I owned the D38 but every Proac except Response 4 & D100 uses a cheap tweeter that leaves something to be desired. The D38R fixes that in a very sophisticated way. The Response 5 that I've also had, has the same problem, although was even better at midrange due to the 3" soft dome ATC, the highs were at a considerable lower quality. Unfortunatelly this company is very limited about quality offerings on their tweeters and above that, the quality control is very poor.
My Response 5 has 5 holes without soldering in it's x-over!
and the absorber panels inside the cabinets were not glued!
They also put a shizophrenic premium $$$ for my Burr oak.
They became my best dynamic speakers when I've replaced the tweeters with the RAAL. Better than Response 4!
In their category are still my favorites but I'm really bothered by the company's policy concerning pricing, even when the results were stunning, the production cost cannot justify the asking price.
I don't know what model to suggest to you. They are great in their unique way to bring forth the beauty of every flavour that you put in the chain. I always ended up with Cardas speaker cables (when the amp was SS), VDH interconnects, and whatever (really good) amp I wish (Jadis Defy 7, Cary 211, Atmasphere MA 1, Goldmund Mimesis 9, Goldmund Mimesis 8.4, Pass 600, Pass Aleph 0 & many DIY SET 10-60W). The new series "D" are more demanding of power despite the company's claims, but are also less involving and more detailed-accurate although they keep Proac's identity intact.
Very capable speakers, rarely seen at the used market.
The tuning of them is their secret of success & not the quality of their components. The smaller ones have absolutely no problem to effortlessly mimic even the unsurpassed 3" soft dome ATC midrange driver!
The D38R I test them with the Musical Fidelity 50W class A and VDH Integration/Orchid. They are not ground breaking in any way, (as the Transmission Audio or Shindo) neither are the transparency kings (like a Soundlab). But they are my reference std. in conventional multi-way dynamic speakers 'cause of the great taste of Stuart Tyler on tuning them.
