I thought the sound stage was better and the bass response much better.
ProAc Response 2.5 Vs. Spendor SP1
When Dennis Had was still at Cary, he used ProAc speakers to voice his amps. On his recommendation and that of my dealer (Arnie, the founder of the original Audiogon), I got a Cary CAD301SE amp, a glorious 11 watts per side, that drove them to perfection. I still have them in my second system, with Ayre 60W. They are a very fine speaker, the main driver unit is superlative, and they go deeper than you'd imagine. |
Take a look at the review in Stereophile if you have not already. https://www.stereophile.com/floorloudspeakers/196proac/index.html |
I owned the response 2.5's for about three years and I still dream of them years later. I drove them with all Cary gear at the time as well (SLP 94, SLM100 mono's 100wch) to very good sound. I really have not had that engaging of a musical experience in my place in years. they do some huge sound staging and surprising bass, a little rolled off at the very highest extremes though. midrange is also very good and very involving. I suppose that's why they were copied so much. I would buy another set with out hesitation. They are best with tubes though and they are not that hard of a load but i'd say 40-50wch min to really get the bass out of them. I heard the newer ones and they have much of the old but better detail and high end but not by much. |
Wow,I heard them and they are really different than my Spendors! The guy was driving them with a Conrad Johnson pre and 2 El 34 Monoblocks putting out 40w a side. Plenty of volume for sure and plenty of bass,but much brighter than my Spendors. They sounded great,but do you guys think that my Aronov and ARC pre will have a warmer sound than his rig? |
I would check with the distributor https://soundorg.com/proac/ And see if there is a dealer near you. I think they are carried by Audio Connection in Verona, NJ (great dealer) |
@jperry BTW, I called the US ProAc distributor, The Sound Organisation...and they were extremely helpful and pleasant. They pointed out that there is a Store Locator at the bottom left of their main page https://soundorg.com/ Being that I'm in the Midwest he strongly recommended contacting the folks at Pro Musica in Chicago as a great ProAc dealer. Never worked with them in the past but I will check them out next time I'm in Chicago. |
@jperry and all who were kind enough to respond to my post: Thanks for all your help regarding my Proac purchase. So they have been here for a few days and they are marvelous! Not too bright at all and not thin as they sounded in the former owner system. As I had hoped, my electronics shown a good light on them. And yes the imaging is awesome! As far as the differences between them and the Spendors, I would make a wine analogy if that is OK! Someone suggested apples and oranges in a response here,but I would say the Spendors are like a great Port,rich and sweet, and the Proacs are like an excellent Shiraz,light and fresh. Yesterday the writer Ken Micallef came over to do an interview with me for his series on Musicians as Audiophiles and it was great to have such knowledgeable ears listen with me to the differences between the two speakers. First I set up the Spendors with the REL sub as I had been using them,and we listened to Duke Ellington’s"Peer Gynt Suite" (Columbia 1958),Then a recent Maria Joao and then EOS Orchestra’s Copland’s "Music for the Theater" . The Spendors sounded marvelous and Ken really dug it. We played the same sequence on the Proac’s and they provided better high extension ,bigger sound stage, more bass (and I did not use the sub). Ken was quite familiar with the 2.5’s as he had owned a pair himself in the 90’s it turned out. He prefered the Proac’s,but was pretty surprised how well the Spendors did in comparison. There is a really great synergy with the Aronov power /ARC SP 6b with both speakers and I will probably keep both and go back and forth. Enough can not be said about the Schiit Audio Yggy Dac as well. In the epic struggle of Digiital vs. Analog that has gone on in my listening room ,believe it or not Digital is now winning! The rich warmth of the Spendors and the soundstage magic and extension of the Proac’s will keep my ears happy for along time! PS anyone holding a set of Aronov mono blocks? the Proacs are doing well the 60watt(tube power a side ,but probably would be sick with monoblocks...... |