Vienna Acoustics or Proac

Guidocorona, I just stumbled on your post and your point really made sense. For one, I also own Proac R3 and it does not have the shortcoming that you said about bass hump. But it does have the quality of mid and mid-treble being too forward. Is it something that I do wrong in the speaker setup ( 2 feet - back wall, 1 feet - sidewalls) or is this just a feature of all Proac speakers.

Hi Ducchau, not knowing your environment, nor your personal preference in sound, it's a little difficult to tell if any forwardness/tippiness are caused by the speakers, by electronics, by wiring, or by placement. The good news is that there exist a Do It Yourself speaker placement process, which is being discussed at:
http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?rspkr&1197744079&openfrom&24&4#24

I have heard great things about the Proac speakers, but I loved my Mahlers! I had the Beethovens, but ended upgrading to the Mahlers about a year ago. I am driving them with the Mcintosh MC-501 mono amps and it is amazing! I started out small with my Beethovens and then slowly upgraded along the Mcintosh product line. I purchased the Mahlers from a dealer and they were shipped perfectly to me in a very large braced and padded crate that was affixed to a pallet. I got a smoking deal on the speakers and strongly suggest that you give them a listen,

As noted above they are very sensitive to proper placement, and they need a good amp to drive them right!

Michael

I own the Baby Grands but have admired Proac for years, so it's easy to understand your indecision. I don't think that you could go far wrong with either, but I, obviously, chose the VAs. They work very well in my roughly 16x36 room. Do have your dealer do the Sumiko Master Set to ideally position them.

Your electronics will be fine, but either speaker will benefit when you upgrade. Placement is important for both brands, but with VA you get the benefit of the dealer knowing the Master Set methodology.

Dave

I almost bought a pair of the ProAc Studio 140's - they are great, and would get my vote between those two choices.