Your speakers are sitting on 80lb stands. They are firing across a 14’ x 24’ x 8’ room. The front baffle is, at most, 26" from the rear wall. You’re listening to late 60’s thru early 70’s British and American classic rock. Your signal is steaming from an Aurender N100H, your amp is a Modwright KWI200, tonally on the warm side with 200 Watts of clean power.
Are you listening to the D2 or the D2R?
Be my ears!
Ok, I understand your dilemma. I still stand by my decision to buy the D2Rs though. When I auditioned for new speakers last September the common ground of every audition was a Naim NDX2+Nac 282+Nap 250 front end and I must have heard a dozen or more models from different manufacturers well regarded on this forum at this price point. They were all very different in presentation and performance. Some were awful and quite frankly I couldn’t understand their popularity here with others, some were just not right for my room or too big. Some were just plain ugly and SWMBO would have given me grief.
So, be confident that either model will please. The D2Rs are more expensive and in this case you get what you pay for. Remember which ever model you buy they need at least 100 hours to run in.
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I remember speaking to ProAc about this last year, when the OP’s dilemma first surfaced. Their response was that it’s simply a matter of choice.
If you look at their brochure there is a section on the ribbon vs done question. It’s copyrighted so I’ll just show an extract and hope that’s ok with ProAc:
“In a blind listening test we doubt that the majority of people could tell you whether they were listening to a dome or ribbon tweeter. However, there are some people who have both sensitive and selective hearing that may be able to tell which is which, particularly on some typesof music.
“At Proac we offer a choice of Dome or Ribbon tweeter in some of our models and people often ask us which tweeter sounds the best but it is almost impossible to describe the difference. The only answer, in our opinion, is the personal listening of both types together and finding your own preference for one or the other.
“We think both our ribbon and dome tweeters offer excellent high frequency information with low distortion. Certain types of music may reveal the differences. This may be the difference that some customers would desire and would individually suit that listener. This, however, does not mean that another person could hear those same differences.
“So, the choice between ribbon and dome is an entirely personal one and is a choice that can only be made by listening to both. Both give exceptional high frequency sound and whichever tweeter you decide upon after a demonstration you can rest assured that you will be getting the very best sound reproduction available to suit you.”
If you cannot compare the two yourself, you cannot rely on the views of others. There was obviously a reason to choose the dome in the first place. Maybe that reason has changed. It really doesn’t matter that much as both will be fine I’m sure.
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I’ve ordered the D2R.
I’ll post my feedback after they’ve had some time on them
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Great choice on the D2R! I’ve had mine for 5 months, very pleased with them. Haven’t noticed any off-axis problem.
FWIW, I switched from a pair of super-heavy Sovereign stands (previously used for smaller Pro-Acs) to a pair of Custom Design FS 106. Big improvement.
Dealer recommended filling the Custom stands only ~ 40% to start and then add more if desired. I’m still at 40%. Old stands were 70% filled and had a deadening effect on SQ.
So you may want to try a partial fill with your stands as a start point.
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I did the same with mine. Started with say 20% filled with Atabites but ended up with about 60% filled. They give me such pleasure every night.
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Interesting notes on the stand fill. I put the speakers I’m using till the D2R arrive on the stands intended for the Proacs. About 1/3 full and the bass was loose so I filled to 80% and it sucked the life out of the speakers. I ended up making stands of proper height for these speakers, but left the stands for the D2R at 80%. Maybe these will need some fill drained for the D2R? I suspect it will be a case of balancing the bass response with the overall sound. Firing across a room also presents it’s challenges🙃
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When I spoke to Proac about this, they recommend to start with less than half then add them gradually to suit your desires etc. Also of note, mine did take time to run-in. I have the Atacama hms 2x speaker stands if that helps.
Sounds as though I should drain the steel blasting shot and refill to 1/3 +/- and use this as a starting point. I hope the steel shot proves to be a good choice of fill?? Small beads, 2.5 times the density of dry sand.
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I had the exact same experience with my last speakers, ATC SCM7s. When I switched to ProAc Tablette 10 Signatures, I followed the standard advice to use heavy, filled stands. But because it’s a royal pain to add and remove Atabites from the slender outer columns of my Custom Design FS104 Signature stands, I went with my best guess and filled them to just over 60%.
I don’t hear any ill effects, but I can’t be sure if the fill is optimal - maybe they’d be better with a bit more fill, maybe with a bit less. The density of Atabites also complicates the issue - 60% filled with Atabites is way heavier than 80% filled with Custom Design’s proprietary inert filler.
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@Scotty2 Just make sure to put exactly equal amounts in both stands. Several ways to do it: you can use a measuring cup, or a scale. Just make sure the amounts are identical. Fwiw I used clean clay kitty litter. Not the clumping kind or scented. cheap plain clay. Silica sand is good but wear a mask. I’ve found about a third is a good place. All you’re doing is dampening the stand to keep it from resonating
I did weigh my fill, 6.25lbs in each of the four columns and yes it will be a pain to drain them, ah well. I have a stone floor over concrete so plan to use cork faced metal discs under my spikes. Many factors, speaker positioning, the room dimensions, it’s furnishings, floor construction firing across vs down, etc… Hopefully won’t be too much trial and error to find a “reasonable” balance.
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Well at long last, my Proac speakers have arrived! Still early days but they are starting to break in and are sounding better by the day. One of my fears was that the bass would overwhelm my room, definitely not the case. My initial thought is that they are actually bass light. Prior to setting up the speakers, I drained all of the fill from my stands and refilled to slightly under 1/3 full. I’m not sure if I should add more fill or focus on positioning them closer to the rear wall and leave the fill level as is for now? As they break-in will the bass improve/deepen?
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I have my stands about 2/3 filled if that helps. Give them time to break in. They are outstanding speakers IMHO (my room, ears etc).
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150 hours minimum, if the bass is light make sure the speakers aren’t to far apart or two far off the back wall, get rid off the little ProAc jumper bars. Get jumpers made of the same speaker cable you’re using. A tape measure is a essential. You’ve got plenty of power what cables are you using?
The speakers are 6’ apart and 26" from the rear wall to the front baffle. I’m using Kimber 12tc speaker wire, bi-wired, Proac jumper pins have been removed.
The distance apart depends in large part on how far away you sit. If you six feet away that’s fine. I believe ProAc recommends 7-8 ft apart. Don’t be afraid to try different placements
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I don’t have a great deal of flexibility in terms of positioning the speakers. Fortunately my seated position is 6’ away. I’ll give them a good break in prior to making any changes in the fill for the stands. I’m hearing new things every day from the ribbon tweeters 
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As others have said, give them lots of time to run in. I bought a pair of K3s last year, and the sound changed markedly over the course of 200 hours or so. For some reason the most pronounced change (improvement) was in the bass.
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I’ve got about 150hrs on the D2R and at this point I’m less than impressed. If I had to describe them in a couple of words I would say they are thin and very harsh sounding, listenable only at low volumes and not engaging in the least.
The speakers came with a corner ding and I’m going to pickup the replacements tomorrow and begin the break-in process again. I will give them at least 500hrs before I look for replacements.
Maybe it’s something else in my audio system that doesn’t agree with them. Perhaps after several hundred hours they will radically transform?
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