Proac Response D1 or D2?

There is a very very slight tendency of shoutiness at higher volumes - which I am assuming I can do away by getting the KEF R700 speakers. The system is primarily for music (2.1 set up - actually 2.0 as the subwoofer is connected the preouts of the Integrated amplifier) but it works totally fine even with movies.

Always room for improvement. 

Actually, I read your post about the Proac D2 and Wharfedale speakers questioning the price-performance ratio.

That's how I feel about a lot of this. Probably just says a lot about the level of budget gear these days. There's just so much value products out there!

Yes There is always a room for.. As long as we know what we want!

Yeah.. The Wharfedale Diamond 9.1 are too birilliant for their price but when you think speakers in terms of wine, the VFM goes out of equation and it is more about the fun

I liked alot the sound of KEF R700 which is a proper three way design and when compared to Proac D18, on paper, is one driver / one way lesser than the KEF. But, as they say in HiFi, it is the whole picture synergy that matters! 

Hello WishTree,

A little sideway, maybe, but I noticed the PV1 in your signature. Is it always on when listening to music too? Do you consider this combination a valid alternative to a pair of large threeways (or maybe even better than that)? SpursGator also seems to use a sub, I saw in his signature. Could you (plural) comment on the virtues of this set-up?

Cheers

Long time back, when I just got into HiFi, I read some where that 'if something is recorded onto the song, then it needs to be reproduced to get the correct intended joy of that song'.

So when it comes to the low frequency, most of the respectable floor standers can not dig as low as +- 3db at 21Hz or +-6 db at 18Hz. That makes a subwoofer must (unlike movie watching where eyes & ears get engaged, music listening can pick up the additional low end weight).

As you might be aware that the biggest thing that works against a three way speaker in comparision to a two way speaker is the transition at the cut off frequency. With a three way there is a possibility of two dips and with two way just one.

When we translate this to a subwoofer which is mounted in a seperate enclosure, driven by a seperate amplifier, completely different most probably too different drivers from the main speakers and with much more plausible standing waves effected by the room acoustics etc etc - many people do not bother to integrate a sub into the music system and happy to invest much more on speakers which can dig few more hz below.

Let this not put off any one but only work as a guide to do the job right and that's where the PV1 comes in. It's pressure vessel construction makes bass very tight (extreme opposite of diffused) and also placement relatively easily. It can take the speaker level input as well which makes it easier for stereo set up (but I do with RCA). If the main speakers have bungs put them in and set the dial on sub 5-10hz more than the cut off frequency of the main speakers (mine is set at 60Hz). The tricky part is setting up the volume on the sub. Though initially I used to bring down the volume decrementally, I have figured out that bringing up the volume is better. Also I got carried away to set the volume on sub so that I can hear the sub but the trick is to set it in such a way that you set the maximum volume where you are unable to hear the sub seperately (I agree, it takes some trial and error). 

That is it. Once set up, you listen for a day with the sub on and the same tracks again with sub off and the sub goes never off! (In my case, I turn the sub off after 21.00 just to be nice to my neighbours though they never complained!)

Hey WishTree,

Thanks for the thorough answer! That's a lot of interesting info to swallow!

The way you set the volume of a sub is as the Dutch hifi-critic René Van Es describes he does. 

Your enthusiasm boosts my confidence that a standmounter-subwoofer set-up is the way to go!

And Batonwielder, sorry for taking advantage of your thread... Won't happen again

Erik

I know.. this is unfair.. I am moving this to a new thread

That's quite alright, guys. I'm actually learning something.

I just bought the sub - received it last week and am still tuning it - but it looks like it's going to be brilliant. I will post on my sub experience in a separate thread once I have a few weeks to give it a real audition.

In general I hate subwoofers and think you should avoid them. But I have a weird L-shaped room where I sit fairly close to the speakers, but there is a lot of air in the room. I auditioned a pair of D28s but you really need to be 3m or so away from these to get a good image (as the WHF review notes, you need some space for D28s). So D18s and a PV1D with very restrained levels and equalization is what I am trying...and like I said, it's going well.

Maybe we could continue the 'sub for hifi' in my thread "I'm going active! (2.1)"?

See you all there?

Cheers

Erik