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One benefit of waiting so long for my speakers, as can be seen in the photos below, is that the press-on grills have been replaced by magnetic ones so there are no mounting holes in the speaker front plates.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…