Amaglioc, I got a chance to listen to the D30RS at the AXPONA this year and was pretty impressed with them. I now plan to do a road trip and try to cover the D48R and the Spendor D7/D9. I am hoping that by the end of this summer I should be able to pick a new loudspeaker.
I'm very glad it was helpful. I auditioned various speakers for months and listened to several ProAc models (several times, haha). The D20R was my first. It was a fine speaker, but I feared my room would swallow it up.
There were other models with "bigger" bass, Sonus and B&W among them, but it was often boomy or slow (which could have been the fault of lousy room setups). I thought with my ARC Ref75 amp, it might be smart to stay with a speaker known for bass control.
Thank You for the feedback. The reason I ask feedback from ProAc owners o the bass is because ProAc lists a frequency response of 20Hz for this speaker. At the same time, I have not come across a single negative or neutral review for ProAc D series. All owners love the midrange and the human voice that ProAcs reproduce.
You feedback make me more eager to audition this speaker soon. But the closest dealer is 400 miles away. So a proper planing is needed where I can cover at least 3-4 dealers of different speakers on my list.
Milpai, Sorry for the late reply. I didn't notice these new comments until tonight!
The bass performance of the D30R is of course very room dependent. I do think that downward facing port design achieves a specific and articulated bass, but is more easily obscured on poorer recordings. I've used a digital front end exclusively (that will change in two weeks; VPI Prime is on the way) and I find some music presents a jaunty bass, almost quick. On other recordings the bass loses itself in traffic, especially anything with modest to heavy dynamic compression, like Vampire Weekend, for example. Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours" or "Tusk" has no trouble.
This is also a byproduct of Audio Research components, I suspect. They don't use the tagline "High Definition" for nothing.
I'm in a big room and the D30Rs are right up against what they can maintain in terms of presence and soundstage. I might have chosen the 40s if I could Go back in time (and somehow had more cash). Yet the mids on the D30R are heavenly, voices and horns so clean and textured you want to cry. The tweeters are stunning and hard to fathom sometimes. Dimensionality of complex music like Buena Vista Social Club or some well recorded classical is first rate. Overall its a beautiful sound and I'm always full of gratitude when they play. Yet there are points to consider regrading bass performance.
In a smaller room such as you mentioned they should be fantastic.
I would like to hear from you about the ProAc D30Rs. Can you please throw some light on their bass performance. I have a slightly smaller room and was considering these as an upgrade. If you can post a mini review, I would love to read it.
Thanks to both of you! Yeah the Proacs are a beautiful sound with tubes.
Mark, that's a great idea for the cables! My current idea is to wait for the TT and see what the "temporary-permanent" arrangement looks like on the rack. Right now it's a real cable mess!
Hi there, I like your setup. I'm an Audio Research fan myself!
I'd like to make a suggestion that I think would be a huge upgrade in looks for your setup. For the TV cables, cut a hole behind the tv and a hole below the system rack, pass the cables through and cover the holes with plastic wall plates. I did this in my family room and it is great - no offensive hanging cables. It's not that difficult to do, takes a couple of hours. Good luck!
