Proac 1sc or 2D for this size room


Hi All,

Just pulling my hair out deciding what speakew]r to get for this size room. Room size is 13.5ft x 13.5 ft x 9ft ceilings. Equipment is as follows:

Preamp Atma-sphere Mp1 Mk 2.3
Amps Atma-sphere MA2 mk 2.3
Interconnects / speaker cables Cardas Golden Reference
Phono Rega P9
Cd Player - Musical Fidelity KW SACD

Currently I'm using Confidence C5, but these are two large for this room and they only come alive when I turn them up which is not what I'm after.

After your thoughts as I can not audtion these next to one another. Since I'm going to a more friendly speaker I may down grade my amps to smaller Atma-spheres in the coming months.

Music taste are RNB / Reggae / Soul. No clasical / orchestra what so ever.

Cheers
Che
che13
I have had both the 1SC's and (now) the 2S's. I absolutely loved the 1SC's in my old, smaller room. Very detailed (but not ruthlessly so) tube-friendly speakers. But I moved to a place with a larger listening room (loft-style layout, a roughly 25 x 25 x 30 quasi-triangle-shaped room), and I kept turning the 1SC's up too much in order to 'fill' the room, and it became clear they weren't 'big enough'. I wanted to retain as much of the 1SC's sound as possible, but in a bigger package, and the 2S was a logical choice. I've had to forego some of the 'ability to disappear' I got with the 1SC's, but have gained more heft, weight and ease in the process, and I still have much of the sonic character of the 1SC (both use the same tweeter, for one thing). It's proven to be an acceptable trade-off for me.

I'm sure the D2's would be even better, but I got a great deal on the 2S's (in Yew wood finish) here locally and am, for the time being, satisfied. If I had a smaller room, I'd probably want my 1SC's back!
For what it's worth I think Pro Acs can be on the dull side. I've had both the D-15s and D2s. I can see the attraction in some ways but I kind of always just thought they sounded a little boring but good too in the best possible way of that description. Personally I can't imagine liking Proacs coming from Dyanudio. I do think that maybe Proacs tend to be a lot fussier about what gear they go with. I never tried tubes so maybe I never heard the magic they are capable of. I also have the Tablette 2000 Proac and that is a pretty nice sound that gives you an idea of the Proac sound for a cheap price.
I will say this: ProAcs are widely known to be even more system-dependent that lots of speakers (realizing as I say that that ALL speakers are obviously system-dependent ...).

ProAc are also voiced with tubed electronics (Audio Research, if memory serves) and even though many report great results with Naim and other solid state gear, I would go so far as to say that you haven't really heard what a given ProAc speakers is capable of until it has been on the receiving end of a decent tube amplifier.

Ejlif's point is definitely well taken about the difference between the ProAc and Dynaudio 'sounds'. My Wilson-Benesch Arc's, in my system, sounded kind of 'boring' to me, despite being very well-regarded speakers. I didn't chalk it up to any fault of the WB's as much as I attributed it to less-than-optimal system-matching on my part.

Che13: don't forget about the new D1's either. I spoke to the distributor (Modern Audio) and a long-time ProAc dealer in Dallas (Audio Concepts) and both said they had eyed ProAc's ability to top the 1SC (in a speaker of that size) with suspicion - that is, until they actually *heard* the new D1. Perhaps not unbiased opinions in either case, but both made clear their awe of both the 1SC and the fact that ProAc was able to actually improve on it in several respects.
Wow, I've been out of it for awhile. I'm a former ProAc owner and really loved those guys. Is the D Two a resurrection of the much heralded 2S?
I believe the speaker which was "much heralded" was the front-ported Response 2. I have owned both the Response 2 (still do) and the rear-ported 2S. The 2S missed the mark IMO. They didn't disappear like the 2. Placement was much more difficult and not worth the little extra bass extension they offered so I went back to using the 2 model and have been happier ever since. I will say the 2S had incredibly good bass for a monitor.