Good morning, I have a Supernait 3 that I use with Proac D30RS and D18 both fantastic spikers. With the D18 I have no problem while the D30 cut my eardrums, a few minutes of listening even at low volume are enough for me to feel pressure and discomfort in my eardrums and then two or three days of rest are necessary to recover normal hearing…
What can it be ? Maybe the Twitter ribbon? or maybe they are defective?
Thank you
It could well be the ribbon tweeter. I really don’t like them and find any of the Proac speakers with them unpleasant in a similar way that you do. I much prefer the dome tweeter variants of Proac speakers.
2 Likes
Maybe Focal Kanta 2 could course less fatigue and be more enjoyable?
What source are you using? I have no issues with my D2R’s and listen to them for hours at a time. Perhaps adding a HiCapDr would help. I know @seakayaker has the D30r’s with a NDX2/282/Supercap/250DR setup IIRC
2 Likes
I used the ProAc D30RS speakers with a XPS DR > NDX 2 > HiCapDR > SN 2 configuration and the sound was fantastic.
The sound can be impacted by room sized and furnishings along with our own hearing capabilities so hard to say why speakers sound differently to each of us individually.
My current configuration is: C2960C-8PC-L Cisco Catalyst Switch 8 FE PoE > NAS > XPS DR > English Electric 8Switch > NDX 2 > Hi-Line > SuperCap DR > NAC 282 > NAP 250 DR> NAC A5 > ProAc D30RS. The speakers and rack also stand on Herbies Titanium Cone/Spike Decoupling Gliders.
I am quite happy with the ProAC speakers with no plans to move on from them.
1 Like
Sorry but D30RS sound defective to me so would engage with whoever you purchased them from. I have the smaller D20Rs that share the same ribbon tweeter and paired with NACA5 speaker cable the upper mid and above frequency response is rather reserved. I recently added a new network switch which gave the treble a bit more bite but is nowhere near eardrum splitting – that just sounds wrong.
3 Likes
Had ProAcs with both tweeter types in my house for years, first Tab10S for around 2 years and afterwards and to this day still keeping D2Rs, ribbon is never fatiguing, I have mentioned this previously on various occasions, but as far as high frequency response is concerned, I can conclude the dome on the Tab10S is kind of more prominent, D2R is more balanced across the entire range, albeit still retaining the forward character ProAc is know for. Hope this helps.
2 Likes
Like many things in audio people blame a certain aspect on a certain type of product but a lot of the time this isn’t the case, its the implementation that makes the difference not necessarily the component. I haven’t owned Proac speakers with ribbons but I’ve heard the whole range, numerous times & a bright/fatiguing top end is not one I’d associate with their ribbon, unless it was the electronics themselves that were causing it to lean this way (just doing their job revealing what their connected too).
How old are the D30RS? If new they may just need some run in time to relax the bass driver. How does the rest of the frequency band compare to the D18’s? Have you played with placement? Have you heard these speakers elsewhere to confirm how they should sound?
3 Likes
I went from the d18 to the d30r a few years ago. At the time I was using a 282/SC/250.2 amplification. Big improvement all round with the d30r. The ribbon tweeter made a great difference much more resolution and detail without adding any harshness compared to the d18.
2 Likes
Even to me looks like defective, going to D30 dome twitter would solve the problem?
Maybe mine cold be defective , could happen?
Born in 2015 , with supernait 3 and hicap dr. Yesterday I listened Vienna Acoustic Beethoven , very delicious and mellow sound…
Born in 2015? So they are D30R … with the carbon fibre woofer? Do you have them Bi-wired or single wired?!
In the back is written D30 RS , single wired.
Maybe all proac speaker are heavy listening?
That is the opposite of our experience across a range of Proac speakers.
A while back, we auditioned the D30 with ribbon tweeter at a well known Naim dealer on the end of NDS/555, 252/250.2 and they sounded very, very good indeed. The opposite of in-your-face, yet impressively detailed, fleet of foot (within the limits of a 250.2) and a musical delight.
If your pair is sounding relentless & tiring, then either there is something wrong with them, something further up the chain is being revealed for its limitations (less likely?) or it may even be possible that you are hearing unpleasant interference from a 1st reflection point in your room.
Hope this helps, if only a little.
Best regards, BF
2 Likes
Thank you , very depressed…
Apologies Lucaxs, that was not my intention.
Are you able to ask your dealer to check them or for you to try another pair?
1 Like
@lucaxs I’d recommend Bluesfan advise as well. See if you can check another pair as a first step. Again I don’t know your source maybe that’s the issue but I’m pretty sure it’s not your SN3 which are perfectly able to drive the D30R’s.
It could just that these speakers do not suit you, unlike a lot of people here I found Proac less emotionally involving than other speakers. I have since found that Harbeth gives me the sound I want but I know others find Harbeth as a brand boring. Don’t worry if others have different experiences just find the speakers that bring you joy.
2 Likes
Yes that’s totally fair and reasonable. I’m more curious than anything if there is something fundamentally wrong with his/her current pair. Try another pair of D30r’s and if they still don’t seem right then you’ll know it’s the speakers or something else. Only @lucaxs can decide what’s right for him/her.