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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
 
These were a dealer demonstration pair.
So back to the dealer & he will order me a brand new pair in my colour choice.
avanti1960
1,422 posts
 
@keithr 
If you were asking me I am running a Rogue Audio Cronus Magnum II all NOS tubes with my Spendor D7s.  Fantastic combination.  
milpai's avatar
milpai
2,337 posts
 
@seadog77,
Congratulations on finalizing your choice :-)
Please do post some pics of your system once you receive those D9s.
Have fun.
soix
8,993 posts
 
Avanti1960, yes, yes, I do agree with your findings. I had to return the D9’s. I must have added another 100 hours on them & I have never seen a speaker change so much. More bass, deeper bass, and the nasty mid/treble knocked right off.

I am almost ready to jump on a new pair of D9’s, the Dark Walnut looks nice. Thank you all for comments, there is not any "poor cousin" speaker choice between these . Just personal likes/dislikes etc. I have total respect now for the ProAc brand after my demo. and I can totaly see why they have so many fans ! The D9 just floats my boat a bit more.

Dude.  From what I see the thing that put you off the D48 was too much bass but you pretty much preferred everything else from the ProAc.  You have a D9 in your house and it doesn't work for you, but you think changing the cabinet color will make everything all right?  What???  Why not just dial down the D48, which does everything else better except bass, and others have told you have tighter bass, and do that?  What are you thinking??? This makes no sense!
itzhak1969
515 posts
 
"However the D48R wins hands down on soundstage width, height and pinpoint accuracy of vocals etc. Just marvellous."
A quotation from the OP .
I don’t understand his choice either ,if everything is better with the D48 except the bass (that can be tuned easily with proper acustic treatment) why choose the D9 make no sense to me.
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