Proac D48R

Ron,

I was able to demo the sort fut, and as I said it did make a significant positive difference. The downside is the price. I have sort kone TC under my amp and preamp.

I did not try the other Nordost speaker cables before purchasing the Tyr 2.  I bought a trade-in pair, which I did take home and try, then kept them. The pricing on the trade-in pair was too good for me to consider another Nordost speaker cable choice.  I jumper the speaker cables per my dealer's recommendation with the Nordost Reference bi-wire jumpers.

I have 2 pieces of Valhalla 2 in my system, a tonearm cable on my primary turntable and the AC cable from the wall to my QB-8. The interconnects are Tyr 2 and the other AC cables are Frey 2.

Thanks for the comment on the album wall. My wife helped me with that and we both like to look at it. The lady on the cover of Whipped Cream is still around and lives in Seattle area according to an article I saw a while ago.

I hope you enjoy you Proac speakers as much as I enjoy mine.

Best Regards,

Jim Perry

Jim,

As soon as I find the right position for my speakers and fully break them in I will try the Sort Fut. 

I really like your upgrade path... Analogue, tubes, Nordost and Proac, I know what your system sounds like. I'm really into Joni Mitchell, Meshell Ndegeocello, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Seal, Shawn Colvin, Billie Holiday  and Pat Metheny just to name a few. These artists would sound so good on your system. To me there's nothing like a female vocalist floating between the speakers...Goosebumps!

Thanks so much for your input and I will keep in touch.

Ron

In this thread and others regarding Proac speakers D48R vs D30R inquiring minds have wondered which would be a better fit.
EX: Would the D48R's be TOO BIG for my medium size room? Should I get the D30's instead?
I would like to point out that speaker size and room size are only two out of four parameters that factor into deciding the right speaker for you.
We must also consider the amount of amplification and the volume.
As many posters have suggested, the D48R's can be driven with modest amount of tube amplification - even under 50 watts - to satisfying listening levels. Both speakers are capable of playing very loud. The D30's will overpower a room driven by a 300 watt amplifier at high volume whereas the D48R's would not if they were driven by a less powerful amplifier OR the same 300 watt amp at a lesser volume.
I chose the D48R over the 30 because it is a better speaker - it improves on all the strengths of the 30 - better bass, even more refined highs and a richer, meatier, more palpable presentation across the board. I use a 300 watt CODA integrated amplifier.

I have found that in general, most speakers will not over power a room.  It's all about room treatments no matter what you run as a system.  They don't even need to be expensive.  Folks seem to worry about the bass.  That's the biggest reason I went with the Vandersteen Quatro's as I wanted to have total control of the bass, however I also auditioned the D48R and D30R.  Both are spec'd to 20hz, however it doesn't show how much they are down at that point.  One moves more air than the other, but I also felt that the sound was much more fleshed out with the 48's.  I felt they gave me a much larger sound stage, that you'd expect from a larger speaker.  There was just more of everything like the poster above stated.  It's just a much more refined speaker in every way.  You can get standing waves in any room if you push too hard and that's often distortion that will ruin the speakers as well as the sound.

Loved tsloan's post about amps too as it's common sense and what so many 'audiophile's' constantly don't even think about.  Manufacturer's recommendations for amp power are just that.  Recommendations...  A great amp delivering clean power is what is needed.  The 48's will need an amp that can control the bass and mid bass units and any top amp will do that.  Anyone using a speaker like this will most probably be running a top amp and if not, they may want to rethink their systems, lol.

I miss my ProAc's, but love my Vandy's better.  Just lot's of great choices with all the new technology these days.

Folks,
The decision has been made. My ProAc D48R in Ebony are on order. Should get them by end of November or start of December.