What was the last bit of gear you bought in 2024?

[Canaryfan]

I have been using ProAc DB1 speakers with my Nova since I bought both of them in 2019. Like @HungryHalibut & his PMC’s, I think my ProAc’s have been a great match with the Nova, possible a bit better match with the Nova than ProAc Tab 10 Sigs, due to their larger size.

I have been very happy with them but wondered if an increase in SQ could be achieved if I had larger speakers. I was therefore keen to listen to ProAc D2R’s but felt they would look too large in my listening room. My late wife would not have tolerated speakers dominating the room & I agreed with her on this.

However, early last December I arranged a home demo with my dealer & , slightly to my surprise, the D2R’s sounded even better than I expected although they looked far too big in the room on the tall stands I had for the DB1’s. My dealer said that Atacama could make custom size stands for me & I realised that the new speakers footprint was about the same size as the DB1’s, the only difference was they were 4 inches taller. I therefore ordered the speakers & custom stands to the height I required, with top plates to the same dimensions as the speaker base.

The order went in a week before Christmas & I have had to wait until now for delivery from ProAc! The long delay has been caused by their cabinet makers suddenly pulling the plug on them, & several other speaker manufacturers, at very short notice leaving them without a cabinet maker. Six weeks ago my dealer was told that the speakers would finally be delivered the following week. The next five week delay followed when ProAc discovered a fault in their entire stock of ribbon tweeters!

Still, all’s well that ends well. I have the speakers & bespoke stands now &, even after just two days use, I am delighted with them & whilst, tonally, they are clearly part of the ProAc family, the extra detail & solidity in bass, mid-range & treble is really surprising me, especially as I had always felt the DB1’s were very strong in all these areas, particularly considering their small size. The Nova appears to drive the D2R’s effortlessly & feels like a great match.

One benefit of waiting so long for my speakers, as can be seen in the photos below, is that the press-on grills have been replaced by magnetic ones so there are no mounting holes in the speaker front plates. It doesn’t make much difference to me as I prefer the grills on look as opposed to the ‘naked’ one. As with the DB1’s, I can’t hear any difference at all.

The top two photos are of the system with DB1’s & the bottom two are with the new D2R’s. The final photo is simply for gratuitous nudity…

[sandman922]

Those are beautiful! I bet it sounds amazing

[Ian2001]

I like Titan, nice feel to the equipment and nice uplift from bare mains .

I use it to support my AV system ( which is by default ) mainly non Naim

[MrUnderhill]

Weiss 204 dac;
Weiss psu102;
Creek OBH-22 passive pre;
Ferrum Hypsos psu, for M-Scaler,
Verter Red cables.

[james_n]

I had a Weiss DAC2 followed by the DAC202 back in the day. Well engineered, no nonsense kit. I’ll be interested in what you think of the 204/102 combo.

[ryder]

@Canaryfan

The top two photos are of the system with DB1’s & the bottom two are with the new D2R’s.

May I ask which one do you like better, the DB1 or D2R?

[Jonboy377]

That looks a beautiful setup

[Canaryfan]

No doubt that the D2R is the better speaker, as it should be at just more than 50% more expensive than the DB1 which I have been extremely happy with for the past, almost exactly, five years.

To my ears, the DB1 does exactly what ProAc say in their promotional literature. It sounds a bigger speaker than it is, suited to someone like me, a bit limited for space, or someone who wants high SQ but requires unobtrusive speakers.

My late wife would not have tolerated larger speakers on the basis that they would have looked odd & out of proportion in our sitting room. Like her, I also like things to look ‘right’ & totally agreed with her on this point. When I had the D2R’s on demo on the high stands the DB1’s were on they did look wrong in the room. I told my dealer this & said ‘if only the stands were four inches shorter’. Being about the same width & depth as the DB1’s the footprint of both speakers is very similar, the only difference being height. Shorter stands would mean the D2R’s occupying the same space as the DB1’s & they would look right to my eye in my room. ‘No problem, Atacama will make stands to your specification’ said my dealer. So deal done!

As to sound quality, the D2R’s are clearly from the same family, sounding the same tonally, both having a very good balance between the bass, mid-range & treble. The sound from both is clear with a bass you can follow (but not really feel at the moderate volumes I usually listen at), a superb mid-range & a very detailed treble. The treble on both speaker is superb but the ribbon tweeter of the D2R is clearly superior to the dome tweeter in the DB1. Very important to me is that both speakers are totally non-fatiguing, enabling hours of comfortable listening.

The big difference is that, unsurprisingly, the larger speakers sound, well, larger. A bigger sound stage with more space between the individual artists/instruments. The D2R’s sound also sounds more ‘solid’ to me, more 3d for want of a better description. They will clearly go louder than the DB1’s but this is irrelevant to me, I could easily deafen myself with the DB1!

A personal view is that my Nova, always sounding really good with the DB1’s, sounds even better & more comfortable with the D2R’s. It makes it easier to see why Naim say that the Nova can successfully drive far more expensive speakers. Both speakers could undoubtably benefit from superior amplification & I think the D2R’s would benefit most from this. However, the Nova continues to satisfy my requirements for SQ v size & produces a very nice noise to my ears. I don’t feel I would need any extra power & I would only consider upgrading to a Nova MK2 if it had an upgraded pre-amp & streaming section before the power amp section was improved.

To end with a question, my dealer requires my DB1’s for a client demo v D2R’s on the 19th of this month. Is this for you?

[Canaryfan]

Thanks, I have been delighted with it for the five years since I purchased it to replace a Naim 32.5/Hi Cap/140 set up that I had new in 1987.

The Nova has been brilliant & I agree with a well known member of this forum in that it is a very capable amplifier but needs more careful matching with speakers than some other Naim amps do. A couple of years ago there was a fad for ProAc Tab 10’s here. All the main proponents of them replaced them fairly quickly, obviously not finding them as satisfying as they first thought. My own view, without ever hearing Tab 10’s, was that the speakers were physically too small & are best used only when space is at an absolute premium. I suspect that the DB1’s would out perform them in most circumstances.

[Wilfried]

I bought a Olive XPS power supply unit (freshly recapped). Clear sound improvement for the NDac. If you want to read more (Click here)!

[longplayer]

Simon really does pack his Simrack components well doesn’t he? Mine arrived exactly the same. The foam came in handy for organising some of my cabling as well! Do post some pictures of the completed unit- it would be nice to see.

[Jonboy377]

Thats an excellent idea regarding the foam, Thanks. I’ll definitely be posting some system pics shortly… I remember admiring your stand a couple of months back… Beautiful Setup too …
As for Simons packaging, I think it gives Apple’s packaging a run for its money…

[ryder]

Thanks for the comprehensive response, much appreciated. Demo is not for me. I’m just curious about the differences between the DB1 and D2R, that’s all. I used to look at the Proacs several years ago but went with something else instead. I’ve actually reached the end of the road with my system about 2 years ago (Graham LS5/9 and Marten Duke 2).

[Blackbird]

Ansuz Powerswitch D2 and Ansuz D2 ethernet cable on its way. Up against EE8, Farad3 and Entreq Olympus ethernet + ground box. And I thought I was done…

[drago]

Look what we have in common

My second system sometimes sounding to good to be true
Have to bring it back on its full Fraim - needed the rack in the other system for trial of power amp.
Opps - sorry for the dirt and dust. This must have been underneath the Fraim base

[drago]

Wow … please tell your thoughts. Reputation of the company and all their products is very good. Not a cheap trick

[Blackbird]

It’s used and I have a 30 day trial window. You know how it is. Time for fiddling. Again.

[drago]

@Blackbird That’s a good one! Nearly every dealer I spoke to I overwhelmed with the switches from Denmark.
Last year I compared PN to ee8 with farad and there was a difference. But with Ethernet… as geko and I had experienced is some kind of balance game.
You can do much fiddling… but I can hardly think of the d2 not beating the ee8 farad - but…

[Blackbird]

@drago

but I can hardly think of the d2 not beating the ee8 farad

Would indeed be a surprise since the D2 Powerswitch is 5600EUR new and the D2 ethernet cable around 2000 EUR.

[frenchrooster]

I saw the prices. Both cost around 8k euros. It’s serious money. I wonder how much more cost a second hand Nd555 today.