Sam's System

[Axel]

Updated picture of my setup.

I moved some things around and added an AudioQuest Niagara 1000 Low-Z Power | Noise-Dissipation System to replace a cheap powerbar.

AudioQuest Niagara 1000:
http://www.audioquest.com/niagara-1000

Hi Sam,

Lovely system! I notice you have your speakers toed in slightly. I too have ProAc and they recommend having the speakers pointing at the listener.  How far away are you when listening? I tried aiming the speakers at the listening position, but preferred the soundstage with the speakers toed in like yours. Have you ever tried swapping the speakers over so that the ribbons are on the outside? If so, what did you hear? I've never tried so wouldn't know, but the manual could be wrong twice and I might do it one day.....

[samurai7595]

Updated picture of my setup.

I moved some things around and added an AudioQuest Niagara 1000 Low-Z Power | Noise-Dissipation System to replace a cheap powerbar.

AudioQuest Niagara 1000:
http://www.audioquest.com/niagara-1000

Hi Sam,

Lovely system! I notice you have your speakers toed in slightly. I too have ProAc and they recommend having the speakers pointing at the listener.  How far away are you when listening? I tried aiming the speakers at the listening position, but preferred the soundstage with the speakers toed in like yours. Have you ever tried swapping the speakers over so that the ribbons are on the outside? If so, what did you hear? I've never tried so wouldn't know, but the manual could be wrong twice and I might do it one day.....

Thanks Axel.

Right now, I have the ribbon tweeters on the inside and I did try with the tweeters on the outside but in my room, that produced a slightly "brighter" sound which I did not like.  So I went back to having the tweeters on the inside.

I tried various amounts of toe-in but the slight toe-in you see in the pic, provided the best results for me (in my room).  I sit roughly 8ft-9ft (2.4m-2.7m) away from the speakers and the speakers are roughly 7ft (2.1m) apart.  My room is 12ft x 14ft (3.6m x 4.2m) in size.

BTW, I've been auditioning several different speakers over the past few months but every time I got back to my ProAc Response D30R, I realize just how great these speakers are.  I've compared them to speakers like: Sonus Faber Olympica III and Olympica II, Focal Sopra 2, B&W 804d3, Magico S1, Sonus Faber Venere S, Ryan R620, Harbeth Super HL5+, Bryston Middle T, Spendor D7 and Wilson Audio Sabrina.  The only model that made me wish I had the extra money to upgrade my ProAc speakers were the Sabrina since in my room, the Sabrina speakers provided the biggest (significant) upgrade to my ProAc speakers where all the other speakers seemed to provide more of a lateral (sideways) move and not necessarily an upgrade (didn't justify the extra cash outlay).  Also, the Focal Sopra 2 and Olympica III proved just too big for my room.

[Axel]

Updated picture of my setup.

I moved some things around and added an AudioQuest Niagara 1000 Low-Z Power | Noise-Dissipation System to replace a cheap powerbar.

AudioQuest Niagara 1000:
http://www.audioquest.com/niagara-1000

Hi Sam,

Lovely system! I notice you have your speakers toed in slightly. I too have ProAc and they recommend having the speakers pointing at the listener.  How far away are you when listening? I tried aiming the speakers at the listening position, but preferred the soundstage with the speakers toed in like yours. Have you ever tried swapping the speakers over so that the ribbons are on the outside? If so, what did you hear? I've never tried so wouldn't know, but the manual could be wrong twice and I might do it one day.....

Thanks Axel.

Right now, I have the ribbon tweeters on the inside and I did try with the tweeters on the outside but in my room, that produced a slightly "brighter" sound which I did not like.  So I went back to having the tweeters on the inside.

I tried various amounts of toe-in but the slight toe-in you see in the pic, provided the best results for me (in my room).  I sit roughly 8ft-9ft (2.4m-2.7m) away from the speakers and the speakers are roughly 7ft (2.1m) apart.  My room is 12ft x 14ft (3.6m x 4.2m) in size.

BTW, I've been auditioning several different speakers over the past few months but every time I got back to my ProAc Response D30R, I realize just how great these speakers are.  I've compared them to speakers like: Sonus Faber Olympica III and Olympica II, Focal Sopra 2, B&W 804d3, Magico S1, Sonus Faber Venere S, Ryan R620, Harbeth Super HL5+, Bryston Middle T, Spendor D7 and Wilson Audio Sabrina.  The only model that made me wish I had the extra money to upgrade my ProAc speakers were the Sabrina since in my room, the Sabrina speakers provided the biggest (significant) upgrade to my ProAc speakers where all the other speakers seemed to provide more of a lateral (sideways) move and not necessarily an upgrade (didn't justify the extra cash outlay).  Also, the Focal Sopra 2 and Olympica III proved just too big for my room.

My room is almost the same size and I sit roughly where you do.  The room has heavy padded leather and cloth furniture, carpet, heavy curtains (drapes) and a cloth wall hanging above the listening position, so the room is quite well damped.
I sometimes feel that I need 1.5dB treble lift and use the tone control, so maybe my speakers would be better with the tweeters outside, but I will definitely give this a try now, come to think of it I might give the D30Rs a listen!
Thanks for the information regarding the speakers you have auditioned, some if which were also on my list. You have certainly listened to a few. Which ones did you audition at home? I understand that the Sabrina is quite small, but also has a rear firing port, which I've tried to avoid. The only rear ported speaker I've used were my Acoustic Energy AE1 Mk3 SE which I sold to fund the ProAcs. I was using them with over 700 Watts of Musical Fedelity power and they loved ️it! They had a ring radiator tweeter good for 40kHz which is what I think I miss.

I've read previously that you weren't impressed with the Magice S1, did you try the S3? Although these might be too strong in the bass, as they probably would be in my room.

[samurai7595]

Axel,

The speakers that I tried in my own home included: Sonus Faber Olympica II, Focal Sopra 2, B&W 804d3 and Bryston Middle T. The other speakers were auditioned using my Devialet 200 and the listening rooms in the three dealers I visited were very close to the dimensions of my room since I always insisted that the systems be set-up in their smallest listening rooms (after an initial visit of each dealer to verify the listening room dimensions).

For the Magico speakers, I love the look and built quality and was really excited to audition the Magico S1. Unfortunately, as I’ve mentioned before, I was not impressed as they sounded muffled and the bass was lacking (I like bass). Mind you, this was the Original version and they now have a MKII version with upgraded drivers and crossover. The reason I only auditioned the S1 was due to the fact that these were a dealer’s demo model and they offering them at almost half price. Anything above the S1 was just not within my budget.

The Wilson Audio Sabrina speakers really impressed me a lot. Since I don’t have a big room and there’s no way my wife would allow me to place the speakers out into the room, I too have been staying away from rear ported speakers. For this reason I really like the ProAc bottom port design or a front ported system like the B&W 804d3 speakers. However, I would have liked to demo these in my room but they were not within my budget, so I didn’t bother asking (but maybe one day…).

Summer is now around the corner and I really enjoy being outdoors during our very short summers, so for now the system will stay as-is and maybe I’ll resume my search next winter…

[Axel]

Axel,

The speakers that I tried in my own home included: Sonus Faber Olympica II, Focal Sopra 2, B&W 804d3 and Bryston Middle T.  The other speakers were auditioned using my Devialet 200 and the listening rooms in the three dealers I visited were very close to the dimensions of my room since I always insisted that the systems be set-up in their smallest listening rooms (after an initial visit of each dealer to verify the listening room dimensions).

For the Magico speakers, I love the look and built quality and was really excited to audition the Magico S1.  Unfortunately, as I’ve mentioned before, I was not impressed as they sounded muffled and the bass was lacking (I like bass).  Mind you, this was the Original version and they now have a MKII version with upgraded drivers and crossover.  The reason I only auditioned the S1 was due to the fact that these were a dealer’s demo model and they offering them at almost half price.  Anything above the S1 was just not within my budget.

The Wilson Audio Sabrina speakers really impressed me a lot.  Since I don’t have a big room and there’s no way my wife would allow me to place the speakers out into the room, I too have been staying away from rear ported speakers.  For this reason I really like the ProAc bottom port design or a front ported system like the B&W 804d3 speakers.  However, I would have liked to demo these in my room but they were not within my budget, so I didn’t bother asking (but maybe one day…).

Summer is now around the corner and I really enjoy being outdoors during our very short summers, so for now the system will stay as-is and maybe I’ll resume my search next winter…

Looks like I'm in for a long ride to better my loudspeakers, but you have made some choices for me, so thanks very much for your feedback.  Enjoy your summer!

[Hualapai]

Top Sam!

[samurai7595]

Top Sam!

Thanks!