I’ve always owned small speakers up until my current ones which are large floor standing Klipsch Forte III’s. What strikes me the most with these large speakers, apart from the obvious things like deeper and more impactful bass, is the sense of ease, freedom and lack of compression to the sound. In direct contrast many small speakers, as truly excellent as they are, sound as if the music is being forced out of them. Without a doubt large speakers can bring something special to the listening experience that just can’t be had with anything smaller.
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Absolutely my experience also. I think you have to live with some great large speakers to understand and appreciate this.
I think if you listened to the the bigger brothers/sisters in the vivid audio range you will appreciate what I mean. You will hear the nice driver relieved of the burden of pumping deep bass. There will be a notable boost in midrange transparency. But obviously this comes at a cost…$$$
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I have not listened extensively to these speakers so please keep that caveat in mind…that said i would investigate a subwoofer.
I just added a Rel s510 to my system which has Quad 2805 speakers. The end result is not only deep bass…it is a perfectly integrated fast sound which is absolutely incredible. If Rel can make it work with Quads i think they may work a real treat with the Tablettes. Not sure which model is rght…i think the 510 is too high a price and out of balance with the Tablettes…maybe the 9 or 7 is the right one. The 510 is however recommended by Rel for electrostatics or small fast bookshelf speakers…
I tried a sub with my 1SCs. Hated it.
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You appear to be quite quick with assumptions and conclusions Mark. No worries.
FYI - I’ve listened to 3 larger models in the Vivid range, up to Giya G4 (out of interest and opportunity). During the past 14 years before the Vivids, I had SF Guarneri Memento’s and - in periods - I also auditioned quite a few speakers at home. Including larger floorstanders from SF, Dynaudio and B&W. Not one of them made me consider buying or even consider larger speakers.
We all have our preferences and priorities in speakers. Unless you have very deep pockets, every speaker is a compromise. Know your priorities and choose your poison. Within the price range I’m willing to spend, I’ve always had a clear preference for more compact two-way speakers. I can fill a page with the why’s but that’s irrelevant.
Richard
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I will try to paint a quick picture of my experience with the Tab10 Sigs. Prior to buying them I loved reading about them on forums, as there are not many reviews on the usual hifi sites, maybe just a few. And I bought them based on those readings. I now have a ProAc D2R, which is a completely different speaker altogether, so I had the opportunity to compare both, quite extensively I would say.
One thing that needs to be noted very clear right from the beginning is that these do not produce any deep bass, they just do not do that, they were not meant to do so, this has to be very clear, it should not be taken as a fault, rather as a matter of design. For the purpose they were built for, if this makes sense, they are quite sensational - they reproduce voices very realistically, for me this is their strongest point, they do this better than the d2r’s, that’s a fact. Tabs are also a bit brighter, or revealing, they will show aggressively a poor recording, voices will still sound good though, but if the hi hats for example are just even slightly more pronounced, they will show it. They are extremely fast, dynamic, well built, well engineered, but not built for bass heavy music. Do not get it wrong, they have bass, very controlled, but right below a certain frequency it is simply missing, many people don’t need it anyway, probably. When I installed them initially I found them a bit thin compared to my previous speakers, wooden instruments sounded thinner, this is one of the major differences. But again, they are designed that way, and this has to be just accepted, if you are listening mainly to vocals, where the rest of the music is somewhere in the background, kind of like a radio show with a quiet background music, they will be the best choice. Very natural and realistic.
Now, after I bought the D2Rs 3-4 months ago, I can really tell the difference and I am able to tell where exactly the Tabs excel over their bigger brother. They definitely don’t try to be anything they are not, they are relaxed in this context, they do not exaggerate anything. I would only imagine if the next generation is built with the terrific ribbon tweeter that we see in the D2R and K range, it is absolutely astonishing, no signs of brightness at all. Dome is definitely brighter. Not a big margin, but still brighter, or maybe it is up to the overall design in the end, not just tweeter characteristics.
As a conclusion, now that I have lived with both, I would definitely go for the bigger speaker, I have it placed in the very same position where the Tab used to stay, close to wall with no signs of resonance at any frequency. D2Rs are better overall, but there are 2 major differences, which again are a matter of design, they feel a tad slower than the Tab and they do not reproduce the vocals with such clarity, not so much in your face. D2s are more balanced, Tabs are more forward. Both are very good at what they were designed for, and one must choose either based on musical preference only. Tabs are built for a specific audience, whereas D2Rs are more universal, If that makes sense.
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Are you able to explain who exactly that ‘specific audience’ might be?
Please bear in mind that I had them for a few years, so that audience (ls3/5a?) is me including, I might not have expressed myself that well, I appologise, what I mean is they are designed or at least this is my experience with them, mainly for vocal driven music, if there is such thing, if such thing exists and makes sense, tabs are the perfect speakrs for it. Hope my opinion is perceived better now.
I’d totally disagree that they were designed for vocal driven music, rather they are designed for music, whether vocal or instrumental. Good speakers should be able to portray any music well. 90% of what I listen to is instrumental and the Tabs take it all in their stride. Any speaker that’s claimed to be designed for X is not a good speaker in my book.
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I use them for guitar and drum driven music. They excel at that in both my systems.
I was comparing them to the D2Rs, please take that into consideration before making any conclusions. Personally me that kind of comparison would have helped me before I bought the tabs and I would have definitely gone straight to the the bigger speaker, but that is me. Tabs are stunning as I have already said, but the Response is better, K series is yet better I suppose.
The only reason I did not go straight to the D2 was my fear that it would be too much for my 13 sq m room, but I can now confirm this is definitely not the case.
Blimey — who would have thought that would ever happen… If there was ever a “night and day” difference in Hi-Fi, it would be Proac from their old to new website… 
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Haha! My thoughts exactly. My mouth dropped to the floor when I happened to open their webpage.
No sub here, was thinking of getting one but mainly for the AV side as I miss the rumble for movies. But music I am happy enough as they are.
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Hi Chris… that makes us both “purists”… I’ve never been a fan of sub-woofers, for the added space they take up, and cost, but the usual detriment to how the original speakers were voiced made it moot for their occlusion from the system.
Before sub-woofer lovers here pounce all over, for sure a good integrated sub will work wonderfully for standmounts, when you get that balance right. It can be and is a good thing because we all need some measure of bass to enjoy most music.
Agree… it’s a big “if”, Chris.
I haven’t heard, till now, thirty years on, save the Genesis 1 system with their bass towers, most subwoofer systems that can comfortably take on and beat a well-designed, made and voiced floorstander in terms of harmonic balance so the sound’s whole and coherent. It’s why I steered away but I’m quite sure some of us here could get the sub’s bass to blend in just nicely with the rest of the frequencies, and when you’re happy with the extra welly and fullness filling up that crucial gap, it’s all that matters.
The yesteryear Epos 11 and 14s were bass-light classics that were just natural and pure in their musicality. I guess when you buy a good quality stand mount, something’s got to give in absolute bass performance terms, but it’s the musicality that we’re after and bass is just one aspect of the sonics. If you can accept that bass-lighter balance (there are always very notable exceptions, and we can always place a beloved standmount closer to the back wall for some frequency support for improved effect), and it makes you happy to be listening, why expound over the “standmount vs floorstander” rabbit hole? No need for apologies either for which camp each of us belongs to.
Both are good, in the context of their systems and space. Be happy!
I do like and prefer things clean and neat in the aesthetics of a system, where a little less is more, and any additional boxes often means a rather “detrimental” discussion with the Queen / acting CFO at home… fortunately for me, most good floorstanders do good to great bass… including the classic discrete SBLs and those brutish rogues that the DBLs still are, despite their age and production demise. So I’m grateful I never had to look to any supplementary bass from a subwoofer system.
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To those who enjoy the Tablettes ( of any age ) I would give the following advice…
If you are lured by larger speakers, get the ones you want but do not get rid of your Tablettes! Keep them near so you can have a fix of their musicality every now and then. Same goes if you own a Nait 2. 
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I think a sub should be more than just a replacement for a large speaker cabinet. After all, they are called subwoofers, not just woofers in a separate box. So they can bring benefits even with larger floorstanders.
I’ve had mixed results with my N-Sub. I had it well integrated in my last room, just by luck, and had better results using it with floorstanders than I ever did with the matching N-Sats, odd as that may seem.
In my current room with Shahinian Arcs I rarely use the N-Sub. If I had the patience to integrate it into the room and system it might be worthwhile but I don’t really feel the need.
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Brings to mind the Wilson Chronosonic Wamm system … The sub-woofer towers (x2) come as part of that very commanding system.
My problem with powered subwoofers is they throw off the timing and tune of the main speakers. Listen to a simple piano piece with the sub… then remove it from the room and repeat. You will hear how it degrades the tune. ProAc Tablet 10s are meant for small rooms and when powered with great electronics (NDX/172/200 in my home) they sound exceptional. Just look at the pages of accolades on this forum for this speaker. Oh, and ProAc does not make a subwoofer, I think that speaks volumes.
Subs are great in home theater, I own one and it does a great job going boom-boom when something explodes or crashes.
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