Proac Respnse 1SC vs 1.5 vs B&W 805N


I'm ready to buy one of these. I like Rock, Classical and Jazz. Have a Mccormack amp. What are relative strengths and weaknesses?? I love both the 1sc and 805 N, but concerned about bass on 805, and rock for both.

Thanks!

Robert
robertd
I completely agree with Macatron and Karls above(I'm kind of surprised you've heard both the ProAcs and B&Ws and loved them both). In addition, B&Ws are notoriously picky about amplification, so if you're not willing to ditch your McCormack this may be a consideration as well. My experience is that ProAcs will perform well with a wider variety of amps.

I'm using a McCormack DNA-0.5 Rev. A with Soliloquy 5.3s and am getting fantastic results. I like ProAcs too, but Soliloquy offers similar characteristics/performance and is much cheaper. Just a thought. Best of luck.

Tim
Soix,

I thought the B&W midrange was amazing. And I heard it driven with a dna 0.5. It doesn't have the extension of the Proacs, and I think the proacs are very natural and involving. Have you had a chance to compare the dna 0.5 rev A to the standard dna 0.5?

Thanks,

Robert
Robert,

No I haven't heard the base 0.5 model. Sorry I can't be of any more help, but glad to hear the McCormack seems to work well with the 805s. What other speakers have you heard besides the ProAcs and B&Ws?

Since you're concerned about having enough bass I'd encourage you to give the Soliloquy 5.3 floorstanders a listen if you haven't already--they're about the same price as the 805s and are much more full range, and they mate very well with the 0.5(and they're pretty small for floorstanders). Their 5.0 monitors are half the price of the 805s and have considerably more weight in the bottom octaves(I've done extensive comparisons with both). I'm not pushing Soliloquy, it just seems like you're not getting what you need with the 805s unless you spring for a subwoofer, and the ProAcs are going to cost you a lot more when something like the 5.0s may do it for you. Sorry if I've belabored the point, but I don't know what else you've heard or if you're willing to try other brands--there's a lot of incredible stuff out there at your price point(i.e. Triangle, Coincident Tech., Silverline, Tyler Acoustics, Audio Physic, Joseph Audio, etc.). My experience is that you'll know it right away when you've truly found the right speaker. Again, best of luck.

Tim