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Home demo. ProAc D48R and Spendor D9

I am in the process of a home demo. of the ProAc D48R and Spendor D9 from different dealers.
The ProAc guy says it is well run in and the Spendor guy says only about 90 hours on them.

First off, love the D48R so far, midrange to die for & the bass, lots of bass, perhaps a tad too much. Not sure yet, vocals , treble from that ribbon is exceptional.
The Spendor in comparison is not bad at all, I think a bit better definition in the bass, not as full as D48R , seems just as deep, but more tuneful to me. The midrange is OK , it seems to lag behind the ProAc only just. The upper midrange/treble to me is a bit of a let down. For example acoustic guitar seems slightly less crisp, less involving compared to the ProAc.

Question for any D9 owners out there, how long did they take to fully run in ? I assume I am not hearing now what their final run in sound will be like. Will the midrange/ treble open up more, like D48R more, or is the ProAc ribbon tweeter that much better ?
seadog77
seadog77 OP
15 posts
 
Thank you for your thoughts Milpai. The thing is I can only have them 16-19 “ from a back wall and from speaker to my listening chair is 8’. However my total room area is 26’ x 13’ x 14’. Hence my initial demo. of the larger speakers. I guess I should have thought don’t worry too much about total room size, go off distance to back wall and listening distance to speakers as more important factors than room size.
The D30RS won’t sound “small” in my room ?
tomic601's avatar
tomic601
12,869 posts
 
download the free Vandersteen setup manuals and use a math based approach to laying out distances from wall. You might get those woofers to sing.
me? I like the ProAc between the two, but as others have astutely said, how wonderful you have them both at home to make a studied choice.

Have fun and enjoy the music...


itzhak1969
515 posts
 
total room area of 26’ x 13’ x 14’ can accommodate the D9 and D48 just fine, bass trapping solutions can tune the bass of the D48 but if you’re filling the bass of D48 is too much for your taste try the D30 .you should take into consideration that by choosing the D30 you are getting more controlled bass but loosing some of the great dynamics and huge soundstage of the D48 .
jetter
2,979 posts
 
An honest question from someone who has never owned a speaker with a ribbon tweeter, but has never had a problem with soft dome tweeter. Is there a concern that a ribbon tweeter is so fragile that one should consider purchasing the D48 with the soft dome tweeter instead?

Is the difference in sound that pronounced?
itzhak1969
515 posts
 
You are right ribbon twitters are much more sensitive than dome ones but they are much better , the differences are substantial : more details every small naunce is comming to life ,voices are liflike natural . ribbons are suppirier at every aspect.
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