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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
milpai's avatar
milpai
2,420 posts
 
@audiolover718 ,
Looks like it is time to post some pictures of our system. Happy listening!
audiolover718 OP
132 posts
 
An update. 

The speakers have about 375 hours on them.  They are really starting to come into their own. It's amazing how detailed they are without being bright.  The detail is really at the edges and not "force fed" like the Maggie's. the proacs have a very sophisticated presentation, that has to be heard in the flesh to fully understand.  When you listen to a Maggie, that spooky transparency and super speed gets you hook line and sinker.  The proacs don't portray the music that way, it's a warmer,thicker,  (in a good way) more musical presentation. I understand now what it means when people say how they play the music within the music.  The speakers have been totally all over the place with their sound. Some nights great, some nights not so great, and some nights downright crappy! Tonight, however, they sound more than great. I just down understand how they change from night to night,  but they do. 200 more hours and I will start to,shut down system at night and use the system normally again. Then we shall see if they improve over the next couple of months incrementally. 

I have ordered the soundocity outriggers as per the suggestion in this thread.  My current seating arrangement is not allowing me to get the tweeter at proper ear level. Right now, my is level with the top of the surround of the top of the woofer, way to high above the tweeter.   I don't have the ability to set rake angle because the stock spikes don't have enough travel to compensate for my uneven floor AND adjust for rake angle. Hopefully the outriggers will help me get better imaging and better tone.  I can't imagine my current ear to tweeter height mismatch helping me.  I think I read you can have your ear 3 inches higher or lower than the tweeter and still be within acceptable alignment. With my ear where it is,  I'm way more than three inches too high.  I'm hoping a whole new dimension will come to life once the outriggers get here.  



sbrownnw
710 posts
 
What soundocity outriggers did you order?

I've had my studio 148s for about 14 months now and it still seems like they incrementally improve each month with possibly more break in and refinement.  Plus, I just put some Signal Cable MagicPower power cables on my preamp and phono preamp - great addition!  I usually leave tuner, amp and preamp on 100%.  Tuner is the usual source all day unless there is a specific listening session going on. 
gary_c
46 posts
 

Thanks for the update. I'll be interested in your results of height adjustment, as well as rake angle. My eyes and ears are at the same height as the tweeter on my D38's (by chance, not planned), but I haven't played with rake angle.

There are many theories on why a system can sound so different from day to day, but for me I think it's the varying sound quality and type of music that I listen to from day to day. However, I recently bought some SHM-CD's and have been listening to them exclusively for the last two weeks. System sounded perhaps better than ever last week and early this week, yet the last couple of days not so good. Strange, same exact recordings. I wonder if some of it is due to us personally - being tired, noise exposure during the day, or road noise on cummute home, etc. Some people think that power quality changes from day to day, and time of day; not sure about that one.

Take note of what you're listening to when your system is sounding good or bad, and see if your music is one of the variables.

ps
765 posts
 
So many of our perceptions in this often eccentric hobby are influenced by which way the wind is blowing and the phase of the moon during any particular listening moment.

"Row, row, row your boat, merrily...."
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