Integrated amp to drive ProAc 1sc

Hey Tomryan. I'll toast to that, Yeah..... without question, the Merlin is something special, but so is the 2.5.... as well as your lovely wife. cheers!

Hi Gang. I really enjoyed Gumbei's "sibling anology" regarding the proac family of sound,rather appropriate here really. I am a big fan of stewart Tylers response series of proacs. When the original tablette was first introduced... it's only real competition at that time was the original 15 ohm version of the LS-3/5a bbc monitor which was sold by rogers or chartwell. I preferred the Roger to the proac at that time and still use the rogers in my kitchen to this very day,and driven by tube amplification of course. When the proac response 2 was first introduced, I was literally mesmerized by it's timbral fidelity and their uncanny ability to disappear in a room. Furthermore: I was stunned by their ability to resolve the midbass with such detail and drive. Of course,I was instantly in love and bought a pair for my small to medium room [16ft x 21 ft x 8ft ceiling] at home. At the time, I was driving them with the ARC d-79b and the ARC sp-10 mk2 preamp. We enjoyed them for a good 3 years. I would sometimes audition different amplifiers, both solid state and vacuum tubed. Even though I was using a tubed preamp... I never did soulfully connect with any of the ss amps and always thought the lower powered amps of each manufacturers sounded more musical. re: threshold,Levinson,krell, bryston and Bedini. The only ss amp that made beautiful music; whereby I could really get lost with the response 2, was the little 25 watt pure classe A Bedini. There are a whole slew of tube amps that really synergize well with the proac without needing to take out a second mortgage. The Conrad Johnson mv-52 is a real little honey of an amp with the response 2 as well as my friends [tricked up]little el-34 based asl 1003 integrated.... makes magic in a big way, immensely enjoyable for very little money.He uses it with the newer [back ported] response 2's. From the response 2, I upgraded to the reponse 3 floorstander and thoroughly enjoyed them for more than a decade....always driven with vacuum tubes of course. In actual fact.... they were a little too large and would overpower the room if one got carried away with the volume control. However...They would still disappear,image, and could flat out rock and roll if the mood called for it. I eventually sold them, as I had the opportunity to acquire the massive response 4 for the right money.However, I still miss the response 3 to this very day. Obviously, the response 4 was much too large for my room at home.... I moved them out to my studio room. A rather large but dedicated room [32ft x 27 ft x 12 1/2 ft ceiling] but the 4's still retained that beautiful proac magic that they all seem to possess when driven with quality vacuum tube amplifiers. Go hear the proacs with decent tube amplification and there is just no going back! Personally speaking.... In a typical medium sized living room or den in the average home, I honestly believe the 2.5 is the most versatile speaker in their entire line up. One that will always make for an enjoyable listening experience. Enjoy!

Tomryan.... Yes,I have heard the Merlin vsm [with bam option]on many ocassions and have seriously considered them to replace my reference 3a decapos.They are very special indeed! I honestly believe they are a world class speaker and must be considered top shelf by anyones standards. When driven with good vacuum tubed amplification and properly set up in an appropriate room .... they are magic with a capital M, and breathtaking in every regard.They are just so versatile with so much up side and so few liabilities. Can be optimized in both small rooms and large rooms due to their modest sized footprint. I had the pleasure of spending a week with them in my dedicated studio room. Driven by a pair of Atma-shere 2.2 OTL's and mated with the supratek syrah, they mesmerized each and every one that heard them. Even more impressive was the fact that my room is actually a little too large for the Merlin [32ft x 27ft x 12 1/2 ft ceiling]. They can kick out some very high spl's levels with out any sense of strain with an appropriate high powered amp. In my books.... their greatest asset is their ability to reproduce recorded music in the correct tonal balance and at very low levels to boot, then resolve this [both micro and macro] imformation in the proper dynamic scale. Impressive indeed...as not too many other speakers [in my experience anyway] possess this elusive quality other than the original quad 57 esl and perhaps the soundlab A-1. Regarding crossover mods on the proacs?.... Yes and no.... I played with the caps in original response 2 and settled with an auricap for the tweeter, however: one must always consider at least 30 hours of run in time on any given cap when evaluating these changes. Personally speaking here.... the biggest "bang for the buck" mod for the proac is to remove the stock crossover entirely from the cabinet. This does require additional wire,soldering,and removing the bass driver to get at the crossover inside the box. Not to mention the dexterity of a contortionst to get at it as well. Well worth the work though but be sure to use good hook wireup. I used cardas in my case. I can honestly say that this mod is not suttle, and improves the speaker in every way,especially micro imformation and nuance. And No, it does not alter that beautiful "proac voice" or the balancing act between tone and resolution that all the praocs seem to possess. RE: Proacs and amplifier power. In my humble opinion,this is one of proacs biggest strengths and one that should not be taken lightly for those considering lower powered amps or sets. For example: I found the Merlin extremely critical regarding the amplification in front of it,both power wise and quality wise. Not so with the proacs, It sounded wonderful with every amplifier I hooked to it, anything from an 18 watt single ended tube amp,on up to whatever power envelope you wanted to throw at it.