Allae vs Proac Response 2.5

Hi David,
you are testing Pro Ac's 2.5? How good are they?
Unfortunately I haven't heard the Allaes so far.
To be honest I'm about to buy (after a demo of course) a 2.5.
My dealer is a Naim fanatic, but concerning loudspeakers he prefers the ProAc's by far.

I wonder what you think about the 2.5.

CDX, NAC102, NAPSC, Hi-Cap, NAP 250, Linn Kheilidh

David

I think you are being unrealistic when suggesting a home demo of some weeks! If you had a dealer, he would have to have the stock available to demo to other potential customers. Typically, a dealer can let go of the product for a few days, perhaps up to a week. At least, that's my experience...

Regards,
Frank.
All opinions are my own and do not reflect the opinion of any organisations I work for, except where this is stated explicitly.

Hi Reto. I think the Proacs are very good so far, but I can hear that the sound is still changing (for the better). They have only been installed since Friday.

Frank, I take your point but I think that a loudspeaker is a very particular animal requiring careful evaluation in the actual listening room, and I would expect the dealer to facilitate at least several days auditioning considering the price and considering the already substantial investment (and no doubt future also) in electronics through the same dealer.

Chilvs

If there was a Naim dealer in Ireland I would have tried SBL's at home. However, they are supposed to be used against a wall and that would be a difficulty in my room. Also, there is a certain 'do it yourself' element in putting them together with sealing, gaskets etc. which is not a strength of mine I'm afraid.

I have heard SBL's perform superbly in a similar system to mine so it's a pity that I can't try them, but that's how it is.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by chilvs:
To top it off, Naim are selling the final pairs of SBL's off at £1999 making them an absolute steal.

Is this true? Can I buy a new pair of SBL's for the same as the Allae's?!!

I have a similar system: 52/scap/135s though using a different front end: MeridianCD/Orbe/SMEV/Helikon/Kprefix/hicap/NAT01 I used Isobariks for years...still have them in my "spare" system...may return to them. Bought a pair of SBLs which I kept for about 5 years.....lovely synergy, dynamics etc. However my room prevented me using them a gainst a wall(my speakers are either side of a chimney breast so SBLs against the wall gave a "hole" in the soundstage. Out in the room the imaging was fantastic but the bass was too dry....I reluctantly sold them. Now use ProAc 3.5s Much better than Proac 3 and even better than the 2.5 You should really try to hear a pair.(In my opinion the 3.5 are better than the 3.8 which replaced them. The latter are really a bit too "heavy" and slow in the bass. No speaker I`ve heard will match Isobarik bass with Naim amps, so of the rest that are out there and are quite affordable the 3.5 have it. They also work well in a small room (12` x 13`) provided they are positioned carefully and you fill the bottom right up with lead shot. The s/h price of 3.5 is about £1800 when they come up. As I said, I occasionally hanker after my Isobariks which I may well swap back some time...no other speakers I`ve heard make me want to change (All the B&W Nautilus, Naim, Linn,etc etc

Hope my experience is of some use.

Barryr

If I were to post my frank opinion of Lyric Hi-Fi on this forum, I think it would be closed down !