Difference between ProAc D28 and D38?

G

gauss63

Guest
I had the opportunity to audition both these speakers at a dealer but as the speakers interact with the room (and most rooms are different), I am left with a few questions.

My impression was that these two speakers were quite different, the D28 being on the warmer side of neutral, possibly due to more energy in the mid to upper bass region. Nicely detailed though, but ever so slightly muddy due to the over enthusiastic upper bass. The D38 seemed to be slightly on the bright side of neutral, but with a deep bass that was nicely controlled. The brightness of the tweeter was however pronounced. These differences in two speakers from the same manufacturer surprised me quite a bit.

Are these differences "real" or could it possibly depend on the demo room/equipment? How do others who have heard these two speakers perceive the differences?

I should perhaps add that I really enjoyed both speakers, ideally I'd want the bottom end of the D38 and the top end of the D28.
 
I can't say i have compared the two, but i do remember the bass of the D38's being pretty special. I really do like the 38's.
 
Update on the D28. It turned out that the pair of D28 I listened to were fairly new out of the box when I listened to them. When I returned to listen a second time (with the same tracks as before) they were more similar in nature to the D38 and they were definitely not muddy. They had been used for 30 hours since my last visit so I guess there's a lot happening during burn in with these speakers.

Still perhaps slightly warmer than D38 though, to my ears a very good thing.

I'll probably buy the D28 unless I find the new PMC FB1i (or OB1i) more to my liking. Only problem is that there is no PMC dealer anywhere near where I live.
 
Do you not find a fair difference in the bass? That's one reason i liked the 38's.....quite a potent bass.
 
Huge difference in bass, the D38 really is awesome. Still, even though I found the differences smaller at my second listen, I find the D38 to be overall brighter and for that reason I do prefer the D28.

I'm also sensitive to too much bass, my room is a little bit difficult so I'm a bit concerned that the D38 in my room will be too much. D28 is probably better suited for my room. I've had PMC FB1+ and they are fine in my room (gently rolling off as they do) while my current B&W 803S create a lot of boom.
 
Whilst I don't have either of the D28/38, I can vouch for the fact that my D25's and my Response 1SC's both took absolutely ages to run in - certainly much more than 30 hours listening your demo set had on them. All ProAc speakers I've heard just get better and better with age.

When I auditioned the D38's recently I thought they were a huge step up from the D25 but I haven't heard them compared against the D28.
 
Bought a pair of ProAc's today and the little booklet says give them a week before any serious auditioning and a further one or two months before optimum performance is achieved ;).
 
Bought a pair of ProAc's today and the little booklet says give them a week before any serious auditioning and a further one or two months before optimum performance is achieved ;).

which model did you get iRobot?
 

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