TEMPTATIONS
Do the Proac Response D2R speakers match their price tag?
“An agile, lively performance that mixes information with entertainment as well as anything we’ve heard at this price”
We reviewed the original Proac Response D2s back in 2008. Still in production, they’re unassuming, mid-sized standmounters that, despite their advanced years, remain competitive with the class leaders.
The new Response D2RS aren’t actually a replacement, they’re intended to complement the original design, which now costs £2165. On paper, the big news is the inclusion of a ribbon tweeter. Proac has long offered the choice of a ribbon tweeter instead of a dome unit in its pricier Response floorstanders, but this is the first time buyers of the standmounters have had such an option.
BURY UNWANTED RESONANCE
What we have here is a mid-sized standmounter that stands 43cm high. The cabinet is made of 15mm-thick marine ply lined with heavy bituminous damping. It mirrors the cabinet design principles of Bbc-inspired Spendors, and the idea is to move cabinet resonances away from the midrange – where our hearing is at its most acute – into the bass region, where it’s less sensitive.
The big headline is the use of the ribbon tweeter. It’s the same lovely 60 x 10mm unit as used on the company’s pricier Response models. There’s a damped rear chamber behind the diaphragm to help with dynamics and clarity and, rather unusually, an Alnico magnet rather than the Neodymium we might have expected.
In its own way, the 16.5cm mid/bass driver is just as impressive a unit, with its stiff chassis, carefully honed motor system, copper phase-plug and glass-fibre cone. It’s tuned by a forward-firing port and is claimed to reach down to a pretty impressive 30Hz, though Proac’s specifications don’t list the output-level limits for that measurement.
Proac has always tried to make its speakers compatible with a wide range of amplifiers, and so it is here. A sensitivity of 88db/w/m and nominal impedance of 8 ohms is around par for the course, but these speakers are an easier electrical load to drive than most rivals.
We’re used to Proac turning out well-built speakers and the D2RS uphold that tradition. These feel solid and are obviously built with care. There’s a choice of six standard real-wood veneers – black ash, mahogany, cherry, walnut, oak or something the company calls white silk. Hand over an extra £200 and you can have rosewood or ebony.
You’ll need to put a little bit of work into installing these speakers if you want to get the best out of them. Our review samples took around three days of continuous use to sound their best, after initially sounding constricted and lacking in tonal warmth. So don’t be quick to judge if you’re hearing factory-fresh samples.
Don’t skimp on supports either. In our experience, these boxes sound best on solid, mass-loaded stands. Given the D2R’S transparency (not to mention price) it pays to partner them with equally capable sources and amplification. We spend an afternoon comparing Naim’s Supernait 3 amplifier (£3499) with Mark Levinson’s 5805 integrated (£7995) with our reference Burmester 088/911 Mk 3 combo (£36,150). The Proacs prove wonderfully transparent about showing the relative strengths and weaknesses of each option. Over the session, the D2RS are almost as revealing as our reference ATC SCM50S – and those cost the thick end of £10k.
That ribbon tweeter has many positives, but it’s fairly demanding about optimum set-up. Make sure you keep the speakers away from walls and get the toe-in angle towards the listening position right – it’s about getting the best balance between stereo focus and image solidity.
We plumb these Proacs into our reference system – Naim ND 555/555 PS DR music streamer and Burmester 088/911 Mk3 amplifier – and sit back.
The Response D2RS are wonderfully expressive speakers, even at low volumes. We play Melody Gardot’s Mira, and they respond with an agile and lively performance that mixes information with entertainment as well as anything else we’ve heard at this price. Their midrange is a real highlight, delivering Gardot’s rich, playful tones with real skill. These speakers convey the nuances and varying texture of her voice superbly, making it sound alive.
We’re pleased with the way the Proacs deliver the song’s complex rhythms too. There’s precision, coupled with a good sense of drive, and the ability to sound fluid while doing it. Even speakers as capable as Dynaudio’s Special Fortys sound a little more matter-of-fact about doing this.
We switch to Stravinsky’s The Rite Of Spring and these Proacs continue to impress with their large-scale dynamics and authority. These aren’t particularly big speakers, so really deep bass isn’t on the menu, but for their size, the low-end is impressively deep and authoritative.
A RIBBON THAT TIES IN NICELY
That ribbon tweeter shines in the amount of detail it resolves, and unlike similar designs avoids sounding a little sterile and tonally grey. The integration with the mid/bass is handled seamlessly and the D2RS have a consistency of character from the lowest frequency up that’s impressive.
Stereo imaging is nicely layered and pleasingly precise. It’s a large-scale soundstage that remains stable and solid even when the music becomes demanding.
The word neutral isn’t the first thing to come to mind when we think of the Proac’s tonal balance. Similarly priced models from the likes of Spendor or ATC excel in this area, but the D2RS don’t obviously come up short. Though they have a stronger character than some of their rivals, that character is really likeable and tends to work well across a wide range of music.
These boxes have a natural warmth to the midrange that helps to make voices sound more convincing, but perhaps they need a little more enthusiasm in the upper frequencies to be truly accurate. However, none of these things detract notably from their considerable strengths.
Despite their obvious transparency, these Proacs never strike us as analytical tools. Given suitably talented partners, they excel at giving the music the limelight. We can’t ask any more than that.