FWIW, I listened to them earlier this year at a local store for about an hour and a half, using a British amp and cd player (Rega or Naim, I'm not sure which). Previously, I had listened to ProAc Studio 100's at the store and had really liked them, and I actually went to the store intending to listen to them a second time. The salesman suggested that I might like to audition the Response D Two's, and said they'd been set up only a day or two before, after being received from CES. I listened to some classical piano, some jazz, some vocals, and a bit of rock (EmmyLou Harris' Wrecking Ball), using both disks I bought and some from the store.
They were not to my taste. I found them too bright on top; overall, kind of a "hardness" that deprived the music of a sense of naturalness and that led to some fatigue. When I mentioned this to the salesman, he responded that the speakers might not have been broken in yet, and he also thought that they weren't matched with the right cables. I didn't have the time that day to let him switch the cables or to compare them to the Studio 100's, and I haven't had the chance to return to the store.
By the way, the store was Stereotypes in Portland, where they were very gracious and accomodating in allowing me to listen as I did.
Jim Crane
They were not to my taste. I found them too bright on top; overall, kind of a "hardness" that deprived the music of a sense of naturalness and that led to some fatigue. When I mentioned this to the salesman, he responded that the speakers might not have been broken in yet, and he also thought that they weren't matched with the right cables. I didn't have the time that day to let him switch the cables or to compare them to the Studio 100's, and I haven't had the chance to return to the store.
By the way, the store was Stereotypes in Portland, where they were very gracious and accomodating in allowing me to listen as I did.
Jim Crane