Help needed with Proac 1SC setup

I owned the 1Sc and loved them with solid state - Mosfet of high quality and tube-like sound mind you. Looking at your system, I would say that you now have a pair of very revealing speakers that possibly show you all the weaknesses you have upstream. They can be round or edgy depending on partnering equipment and cables. Sorry to be harsh but here it is: unless you are in this hobby to continually upgrade in which case the move to 1SC is a step in the right direction, bringing 1SC in your current set up can be a nightmare for the average Joe who is just trying to enjoy music. I would tell you right away to either rebuild your system around the 1SC (which are one of the greatest $2k mini-monitors ever IMHO) or sell them right away.

Boomy and harsh at the same time is what happened to me in a previous audiofool life and it costed me hard earned $$$ before I got off and sold my poorly matched gear. 1 SC will be exactly what you experiment with inadequate amplification (not enough power and loose bass) and ultra-resolving source. You may have both in your system.

Finally, I had best success with my 1SC nearfield, slightly toed-in and diagonal set-up. But both my source and my amp were on the neutral to warmish side.

Good luck and one advice again: do not let these drive yourself crazy. If you cannot fix it and did not plan to spend $$$ for the rest of your system, sell them...easy to sell for over $1,000 on Agon.

Great post by Gunbei. I would only add you should be sure to give them plenty of "run-in" (or break-in) time. I have two pairs in different rooms, and they started out sounding somewhat harsh, the way you described. They settled in nicely between 100 and 200 hours of play. (I used a Purist Audio Design break-in disc at low to medium volume in a little-used room in the house. Alternatively, you could play the disc in mono with the speakers facing each other a few inches apart.)

I have heard Proac 1SC on several occasions (only with tubes) and they sounded great... in no way do I remember them as lacking dimensionality, boomy, or harsh.. also proacs do take a long time for the tweeter to burn in, I'm told.

Thanks for all the responses, and especially for the great post by Gunbei. The thin and dizzy mids that you intitially had is exactly what I'm experiencing.

I'm actually planning on replacing the Arcam 5 amp with a Levinson 29, when I can get hold of one. I'm also planning to borrow some high-ish end power amps from a friend to see if they fix the problem on a temporary basis. I'm reluctant to give up the Benchmark DAC though, I really like it.

The Castles had a front-firing bass port, so I'm shocked at how much boom I experience from the rear-firing Proacs. Just to check is the advice: 3 or 4 feet between the speaker and the wall is measured from the back or the front of the speaker?

If you like SS amp, Jeff Rowland 5 might be good choice too. I like how it sound the the vintage Mac MC240. Seductive sweet.