Try the Proac D 48rs or 30rs with Aesthetix Atlas series amps or Mimas integrated amps with Zero feedbackquite simply the strings will sound right.You will also experience a more effortless feel with dynamics over the above. Best JohnnyR Proac/Aesthetix dealer.
Proac D30RS vs. Spendor Classic 1/2 (or maybe Harbeth SHL5+)?
Hi everyone! Should the dice fall right, I might soon be able to start buying the components for a new, much better audio system. Please advise me because I can’t listen the specific models I’m interested in, I’ve only heard their more or less close relatives. Some relevant information (sorry for the long post!):
1. Room: about 23 square meters, about 0.6 meters empty space behind the speakers, placed on the the long wall, about 2 meters apart and 2-3 meters to the listening spot.
2. Music: mainly classical and jazz, also some rock (Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, King Crimson...), pop (Sade, Jewel...) and, rarely, electronic music (Vangelis, Jarre etc.). A lot of piano.
3. Preferences: the correct reproduction of piano is of utmost importance; in general, I want great reproduction of the acoustic instruments. I want to hear easily the differences between various timbres, the materials the instruments are made of etc. I also care a lot about good microdynamics and macrodynamics; tactile, detailed, effortless and lively sound at low to medium sound pressure levels; fluid, relaxed and extended highs with good speed (I love my Stax headphones!); colorful and linear midrange (not thin because of a dip in the lower midrange or with exaggerated presence zone), full and reasonably punchy bass down to 30-35 Hz, good soundstage width with a feeling of space. I know, I want a lot. I hate an (even slightly) bleached, grey, monochrome sound. I want a lot of light in the sound, and prefer it slightly warm.
In terms of future matching: I hate amplifier hiss, so the future amplifier will have to be very silent, hence no tubes I guess. I know, Proacs love tubes. Maybe I’ll try a pair of Schiit Aegir power amps, for a start, I don’t know yet.
4. Acceptable compromises for me: I can live without bass extension below 30Hz, great soundstage depth, soundstage height, the ability to play very loud, a very wide sweet spot (although I’d prefer good horizontal dispersion).
5. A few relevant past experiences:
a) Spendor D7 (with Pass Labs pre / power, PS Audio CD player and dac): not for me, great detail and extension but much too incisive, the tweeter was almost screaming, elevated presence zone with a recessed midrange below.
b) Harbeth M30.2 Anniversary (with low powered Sugden @! SE class A amplifier): too anemic / polite, needed more power IMO, made me realize I need greater scale so probably a bigger speaker
c) Proac D48R (with Devialet 250, highly treated, almost anechoic rather small room): incredible highs! Best upper piano notes I’ve ever heard. Very detailed, tactile and extremely silent background (both the room and the amp contributed). A bit dry and clinical mids and bass - must have been the amp? The violins did not have enough sweetness, for example. In spite of the lively and very detailed sound at low levels, I think I needed a bit more body to the bass (not amount, it was definitely enough, but, I don’t know, midbass fullness?) so I was tempted to crank up the volume. When I did it, the bass over-pressurized the room. Remarkable sound, anyway, maybe the best I’ve heard.
d) Spendor SP2/3R2 (with Densen top of the line integrated amp and M2Tech dac): the most balanced sound I’ve ever heard, everything was in the correct proportion. Great wooden and textured sound of the cello and in general the reproduction of the acoustic timbres was great, good scale of the orchestra (that pleasant sound a big box is able to reproduce!), nice and deep enough bass (but it was a bass-y sounding room, so I don’t know about that..), silky and nuanced highs. I liked everything about them, and listening to a Spendor A7 later on (with a similar if not identical tweeter) was further confirmation that I like this tweeter.
I’ll probably get a chance to listen to the Harbeth SHL5+, but I don’t expect to like it more than the Spendor Classic sound.
So I expect the Spendor Classic 1/2 to win on tone, timbre, scale and naturaleness and the Proac D30RS to win on extension, detail, effortlessness and pristine highs. What do you think? What do I do?
Thanks for your patience!
1. Room: about 23 square meters, about 0.6 meters empty space behind the speakers, placed on the the long wall, about 2 meters apart and 2-3 meters to the listening spot.
2. Music: mainly classical and jazz, also some rock (Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, King Crimson...), pop (Sade, Jewel...) and, rarely, electronic music (Vangelis, Jarre etc.). A lot of piano.
3. Preferences: the correct reproduction of piano is of utmost importance; in general, I want great reproduction of the acoustic instruments. I want to hear easily the differences between various timbres, the materials the instruments are made of etc. I also care a lot about good microdynamics and macrodynamics; tactile, detailed, effortless and lively sound at low to medium sound pressure levels; fluid, relaxed and extended highs with good speed (I love my Stax headphones!); colorful and linear midrange (not thin because of a dip in the lower midrange or with exaggerated presence zone), full and reasonably punchy bass down to 30-35 Hz, good soundstage width with a feeling of space. I know, I want a lot. I hate an (even slightly) bleached, grey, monochrome sound. I want a lot of light in the sound, and prefer it slightly warm.
In terms of future matching: I hate amplifier hiss, so the future amplifier will have to be very silent, hence no tubes I guess. I know, Proacs love tubes. Maybe I’ll try a pair of Schiit Aegir power amps, for a start, I don’t know yet.
4. Acceptable compromises for me: I can live without bass extension below 30Hz, great soundstage depth, soundstage height, the ability to play very loud, a very wide sweet spot (although I’d prefer good horizontal dispersion).
5. A few relevant past experiences:
a) Spendor D7 (with Pass Labs pre / power, PS Audio CD player and dac): not for me, great detail and extension but much too incisive, the tweeter was almost screaming, elevated presence zone with a recessed midrange below.
b) Harbeth M30.2 Anniversary (with low powered Sugden @! SE class A amplifier): too anemic / polite, needed more power IMO, made me realize I need greater scale so probably a bigger speaker
c) Proac D48R (with Devialet 250, highly treated, almost anechoic rather small room): incredible highs! Best upper piano notes I’ve ever heard. Very detailed, tactile and extremely silent background (both the room and the amp contributed). A bit dry and clinical mids and bass - must have been the amp? The violins did not have enough sweetness, for example. In spite of the lively and very detailed sound at low levels, I think I needed a bit more body to the bass (not amount, it was definitely enough, but, I don’t know, midbass fullness?) so I was tempted to crank up the volume. When I did it, the bass over-pressurized the room. Remarkable sound, anyway, maybe the best I’ve heard.
d) Spendor SP2/3R2 (with Densen top of the line integrated amp and M2Tech dac): the most balanced sound I’ve ever heard, everything was in the correct proportion. Great wooden and textured sound of the cello and in general the reproduction of the acoustic timbres was great, good scale of the orchestra (that pleasant sound a big box is able to reproduce!), nice and deep enough bass (but it was a bass-y sounding room, so I don’t know about that..), silky and nuanced highs. I liked everything about them, and listening to a Spendor A7 later on (with a similar if not identical tweeter) was further confirmation that I like this tweeter.
I’ll probably get a chance to listen to the Harbeth SHL5+, but I don’t expect to like it more than the Spendor Classic sound.
So I expect the Spendor Classic 1/2 to win on tone, timbre, scale and naturaleness and the Proac D30RS to win on extension, detail, effortlessness and pristine highs. What do you think? What do I do?
Thanks for your patience!
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- 21 posts total
@audioconnection: Thanks for the suggestions, a bit too rich for my blood I'm afraid and I cannot hear these amplifiers before buying either. They definitely look like a quality proposition, though! @donvito: Several reasons: I heard the previous model (SP2/3R2), not the current Classic 2/3; not sure about the bass extension, the bigger box of the Classic 1/2 looks more promising in this regard; I expect the 3 way to have a more detailed midrange (which, as a Stax headphones user, is important to me); also, there were some reports about older Spendors getting their woofer suspension less flexible in time and requiring improvised treatment with brake fluid and such, so I hope the last generation of Spendors will have improved on this. |
- 21 posts total