There have been some very short mentions of this speaker in The Absolute Sound as part of a larger speaker article at various audio shows. That review mentioned how outstanding the D40's sounded. I'm not so sure what kind of job the distributor in the USA is doing though. In the third biggest city in the USA, Chicago. There is not a single dealer that has them in stock for a listen. The distributor told me to drive four hours to Iowa. Pathetic.
ProAc Response D40 - views?
I own the ProAc D40 (silk dome tweeter) in a cherry finish. I have had them for about 8 months. They are teamed up with an Audio Research integrated amp and CD player, along with Kimber cables and interconnects.
I am very pleased with them, and was wondering whether anyone else has heard them. I noticed on another thread that someone had said they sounded terrible in comparison with some D38s which were in the same shop. I have not heard the D38s, but I find it hard to imagine that a company with ProAc's reputation would release something that is inferior to its predecessor or which dramatically alters the "sound" for which ProAc is well known. The same contributor also remarked that, because there were no published reviews as yet, was an indicator that potential reviewers had been less than enthused. I don't know enough about reviewers' practices to comment on this.
I have just finished listening to Brahms's 1st Symphony with the Berlin Philharmonic under Karajan, his last recording of that work. Full rich sound, yet precise bass, ample soundstage, and the top end is smooth and non- fatiguing. This recording is an early digital effort - some glare and slightly congested in fortes, but it sounds remarkably compelling on the D40s.
For anyone who likes orchestral music, particularly the romatics onwards, I would recommend giving these speakers a try. But then, they give equal pleasure for smaller scale music such chamber music and solo piano.
My only complaint about them is their weight, and they are quite large, though not overly dominating. For a two and a half way speaker, they are very heavy - 40 kilos each.
I am very pleased with them, and was wondering whether anyone else has heard them. I noticed on another thread that someone had said they sounded terrible in comparison with some D38s which were in the same shop. I have not heard the D38s, but I find it hard to imagine that a company with ProAc's reputation would release something that is inferior to its predecessor or which dramatically alters the "sound" for which ProAc is well known. The same contributor also remarked that, because there were no published reviews as yet, was an indicator that potential reviewers had been less than enthused. I don't know enough about reviewers' practices to comment on this.
I have just finished listening to Brahms's 1st Symphony with the Berlin Philharmonic under Karajan, his last recording of that work. Full rich sound, yet precise bass, ample soundstage, and the top end is smooth and non- fatiguing. This recording is an early digital effort - some glare and slightly congested in fortes, but it sounds remarkably compelling on the D40s.
For anyone who likes orchestral music, particularly the romatics onwards, I would recommend giving these speakers a try. But then, they give equal pleasure for smaller scale music such chamber music and solo piano.
My only complaint about them is their weight, and they are quite large, though not overly dominating. For a two and a half way speaker, they are very heavy - 40 kilos each.