Everything and more you can think of at this price!

Carfull matching will give it's payback. Beware of overdamped amplifiers like Densen DM10. ProAcs require little looser sound with lot of dynamics and power potential. If you own tubes you want get only music. You'll get magic.

I've been using theese speakers for a while now and would like to share my view. There is a common missunderstanding among the people who tend to give ProAc's high score on reviews. The mistake is that they compare ProAc's to similary priced loudpeakers. No wonder they like them. The Studio 100 should be compared to other speakers that cost at least twise as much. You do that and you'll come to conclusions: -ProAc's have most delicate and natural midrange that beats more expensive competition. - Soundstage is wider, deeper, higher and more focused. - Speakers dissapear. Music is not reproduced. It is CREATED. Presence! -Studio 100 pulls a trick of being linear, romantic, easy to listen to, good even at nearfield litening with wide dispersion in same time as it is responding to minimal changes in equipment, positioning and cabling. If there ever was a HiFi loudspeaker that made studio folks agree with audiophiles and music lovers - than THIS IS IT!

In my previous post I listed the Model # incorrectly. The Model # I own is the original Studio 1, and the driver was replaced with the Studio 100 driver. I apologize for the error.

Wow. What else can I say. I have been listening to Thiel (.5, 1.5), Magnepan (1.6QR), Paradigm (variety), System Audio, and Vandersteen (2ce sig's). I originally went to listen to the Vandy 2ce Signatures, and I thought they were ok. I have been listening to mostly floor-standers, and this was the first pair of stand-mounteds that I have seriously listened to. I listened through a solid state Audio Research amp (I think the 100.2) and Audio Research preamp (not sure which) and a CAL CD player (CL-15)
I won't go into detail regarding the Vandy's but suffice to say they are no longer on my short list (didn't image well enough)

I had thought I was going to but a floor standing speaker, but once I listened to these ProAc's I re-thought my entire speaker buying process. I am now going to listen to the B&W CDM1SE's, the NHT 1.5, Paradigm Reference 20, and the PSB stratus mini. I just couldn't find a floor stander that would image like these ProAcs.

The Proac Studio 100 just plain DISAPPEARED when I listened to it. The soundstage was deep, the imaging was very resolved, the clarity was pristine (without being edgy) and the instruments sounded the way they should.

I brought along a lot of "bad" recordings (i.e. old Allman brothers stuff) and these speakers were transparent, but seemingly more forgiving than other speakers (most notably the Thiels.) This is the only speaker that seemed capable of reproducing the Sunday's 'Blind' CD to my satisfaction (this is a very bright recording at times) It maintained the transparency, but added a musicality and smoothness that I just fell in love with.

I was worried about SPL and bass extension. I listen pretty loud, and I listen to (sometimes) stuff like Jamiroquai, Beastie Boys, etc. and bass is somewhat important. The dealer popped in an "all-bass" CD (Bass Boom Bottom, I believe it was called) These things VIBRATED THE WINDOWS. I was impressed, they must have been good to a solid 45Hz, with no distortion (it sounded clean to me.)

All in all, these speakers are now at the top of my list. I never thought I would purchase a stand-mounter, but these things image just too good. Imaging is important to me, and these ProAcs just delivered the goods.

Music listened to:
Sundays 'Blind'
Allman Brothers 'Eat a Peach' (Capricorn re-issue)
Tower of Power (Live)
Sarah MacLachlan 'Surfacing'
Charles Mingus 'Mingus Ah Um'
Steely Dan 'Pretzel Logic'
Blind Melon 'Blind Melon'

IMHO, 5 stars.

Imaging, vocals, highs

boxy coloration

I newly traded my ProAc Tablette 50 for Studio 100.
Price difference is small,
but a certain salesman owed me some money so I took a chance...
The biggest difference is in size of a box and bass unit which is a fine Scanspeak Sonus unit modified according to ProAc requirements. Even the tweeter is different form tabs, it´s slightly bigger and looks more serious. It appears that even tweeter is a special version maded by Seas. Crossover is a simple device with medium quality of components.
Sound is in many ways similar to Tablette 50´s, and that´s no bad deal.

Studio 100 makes a bigger and slightly higher soundstage, but they should be towed-in somewhat more than tabbies.
As for stands I would not recomend nothing lower than Target R1 which are 63-65 cm high.
You do get more and deeper bass but you allso get a lot warmer sound which might not go well in small rooms or with instruments like cello.
If you own some of those over-equalized (read as: over-warm) recordings like Chris Isaak´s ´´Blue Spanish Sky´´ you´ll find it impossible to listen to because
of strong boxy colorations.
Wicked Game was the only album in my entire record collection that gave me problems with that.

Since than I´ve maded some changes in internal damping and speakers really sound much less coloured. It don´t cost much, just use medium hard syntetic foam pads with pyramid-like formations on inner side, I found it to be only type which reduces colorations in the right way.
Otherwise Studio 100 is hard to fault and that´s witnessed by many studio engeneers who found
Studio 100 to be among their favorite monitors.
You might be surprised to know that many respected artists recordings were
monitored thru theese monitors: Sting, Elton John, Genesis, Dire Straits, Prince, Slash...
Vocals are just what you expect from ProAc- natural, while high ferquencies are joy to hear. Soundstaging has allways been ProAc´s hallmark, and so even here. Wide and deep
images are guaranted.
If you have patience and skill for making a good set-up for Studio 100, they will never let you down.
I see it as one bridge between studio and high-fi folks, and there aren´t many!

Similar Products Used:

ProAc Tablette 50

Clear, natural sound image. Detailed reproduction. Dry and smooth base.

Little base extension. Can be agressive if matched with some transistors amplifiers. Tubes amp. needed.

For less than $1000, STUDIO 100 is the perfect match with a good quality tube amplifier. The weaknesses of tubes are compensated by the superb PROAC behaviour.

Looking for a perfect match with my 40 watts tube amplifier (designed by a brilliant friend who combined and improved many classic tubes amplifier designs from around the world), we have spend many months listening to dozen of various speakers on the Canadian market. Nothing could satisfy us. Until we eard the PROACs! In this price range, nothing compared to the STUDIO 100. In fact, I challenge anybody to come with a comparable quality of sound without spending twice as much money!

Take my advise, and try them once (with a tubes amp. of course). You won't regret it.

Similar Products Used:

DYNAUDIO professional studio monitors

Midrange, Musicality, Accuracy, Goosebumps

Requires proper matching of front end ancillery equipment.

I bought these speakers fron Dave when they were 6 months old in 1990. They were the demos mounted on the wall at Playing by Ear. I was perusing the CD's when I heard some Flemenco music playing directly behind me. At one passage the artist slapped the body of his guitar. The textures of flesh and wood gaves me goosebumps. You could hear every bit of the sound resonating within the body of the guitar.
I turned around to make sure I was still listening to a pair of speakers. I walke out of the store with those speakers and a pair of Target stands. I have owned these speakers ever since and they have been nothing but a pleasure to own. I replaced the original driver last year when the surround dry rotted away. I replaced it with the same driver as the Studio 150. The new driver has a much larger magnet and it is apparent in the authority of the bass and midrange. I frequent many high-end shops as often as possible. I have listened to speakers ranging from $1200 to $35,000. I almost trade my speakers in a couple of times but couldn't part with them. No, they are not the final word in speakers. But they hold their own a gainst any speaker in their price range and MANY that cost much much more. These speakers do require the best equipment that you can afford in front of them. Don't try to match these with Mid-Fi. You will be disappointed. Vacuum tubes do work best, or Class A solid state ONLY! These speakers do everything well. If you want more bass, add a sub. Once you go ProAc, you don't go back.

Similar Products Used:

B&W 805's. Dahlquist DQ10's

This is an excellent speaker with impeccable sound, superb build quality, and is easy to partner.
I was looking for a small speaker with low coloration, flat frequency response and good dynamics to replace the bulky monitor speakers I have lived with for some years. The Dynaudio Contour 1.3 came very close but at a high price; the Acoustic Energy AE2 Reference was very exciting with exceptional bass quality but was difficult to partner with my equipment.

It took some persuading to obtain a demo as my dealer considered that the ProAc speakers demo'ed badly in his shop. My initial impression was of bass lightness but before the end of the first CD track I was stunned by the general good quality and absence of any vice. On extended listening, the stunning imaging and absence of distortion became apparent.

The ProAc Studio 100s have an excellent integration with my 6m x 4m living room which has solid walls and floor (in contrast to the plasterboard construction of the dealer's demo room). Listening tests and analysis with test equipment showed an absence of the usual upper bass boom and an essentially flat response from 60Hz upwards. I had already considered that I would partner the bookshelf speakers with a sub-woofer in order to achieve flexibility of room placement. Loaning a REL Storm, connecting to the speaker terminals of my amp, I ended up dialing in a low pass frequency of about 30 Hz. This added in the missing low bass and integrated well at the mid-bass frequencies with no impact whatsoever on the excellent ProAc midrange.

On their own the ProAcs still hold their own; the absence of bass boom (and other audio nasties) means that the speakers can be driven at enthusiastic levels without raising comments from the rest of the family. Also, at only £750 it is much less expensive than the other models mentioned.

In my opinion, a totally deserved 5 stars!

Due to the fact that I do not have much living space being in New York city, smaller speakers were very important. I have nothing to say but positives about these speakers, especially for the size. With good, accurate recordings (especially vocal centric recordings) these speakers truly show their strentgh. Yet, as one would suspect, because of the small size, the real bottom end is lacking. Since I listen to Korn, Rage Against the Machine, Tool, etc I needed to find more. To complement, I bought the Velodyne 10-inch with the built in 1700Watt Class D amplifier. This really helped the overall sound and didn't take away the integrity of the Pro-Acs. If you have limited space and have the money, this is the ultimate way to go

These speakers are great for a small, NY styled living room. Quite a bit of bass for such a small speaker that has great mid and highs. Goes well with a tube amp to increase the bass and make the overall sound smooth. Sound real cool with hip hop or other smooth grooves.