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After nearly 20 years, I left Magnepan and went ProAc

Listened to proac d48r's a few weeks ago and fell in love at first listen. After a couple of days I got my wife to sign my "permission slip" and took the plunge and they now reside where my 1.6 once stood.  You see, I've never heard a speaker literally mesmerize me and engage me like this before.  Sure the Maggie's have a huge image and soundstage and transparency, but these Proacs simply sound more like a real event, with dynamics and palpability, with a more refined and true sound.  The images are much more dense.   

I only have 48 hours on them so they are nowhere near their final voice, but they are breaking in nicely.  The manual says they require a lengthy break in.  I pulled out my old marantz cd-5000 to do the break in honors and will run these straight for a week or two and then taper off with normal listening.   

One thing I dont care for are the spikes. They have these little slits that aid in tightening, but no tool to go around them, so I can't get a good tightening with just my fingers.......so the spikes jiggle.  When I check  I can hear the spike and lock but chatter, and   this is not helping my  stability or sound.  Any sugesstions to tighten them right would be helpful. Thanks.  Cheers to a new chapter!   Wanted to share my excitement with you.  So grateful and never thought I would have speakers like This.  It feels like a dream!

audiolover718
quiltzig's avatar
quiltzig
8 posts
 
I can understand your delight with the D48R - they are a very musical speaker. I sold a pair just 2 weeks ago to a client and he loves them. They are a similar price here as the Magnepan 3.7i - which is a very tough act to beat. Your old 1.6's are more akin to the Proac Studio series, like a Studio 148, which are a similar price. Enjoy... the Proacs have a superb musicality that makes them rather addictive to listen to. FYI - I am an importer and handle Proac, Magnepan, GoldenEar etc. 
itzhak1969
515 posts
 
@milpai my room size is 10*13 feet the Proac Studio 140MK II works perfectly in my listening room,I did consider the D30R but I am afraid that it’s some kind of a degrade mooving from 2.5 way speakers to 2 way ones.

I agree with @axeis1 that the ProAcs sound better when placed closer to each other place them more than 10 feet and the soundstage start to collapse and the sound will be less transparent and muddy.
The great thing about the 140 that they’re not too fussy you can just throw them in the room and make a little adjustments latter on.
The big problem with all Proac’s speakers that they do need very longgggggg break-in period it took me about 6 month to open them up and about a year for full break in but after that the sound is amazing. Moreover if I don’t listen to the Proac’s couple of days they sound is terrible: bright and harsh and do need at least  3-5 hours break in to recover again.
I suspect the successor the Studio 148 is no longer in production because Proac removed it from their official website.
gnostalgick
88 posts
 
  All good advice above.  I'd like to add that--regardless of whether you end up with outriggers, spikes, pucks, herbies, or other isolation--getting a bottom ported speaker up further from the floor should help control bass. Raising the tweeter also improved imaging for me.  I experimented on the cheap with different lengths bolts from the hardware store on my Studio 148.
  However, even with this tweak, one amp I tried so over-emphasized the bass they were essentially unlistenable. It's possible this is the issue, as what sounded balanced with the Maggies may not be ideal such a different style of speaker.
  Good luck.
lowtubes
100 posts
 
There is no way I can be convinced that a Proac speaker would sound more immediate than a well setup Magnepan. I owned 2 Proac speakers and they are very good, great detail, imaging, soundstaging, etc. But as properly setup large Magnepan on the correct electronics is totally on another level. I do not feel you had found the right amp for your particular model Magnepan. 
jperry
2,448 posts
 
 "milpai ...have you moved your D40Rs to a larger room? I keep visiting your system page and ogle at those speakers. How is the bass in that room? "

@milpai

Thanks for the kind words. They have been in the same room since I bought them. The one thing I did that really improved the bass was replacing my Quicksilver V-4 amps with an Aesthetix Atlas amplifier. The bass is controlled and natural sounding with power when it is in the music. A bigger room would be better, but not possible for me. I do have a dedicated room so that is a plus.

Best Regards,

Jim Perry
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