Sweet sounding. Revealing, but not ruthlessly revealing. Very coherent sounding. Can be driven by low to medium powered amps (very, very important).

All I can think of is that it has no earth-shaking bass. But what's there is coherent, fast, and non-fatigueing.

I've used these for 6 months, so I feel I'm ready to comment on these speakers.

Firstly, they do need a VERY, VERY long break-in period, 3 to 4 months of daily playing before they sound their best.

These are truely lovely speakers. Before buying them, I listened very carefully to the Response 3.8s and the B&Ws. My fisrt and lasting impression was the the 2.5s were far sweeter and lusher than those speakers. Although the 3.8 is also a Proac, it seemed to have a different sonic quality. On the same amplification, it was sharper, somehow leaner, more revealing, and ultimately (I feel) not as enjoyable when compared to the 2.5s.

The B&Ws were dynamic! But in order to get the best of them, they needed 1) monster muscle amps, and 2) to be played at higher SPLs in order for the sound to really open up. I hooked them up to a 70 watt Conrad-Johnson. Forget it! It played plenty loud, but it lacked energy and sounded thin. To me, that's a flaw. Any speaker, no matter how good, must be able to be driven by a low to medium powered tube amp (say, 40 watts to 100 watts).

IMHO, tube amps (especially SETs) are a must if you have a digital front end. And who plays vinyl nowadays?

So I settled on the Proac 2.5. They were the cheapest, but that was a bonus for me. I preferred the sound even when money wasn't a consideration. A moderate volumes, the soundstage is fully expanded and there is no hint of the sound of the individual drivers. There seems to be a trend to believe that very good systems will make bad records sound bad and good records sound wonderful. That is not true of the 2.5s. ALL records are immensely enjoyable through them, which I feel should be the whole point of music in the first place.

My system:

Sony XA 7 ES
McIntosh C 38 pre
Jadis JA 35 power
Proac Response 2.5

Similar Products Used:

Auditioned the Response 3.8 and B&W Nautilus 803s and 802s.

I have heard the Proac 2.5 speakers in about five dealer showrooms and have never been impressed. The key word here is "showroom". The setups were less than ideal and in one case, a joke. The associated electronics were what the dealer was trying to sell and, in most cases, the software was what the salesperson wanted to hear. The 2.5 is an audiophile product and needs audiophile amplification, cables and source. If you don't hear it with that setup, then don't review it.

It's amazing the controversy inspired by such a stately, warm-sounding British speaker. I own the 2.5s along with Merlins and Gershmans, so I'd ditch these Proacs if they stunk. Paired with an extremely revealing amp like a Joule VZN-80, these speakers are magical. They go far lower in bass response than the driver (and cabinet) size would suggest, project a very pleasing midrange and top end, and image very well. The cherry wood is lightly flamed and therefore quite attractive. My only caveat would be to avoid pairing this smooth-sounding speaker with an amp that too agressively rolls off the highs.

I just finished reading all the reviews of this speaker posted here, and it appears clear that there is a wild range of opinion, even if some of the reviews contain factually incorrect information. So, here are my two cents.
I have owned 2.5's for 3 years--purchased the first pair in Colorado. As I was working in a hifi store at the time I had the opportunity to hear just about everything available, and did. I kept coming back to 2.5's. They are tuneful (something I found the Sonus Fabers lacking), musical and thoroughly enjoyable. They do require careful setup and high quality sources and amplification, but when those conditions are met they really sing.

Given that I use Naim electronics and a Linn LP12, the speakers strengths in tune and musicality (and grip) really caught me up. There are other speakers that can image slightly better, or project larger soundstages, or whatever, but in terms of musical involvement and interest the only speakers I have heard that are convincingly better are the Naim DBL's in a full Naim active system. Also, their bass response is astonishing when driven with the Naim 250 (admittedly an amplifier known for grip) and it exceeded the clarity and extension of other speakers I tried. If the speaker is used with a tube amp (I tried it with ARC VT150 SE's) the bass is less well defined and less extended. I have talked with other people who say several of the SET amps work well as long as you don't mind sacrificing some bass.

Overall, I find the speaker to be lively, tuneful, extremely musical and simply wonderful to listen to. Also, I think it well built--not only in terms of construction quality but also well thought out. As they say, the devil is in the details, and ProAc paid attention to them. I am sorry that others don't share my appreciation for this speaker, but c'est la vie !

Cheers !

Vocals, Soundstage

Break-in Period

(yet another positive review for this product, after waiting almost two months for the speakers to break-in!)

Very natural, airy vocals are the highlight of these speakers, along with their ability to build a coherent soundstage. Instruments are extremely well delineated, with plenty of air around each, while still presenting a beautiful "musical" experience.

I have found them only limited by the quality of the source material in their ability to present accurate, beautiful music. At times, with the right quality recordings, the sound is truely gorgeous, the equal of systems costing five times as much that i have heard. Difference of course is mainly in the bass, which is quite adequate on these, well defined upper-bass range, a little boomy on bottom if you overdrive them.

They work extremely well with my Jeff Rowland integrated amp and Kimber Kable Bifocal-XL cables. Speaker placement is critical, and I found the Chesky Audio Set-Up CD a big help here.

My choice came down to Audio Physic Virgos and the ProAc's.
I felt that the Virgos were 'disappearing' in a way that the ProAc could not match, and even liked the bass better on the Virgos(not much rock listening in my repetoire) as it is more accurate if not as full.

I choose the ProAc in the end...because they worked extremely well with the Rowland. I could only test the virgos with Krell seperates, and the sound was only fair. The Virgos really worked best with tubes. but i didn't want to go that route.

5 stars value - don't believe me, wait till you compare
4 stars overall - there is better bass out there

Similar Products Used:

Audio Physic Virgos, Thiel2.3, LinnAV5140,JPM Labs, Dynaudio3.0,

a very good bass,and midrange

the tweeter is verry good,but not in the hi end.

i am verry happy for theese loudspeakers. try them++

Similar Products Used:

no.