Proac D18

why would you choose ProAcs over Magnepan?

Nice speaker's I had the chance trying theme.

unfortunatly it was on the 356 nad.

First I upgrade my amp but when I upgrade my speakers they will be on my list

Well, I heard them both playing my music with the same electronics in a good room, with optimal placement and the proacs just make my ears happier.  The Maggie 1.7s are excellent and showed it, but believe it or not, they were less transparent than the proacs.  The proacs also sounded much more dynamic.  The Maggies were missing the punchy sound the proacs delivered.   I've heard teh Maggies before and they are impressive, but they are not good all arounders and the proacs are.  The only thing I liked about the Magnepans over the proacs was the image size.  The Magnepans threw out a life size image.  The proac image was smaller.  Still the proacs were both more enjoyable and more "hifi" at the same time.  

As an owner to a pair of D18s over a year now..........I cannot agree more with jaxwired comments on them...

Hi Jax,

ProAc D18 is a very fine loud speaker, one I would have kept probably had my room been a bit more forgiving in the base department.

Cheers

That's what we find. As I've said before, this model has been one of our most popular products in the sub £3k, even more so than more 'accurate' models at the same price (and we have lots of alternatives!). When you hear them, it's not hard to hear why so many people prefer them.

thanks for the reply. I was curious to hear your impression as I have Magnepan MG12 at home ATM. I also have Dynaudio Focus 110 (but you can see all that in my sig). for me right now living with Magnepan I would describe as a love/ hate relationship . there's a few things I don't like about MG12 but other things they make soooo goood that it just prevents me from unplugging them and bringing in the Dyns again. as you mentioned, the soundstage has so believable size and they disappear completely (waaay better than Dyns ever did), despite their large size. and they have much better resolution compared to Dyns. I wouldn't say they are more detailed like there's more high freq detail in your face but the micro detail like reverberation, silent sounds are much better fleshed out. I'm blabbering now...

anyway, I decided to keep Magnepans for now as I see/ hear a great potential in them. I'm seriously thinking of making planars my speakers of choice. so I decided to give a try the numerous Maggies mod recipes you can find on the internet. first of all getting rid of the fuse. it's supposed to be bringing in more clarity to the sound. second of all upgrading, or entirely changing crossover network. they use cheap passive components so upgrading them should bring in better tonal balance as transients will not be smeared so badly. third of all making a new wooden frame as it absorbs the vibrations rather than rejects them as MDF does (there's no suspension in Magnepan planar driver unlike you can normally see in conventional woofers, for instance, so that's why absorption of resonances is so crucial). I think for now I'll go ahead with point 1 and 2 and see what happens then... I also hope the bass would improve with upgraded xover as it's tad too lean for my liking ATM. I really like it being so fast and accurate (so much more resolution in mid bass as compared to Dyns) but I wish it was slightly more fuller.

Interesting comments jax - how do they compare your obi wans?

Mine are just burning in still, and a noticeable jump up from the S6e, but perhaps not as big as I'd have thought. Mightily impressive, but then the spens were clearly up there too.

Coincidentally I demoed these today also - also just for kicks, as I'm delighted with my current speakers. 

My experience just goes to show how each have their individual tastes! I heard them through electronics superior to mine but with which I am familiar and also playing my own music, in particular one of my favourite albums 'Blue Skied An' Clear'. If I didn't know my 40s so well I expect I would have been extremely impressed by these speakers and certainly they are 'fun' and I can imagine many people purchasing. Stereo imaging was also a plus.

However, as well as 'lacking the bottom octave', I found that the mid to lower bass was rather blurred and inaccurate, and that this in turn had a knock-on effect on the mid-range, slightly veiling in particular female vocals. I also found the treble timing slightly off, with transients being a little 'splashy'. Overall, it made me realise what a good test CD this was, with the kit needing to excel in separation, detail, timing, transients and bass speed and texture to show it off well. I should say the speakers were pretty well run in.

None of that's meant to upset anyone who's a fan and as I say I'm sure they'll make a lot of people very happy. But for me, they made me absolutely delighted with the qualities of my 40s 

They are far from perfect, though I tend to make a £/sound analysis - on this basis the s6es i had were better vfm by some margin. Wouldn't put them in the category of *fun*, sounds like rock party MA GX for example. 

Trouble is, we cant really judge music by some kind of cost analysis so it's all rather pointless ultimately. I haven't heard SCM40s, wish I had though. 

This sounds like a confessionsal to me . What were you doing being unfaithful to your ATC's .You knew what the result would be , but did it any way.

Indeed. No speaker is perfect and is therefore a matter of accepting certain compromises to go alongside certain qualities, and I can well see how the D18s' particular mix would make a lot of people very happy  I also think at the price you've paid you've got a really good deal and I'm really pleased you're enjoying your new speakers 

Confessing what??  I don't see how listening to other speakers is being 'unfaithful', I ain't married to my speakers  Seems to me a good idea to listen when I get the chance, and do my best to keep up with what's going on! And precisely because I wasn't looking to change I went in with a very open mind; I didn't have any particular areas I wanted them to do well in or was concerned they would not excel at, so I wouldn't say I knew what the result was going to be. 

Obviously I'm playing a dangerous game, cos I may end up listening to something that blows my 40s out the water. Not just yet tho 

But only in the same way that the 40s make *some* people happy. Nothing is all things to everyone, as it was th ATC's were off my radar for many reasons, so didn't try to listen to them. Prejudice maybe, no regrets here for sure

Lucky you then