Proac D-30R

Amaglioc,

When I auditioned the D-20R and D-48R I brought my Manley
Snappers along. I thought they had excellent synergy together and was a big part of the decision to go with
the Proac's.

I have a pair of Proac D-40r and I am using Quicksilver V-4 amplifiers to power them with great results.

Milpai,

I haven't made a final decision yet, but as of this morning--haha--the D30R remains the speaker to which I experienced the strongest reaction. Yesterday's auditions were a mixed bag. I was temporarily disoriented by a sharp price reduction in the 803d2 and 804d2 (because of d3's waiting in the wings). Ultimately I didn't respond to the sound enough to care about the price reduction. Then, the Paradigm 95f I heard at Starpower Dallas had a blown driver! (The imaging was stil superb)

I think I'll go to a different store and listen to the Paradigm and the Revel F208 again. It was too easy to dismiss them given their reputation and I suspect it was a combo of ear fatigue and the atrocious conditions of the showroom.

I added the Vandersteen Treo to the list (conveniently available in the same store as the ProAc), and then I will stop. I haven't heard PMC, no. Perhaps one more to sneak on the list? At some point you have to stop, right?

About bass response. My reaction was the bass sounded recessed and perhaps uneven on the Response D20R, but that was not a problem at all on the D30R. My notes say it was crisp and assertive and tonally satisfying.

Thank you, Cmach and Jperry, for the amp recommendations. It's been fun thinking of what electronics best suit the various speakers!

Very interested in this discussion. I am in a similar situation. I currently own the Proac D38, which is the one equipment in my system that I have not felt the need to change in the past 7 years of owning it. It is currently paired with the Audio Research LS26 and VS60 and Rega DAC-R. Amazing synergy!

However, my recent move to a much smaller place(14 x 11 feet) have forced me to look at a small pair of speakers. I am seriously considering the D30r as I really like the Proac sound.. My local dealer currently do not have the 30r on display so I am very keen on hearing everyone's opinion.. 

In the spirit of follow up, (and to celebrate a little), I finalized my choice for the ProAc D30R today. It's a great speaker and was, in the end, the easiest of the choices to make. I found electronics far more beguiling: separates versus integrated, tube versus solid state, used versus new; and the whole question of how--or even if--to integrate it all with existing home theater components. 

Today I intended to audition an ARC SP20 (as a sort of stand-in for an LS17se the dealer didn't have yet but could obtain) with the ARC DS450 solid state amp. Demo system included a Rega transport and of course the ProAcs D30R on the other end. I found the ARC solid state amp very impressive, especially for well-recorded rock with a little dynamic range left. For jazz it was good, not always amazing. The bass was "grippy," as they say, and the mids were quite transparent and rich. Still I felt there was an element lacking from my previous session when the ARC VSi60 was pushing the show. Everybody says tubes with ProAc, maybe more than I've seen that advice for any speaker.

One thing led led to another and I found myself listening to an ARC 75se with the ProAcs, and it was a transformative experience. Talk about making those speakers sing. Before all this, I had no real listening experience with tubes. To go from no experience to one of the finest valve amps available with a tube-voiced speaker like the ProAc was disorienting and shocking. The staging and atmospherics, the tunefulness of the bass, along with the clear liquidity of voices and wood instruments, simply left me stunned. While the DS450 presented a vivid, detailed portrait of the music, the Ref75 *was* the music, present in the room in a visceral and tactile way, like some transparent and holographic labyrinth. 

So I bought the components, the ARC 75se and the SP20, because what they do together is genuinely beautiful and there would have been no way to "unhear" it. I feel like I'm at the start of a very cool musical journey, and the ProAcs showed me the trail.