Help needed with Proac 1SC setup

Great post by Gunbei. I would only add you should be sure to give them plenty of "run-in" (or break-in) time. I have two pairs in different rooms, and they started out sounding somewhat harsh, the way you described. They settled in nicely between 100 and 200 hours of play. (I used a Purist Audio Design break-in disc at low to medium volume in a little-used room in the house. Alternatively, you could play the disc in mono with the speakers facing each other a few inches apart.)

I have heard Proac 1SC on several occasions (only with tubes) and they sounded great... in no way do I remember them as lacking dimensionality, boomy, or harsh.. also proacs do take a long time for the tweeter to burn in, I'm told.

Thanks for all the responses, and especially for the great post by Gunbei. The thin and dizzy mids that you intitially had is exactly what I'm experiencing.

I'm actually planning on replacing the Arcam 5 amp with a Levinson 29, when I can get hold of one. I'm also planning to borrow some high-ish end power amps from a friend to see if they fix the problem on a temporary basis. I'm reluctant to give up the Benchmark DAC though, I really like it.

The Castles had a front-firing bass port, so I'm shocked at how much boom I experience from the rear-firing Proacs. Just to check is the advice: 3 or 4 feet between the speaker and the wall is measured from the back or the front of the speaker?

If you like SS amp, Jeff Rowland 5 might be good choice too. I like how it sound the the vintage Mac MC240. Seductive sweet.

Just to say that my problems have been solved by a change in amp. It seems that the Arcam was just not powerful enough to drive the Proacs properly. The Arcam was responsible for the boomy bass and tizzy mids and highs. I've recently tried the Proacs with a Cyrus X Power amp, and they sound amazing. Exactly the nice detailed sound that has been described elsewhere.