I am a hifi enthusiast almost 20 years now, i have listened to thousands of speakers already and i have written only about the few ones that have impressed me. The major factor i pay attention to is the realistic rendition, the feeling of being there.
Among the spekers i have loved in this respect are the Monitor Audios pmc 703, the Canton (yes, why not?!) Reference 9.1, the Spendor s3/5. The Proac Reference D2 are also great.
But the D 1 are an achievement.
I have been oft disappointed with the build quality of several Proac speakers. Not rarely there occur deficiencies as far as the woofer's coating is concerned, i don't believe the speaker parts are really matched, no matter how much Proac would assure of the oposite, bass reflex tubes are sometimes dislocated etc. Should someone of Proac read this had better bear it in mind.
But then again, D 1 is an achievement. Real dissapearing act, unbelievably (or rather too believably!) natural sounds accurately located in space. i don't remember having experienced that before. You don't listen to hi fi any more, you are really before the performers. Of course the sound really speaks directly to your heart. There is no magic in that, it's simply because the sound is so real that exceeds the barriers of the equipment.
I won't bother say much about how they compare to the 1 sc that they replace, which i have had for 2 years, i'll just say that the latter were emotional, quite realistic but without doubt coloured pleasantly. The D 1 aren't, i will keep them and sell my other speakers just to gain some money these difficult days...