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How few watts with the Proac Response D Two?

130.226.56.2
Posted on November 5, 2009 at 03:04:36
Frihed89
Audiophile

Posts: 8435
Location: Copenhagen
Joined: March 21, 2005
 Both my LS3/5As and Quad 12Ls are easily driven by an 8W SET I have. (I also have PP amps in the 25-50W range). Now I want to replace the Quads with the Proac Response Two. I have heard them a couple of times in the UK and they are more to my liking than the Quads, but when i mention that i will drive them with 8W, I only get eye-ball rolls (but not as many as when i mention that the LS3/5As work great with 8W).

Stereophile's measured electrical load and phase curves don't send off any alarm bells. The min is 6 Ohms around 100 hz. Almost all the rest is well above 8 Ohms and relatively flat. It looks quite a bit like the Quads in that regard, but is a more sensitive speaker.

Has anyone actually used these speakers successfully with as little as 8W?
"What did the Romans ever do for us?"
RE: How few watts with the Proac Response D Two?, posted on November 10, 2009 at 09:41:55
jazz1
Audiophile

Posts: 959
Joined: October 30, 2000
 Today I hooked up the ProAc response 2 D to the Radford STA15 using an EAR pre. The answer is that the STA15 drives the D2 well, marvellously natural mids, actually one of the best I've heard.
Female vocal sounded just so right.
It was set up in a relatively small room 11 x 16.
Difficult to tell how it would work in a room double the size.
I am really impressed with the D2, good luck.

I owned them and I think they like some power, posted on November 7, 2009 at 23:32:38
ejlif
Audiophile

Posts: 242
Joined: January 6, 2002
 to sound best. I ran mine with 400 watt Parasound JC-1s and it was a great combo. They just didn't come alive with 100 watts I tried them with.

RE: How few watts with the Proac Response D Two?, posted on November 6, 2009 at 09:52:15
jazz1
Audiophile

Posts: 959
Joined: October 30, 2000
 We have some D2 in the shop and I also got a refurbished Radford STA15
(15W) I'll try them with it and report back.

That's kind of you. nt, posted on November 6, 2009 at 10:43:07
Frihed89
Audiophile

Posts: 8435
Location: Copenhagen
Joined: March 21, 2005
 nt
"What did the Romans ever do for us?"
From the Proac site..., posted on November 6, 2009 at 02:40:43
pretzel_logic
Audiophile

Posts: 1866
Location: NE Illinois
Joined: October 30, 2002
Contributor
  Since: February 10, 2009
 30 watts minimum is their recommendation so I would go with what they say. If you're in the 25 watt range you would most likely be okay but there are a lot of factors that come into play, room size and listening habits are 2 of the important ones as well as how efficient your watts are.

Um, a little confusion might have crept in..., posted on November 5, 2009 at 19:29:34
John Marks
Industry Professional

Posts: 2420
Joined: April 23, 2000
 Hi-

AFAIK, Stereophile has mentioned the ProAc D Two only in some reports from FSI in Montréal. It is a fairly new speaker, and I am waiting for the arrival of some samples for evaluation.

At FSI I heard the D Twos with the Leben integrated amp with 28Wpc. And, the person running the demo dived for the volume knob as tenor Brian Cheney was about to climax on "Che gelida manina." So, I think they might be a bit power-hungry.

There is an archived Stereophile review of a ProAc speaker called the Response Two. A different animal, AFAIK.

ProAc is not the only speaker company with nomenclature that is confusing to people who don't draw their paychecks there. E.g., the Harbeth "Compact" 7 is larger than the Monitor 30. Right, I get it. "Compact" plus a lower number means: larger. Thanks.

JM

Thanks...I was looking at the old review, posted on November 6, 2009 at 00:31:36
Frihed89
Audiophile

Posts: 8435
Location: Copenhagen
Joined: March 21, 2005
 I'll wait for your review. I am looking for a stand mounted speaker that sounds like the LS3/5A when driven by a 300B SET (with very good output transformers), but is a bit faster on orchestral music...other than AN.
"What did the Romans ever do for us?"
RE: How few watts with the Proac Response D Two?, posted on November 5, 2009 at 15:47:25
Pingvin
 I compared D2s against Tablettes Ref Sig 8s at the end of a Cary Xciter integrated (notionally approx 5 watts with EL34s run in triode mode). The little Tablettes (which I own and know well) sang; the D2s I think needed more power. This isn't a question of loudness, it's a matter of control. With the D2s, it felt like the Cary was working hard. ProAc specifies min 10w for the RS8s but 30w for the D2s, IIRC. Impedance plots and voltage sensitivity don't seem to tell the whole story.

OTOH, show reports of the D2s with Leben 600 (approx 30w) report great results.

Impedance and phase diagrams can point to problem areas, posted on November 6, 2009 at 00:37:32
Frihed89
Audiophile

Posts: 8435
Location: Copenhagen
Joined: March 21, 2005
 There can be areas of reactance that, while not extreme, can call for current fluxes that many tube amp designs can't supply. But your right, this can only really be confirmed by listening and experimenting.

Why did the original Quad II monos work so well with the Quads '57s, for example?


"What did the Romans ever do for us?"
I heard the Response 3s..., posted on November 5, 2009 at 11:43:39
mkuller
Audiophile

Posts: 15929
Location: SF Bay Area
Joined: April 22, 2003
Contributor
  Since: December 28, 2003
 ...in the mid-1990s at CES driven by a Cary tubed amp around 25w/ch, IIRC.

They sounded terrific and I was surprised by the bass slam.

I owned the Response 3s and 3.5s so I took notice.

RE: How few watts with the Proac Response D Two?, posted on November 5, 2009 at 08:01:36
Larry I
Audiophile

Posts: 1242
Joined: June 28, 2000
Contributor
  Since: June 28, 2000
 I've heard them with pushpull 45 amps in a fairly big dealer showroom. With that small amount of power, the speakers sounded big and dynamic. The same dealer uses that same kind of low powered amps for all sorts of speakers, including the Quads. They have even used small triode amps with the Quad electrostatics.

I have 2.5's which are floorstanders..., posted on November 5, 2009 at 07:12:13
pretzel_logic
Audiophile

Posts: 1866
Location: NE Illinois
Joined: October 30, 2002
Contributor
  Since: February 10, 2009
 24watts/channel and I rarely have the volume control past the 10:00 position, and that's loud.

RE: How few watts with the Proac Response D Two?, posted on November 5, 2009 at 05:19:12
Dave Pogue
Audiophile

Posts: 7491
Location: DC Area
Joined: October 9, 2001
Contributor
  Since: March 18, 2003
 I heard my old Response 2s in my room (18 x 40') driven by 6 wpc tube amps designed and built by a friend. Sounded terrific. Those speakers love tubes. Eight watts is plenty, assuming that the transformers are good ones.

Edit: I'm speaking of the original Response 2, as per the text in your post. Don't know about a "Response D Two" as in your heading.

OK. Yes, I have Audio Note HiB Double C Core OPTs, posted on November 5, 2009 at 09:25:39
Frihed89
Audiophile

Posts: 8435
Location: Copenhagen
Joined: March 21, 2005
 Thanks. The D Twos ought to be a little easier to drive and they are slightly more sensitive. But I have to hear them first. That will be a challenge, although I do travel in the EU and non-EU Eastern European countries a lot. I've just never looked for Proac equipment on my travels.
"What did the Romans ever do for us?"
RE: OK. Yes, I have Audio Note HiB Double C Core OPTs, posted on November 7, 2009 at 06:04:32
endust4237
Distributor or Rep

Posts: 161
Location: europe
Joined: February 12, 2006
 If you are in Hungary just give me a call to listen the Response D Two, I just have one pair with a Naim Uniti network player/Cd player/tuner/2x50W amp in one of my rooms. The sound is really involving, the music flows very well. I can show it with an Altmann BYOB battery driven amp and a Leben CS300 XS Limited tube integrated too. Or with a monster 1250W studio amp (class A for few watts) :-).

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