

PMC's slimline floorstanders deliver a sonic masterclass

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PMC has something of a reputation for high-end hi-fi, and while not everything the British brand produces is bank-breaking, anyone who has clapped eyes on the eye-wateringly expensive Fact Fenestria floorstanders will understand the company can certainly produce extremely premium products at similarly premium prices. The Fenestria, tested at £56,995, are undoubtedly some of the finest speakers we have ever had the pleasure of listening to, yet unless you are the heir to the McVities fortune or a very shrewd Bitcoin investor, chances are you will be saving for a long time.

That, then, is where speakers such as the Prodigy 5 come in. Despite PMC often producing high-end audio at the higher end of the cost spectrum, the Prodigy 5 floorstanding speakers, along with their smaller Prodigy 1 standmount siblings, have been explicitly designed to bring that distinctive PMC DNA to the mainstream.

The priority here, as becomes clear when you look closely at the Prodigy 5, is as much sound-per-pound punch as is humanly possible, as considerations over design and aesthetic flourishes fall by the wayside in the pursuit of the best audio you can get for the price.

This, theoretically at least, should be leading to a pair of speakers that, while utilitarian in appearance, knock it out of the park in terms of sonic performance. PMC is aiming to bring high-end audio to the man on the street with its Prodigy range, with the five-star Prodigy 1 standmounter living up to that ambition with startling confidence. Now it's time to see if the trick can be repeated with its floorstanding counterparts.

The PMC Prodigy 5 are, in diametric opposition to the old maxim about Victorian children, designed to be heard rather than seen. Every spare penny has been invested in audio performance rather than visual flair, and to an extent that comes across before we have even booted up our first test track.