Clearly speakers of this calibre must be paired with suitable electronics,carefully positioned and given time to break in. Some dealers may not have the time or inclination to do so which may explain some of the negative comments here. I have heard them sound much less than their best at a few soundrooms but have always been able to discern why. Now after owning a pair for over a year
I believe they are the most musical speakers I have ever owned. Yes, they were
expensive and no, I probably could'nt really afford them, but although they would be easy to sell for much of what I paid for them I can't imagine ever having an inclination to do so.

Buzz why bother ? All that time to write some complete useless garbage about a very fine speaker.

You have my email if you like to say something that makes sense.

There are obviously two distinct issues being debated here : absolute sound quality and perceived value. To some extent this problem colours all product ratings; it is clouding some 'audiophile' judgments very seriously here & it would be a shame if any prospective ProAc owners are discouraged by negative ratings that are not based on clear criteria.... In terms of absolute sound quality, the 2.5 is in the top rank.Listen with your left brain [critical mode] & you will find that it has no serious colourations & is remarkably informative about EVERYTHING that is upstream of it. Listen with your whole brain [music-lover mode] & be enchanted by the mysterious powers of music! The 2.5 is bettered by more expensive ProAcs naturally but you are chiefly paying for low frequency extension and as always low frequency extension costs a lot of money!... In terms of perceived value, I must also agree with its supporters. It may not look like $4500. Properly set up and fed however it surer as hell sounds like a lot more! Consider as well that it is nicely finished, a sane size, relatively easy to place & drive and has high resale value....Not perfect then -but by standards of both absolute & perceived value [mine!], the 2.5 earns 5 stars.

I've own many speakers during my years as an audiophile including a Watt/Puppy 3/2, Mirage M1si, Apogees Stage, as well as a Bose bookshelf (the one with the sub.. in college, when I should have known better). I sold all my gear when I have to move abroad for some personal reasons.About a year ago, I moved back and went shopping for a 'normal' speakers and electronics to play all my CD collections. I heard the response 1 at one of my friend house and found it to be a very 'musical' speakers. So I went to a ProAc dealer to see what he had to offer.
The Response 1 was very musical indeed..lush and wonderful. More forgiving than say a Watt but not as laidback as the Mirage (Any rational men knows that we shouldn't compare it to a Boses/Fishers/Jbls.) But the trouble is that I would have like deeper bass.
The dealer then showed me the 2.5. And I can assured you that there are real bass in these baby. The mids and Higgh are as dilicate as any speaker out there. The bass are tight and fast ...real magic. The 2.5 might not look as futuristic as some but it is very beatiful in its own sense, very well made have to see it in flesh to believe.
I am listening to it now as I'm writing this...never a minute regret spending the 4000 quid. It is one of the most undiscovered gem in high-end audio.
It goes particularly well with a tube amp.

PS> Michael Fremer review the 2.5 in Stereophile 2 years back..he measure the bass to be down 3db at 20 something heartz..so I think I'm not the only one that think the bass is that deep.

Aesthetics, Mid-range, Vocals, bass (for a 2-way), Emotion

There is no such thing as perfection......

For me, in my system, in my room, with my music.....the 2.5s just deliver audio satisfaction day-in and day-out. I was actually looking to "upgrade" to the new Merlins. Dealer brought them to my house and I listened to them for three days. I preferred the Proacs. I really wanted to buy the Merlins quite badly based on reviews and reputation.
Audition must come before decision!!

Yeah, there are speakers with greater resolution and deeper base that throw some enormous soundstages while disappearing....I don't know, the 2.5s play music that keeps me listening into the wee hours. Musical Emotion!! And that is why I got into this to begin with.

Cary 306/200
-Cardas Golden Ref XLR
ARC LS 25mkII
-Acoustic Zen Silver Ref XLR
Ayre V-3
-Discovery Essential
Proac Response 2.5s
TG Audio power cords
PS Audio P300

Similar Products Used:

Merlin VSM-M, Dynaudio 1.8 + 3.0, B&W N803

THIS IS NOT A REVIEW !!! (I posted my review dated 24/6/01 already) This is my own experience regarding the modificaton on 2.5's crossover. In my case the improvement is ABSOULTELY SIGNIFICANT !!! For anyone who purchased 2.5 please give comment (before or after the same modification).

In my previous review regarding the some weakness on 2.5 such as :

1. Soundstage depth
2. Treble detail & dynamic
3. imaging scale

I thought I could improve the above items by replacing my amp gears so I borrowed a Krell KCR-HR pre & a Cello Duet 350 mark II power amp from a local 2nd hand store(In fact, it wasn't a borrow because I had to pay 5% of the value if I returned them back to the store). Those two pre&power are considered in the category of high-resolution.

The first impression when hearing the new amp combo was the overall clarity & dynamic was improved but, well, not very significant and the improvement on treble dynamic & detail were only subtle. However, the rich midrange of my ARC mono tube amps did not show on these complete Solid State amp combo. Since the improvement was so subtle then I brought the Krell & Cello back to the store and tried to figure out some other way to improve the 2.5.

I've once read an local audio magazine(a famous & being respected one here in Asia, the author who wrote this article has all the sophisicated measuring equipment for measuring speaker)regarding the improvement on clarity, treble dynamic, extension and detail for ProAc 2.5. The complete modification includes :

1. Replacing the Coil with Solo air coil
2. Replcaing the Wire-bound resistors with non-inductive Caddock resistors. Change the serial linked resistor from original 5 ohms to 3.9 ohms.
3. On the serial links to Tweeter, put a MIT RTX grade 0.01uF in parallel with the high-pass caps.
4. Replacing the originally internal cable to TaraLab RSC 8N cable. (ridiculusly expensive, US30/feet)

I always disagree any modification on original design including changing different parts or value. Well, it can be just a experience, after a while I decided to give it a try because there is no draw back as I could change it back to original if the result want't good. I started with only replacing resistors & parallel MIT caps to the original high-pass caps. Since I could not find the VERY EXPENSIVE high wattage Caddock or Vishay resistor. I could finally find a kind of resistor called LYNK (Made in USA, non-inductive, metal film oxide, specially used for crossover, arround 4 times more expensive than the typical wire-bound ceramic resistor) I bought both original value of 5 ohms & the 3.9 ohms recommended for this project. I started with replacing only the original 5 ohms & MIT cap. Wow !!! the difference is very significant ----- Much clearer & extended treble with better texture detail on ultra high and eliminating the previous grain & sand. I double verified it by changing it back to original one and the improvement is confirmed. I happily kept the newly replaced resistor of 5 ohms for few days & finally changed it to 3.9 ohm because of my curiosity. The improvement has once again surprise me!!! Much deeper soundstage without affecting the thickness of the midrange.

Since the Solo air copper coil & TaraLab RSC wire cost too much. Now I just keep the existing modification.

Please feel free to give comment !!

Small in size, most detail and great bass

None that I can say

I used to be a Martin Logan ( Aerius i ) man until I brought home a pair of ProAcs Response 2.5. I miss the great midrange and the forwardness of the Logans but they simply did not have the magical touch of ProAcs combine with the bass. If Logans had a touch more bass, I doubt I would have felt the need to look elsewhere since they needed the help of a sub.

I use to drive my ProAcs with a Simaudio Celeste 4150se and just upgrade to the 4250se. Wow, I am amaze at what the 2.5 can do with such a greta power amp conneted to them.

Fantastic speaker at a high price but worth the investment.

Similar Products Used:

Totem Mani 2 in resolution

Due to my involvenment in the Hi-fi industry I've had he opportunity to own some very fine equipment, from some of the most exotic High end companies in the world. ProAc have always maintained the highest standard of quality in every aspect in every louspeaker they have produced and this speaker is no exception. Truly brilliant at this price. Speakers in my Michell system consisting of OrcaHR (Modified PSU), Alecto (Monobloks), Orbe turntable with two modified psus and an aged Revox reel-to-reel.

For those reading YI's reviews of the ProAc's please disregard. The whole Response line up is fabulous, I own the One Sc's have listened to the 2.5's many time and looking to purchase ti new Response 3.8's which are awesome with regrds to midrange purity and dynamics. I recently purchased a used pair of Totem Model One's and they were ok but not nearly as magical as the ProAc One SC's, I have sold them to a friend of mine who also has a few ProAc's as well as other and he was disappointed too. Totem's to me look nice, sound okay. Back to the ProAc's, no way the 2.5'and 2s' are one star YI. I've been around audio foe almost 20 years and a few products I have had ofer as much musical magic as the ProAcs.

Sometime, I feel that all human are very personality. When they dislike something, they just condemn them by all mean. I think this are very unfair to the manufacturer. In this case, I wish to vote for the response 2.5, no doubt that I do not own one. In most cases, the Proac are very sensitive to the cable and amp which they are associated. As such, I think the response 2.5 need selective gear to drive it and I highly recommended the Jeff Roland or Audio Research. Any of this gears will put the Response 2.5 to a 5 star speaker. When set up properly, the speaker just disappear leaving behind a big sound stage. Meanwhile, I do agreed that the speaker is over price but that what Audiophile is all about. You don't measure art with cost, they are very subjective and one man food is another man poison.
For those who love the Proac at the first sight, please be careful in the selection of you amp and cable. And be careful, if you do not have a good amp, or big room don't play this speaker, because it seen to have some emphasis in the 40-50Hz region. (Very prominent when listening to recording consisting of double bass eg. DUET..) Indeed, they may sound like bose...if they are setup properly. Meanwhile, if they are team up correctly, they sound better then the Thiel 2.3, 3.6, and any of the Totem range.

The system I have heard (A Friend of my) consist of:
Immedia RPM2 turntable and arm with Lyra Cravis DC
Jeff Roland Coherence, Kydne
Jeff Roland Model 2
AQ Diamond XLR
Cardas Golden Cross XLR
AQ Sterling

The War is over, don't fight over the subject, just give your best opinion of this great but pricy speaker.

5 star for great sound, but 4 star for sensivitive to associate equipment.