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Kudos Super 10 or ProAc D2 speakers

M

mathewf

pfm Member
After much reading and some very helpful forum responses, I'm set on one of the above to replace my B&W804S speakers.
My system is a modded Olive Naim setup (Avondale, RSL) which equates to something like a cleaned up high-spec Olive sound signature. My room is 13' x 15', lowish ceiling, carpeted floor. Max I can have the tweeters away from the rear wall is 22" and there's a little clutter around them.
I listen to music at low to mid volumes, tho they also double as a cinema system. My listening tastes are fairly broad with a leaning towards classical. One thing to note is my listening position tends to be about square with one of the speakers (so not central).
Dealer demos aren't possible at the mo and limited anyway as you need to hear them in situ; any comments would be really appreciated.
 
Haven't read much about the Kudos Super 10, so if it was my money I would go for the Proac D2. I actually have a similar dilemma coming down the road. Per your other thread I am currently using Neat Momentum sx3i which are very good and are currently firing down the narrow side of the room. However we will be doing the lounge up in a year or so and will need to have the speakers firing down the long way, so I won't have ideal positioning. With the Neats being quite directional I will need something which disperses well and because it is a large room will likely go for floorstanders. Top of my list are the Proac D20, non ribbon tweeter, as seemingly their dome tweeters disperse really well. The D2 and D20 both have rave reviews and are supposed to be a good match with Naim, Exposure and Sugden and others, and they are a relatively easy load. Currently I have Exposure but would like to try Sugden at some point so that is why they would be my first choice.
 
I haven’t had any experience of using Proac, and no experience of the Kudos model in question, but from what I’ve heard at shows, my general impression in Proac rooms has been ‘nice hifi’ and in Kudos rooms has been ‘nice music’. YMMV obvs.
 
Sue Pertwee-Tyr said:
I haven’t had any experience of using Proac, and no experience of the Kudos model in question, but from what I’ve heard at shows, my general impression in Proac rooms has been ‘nice hifi’ and in Kudos rooms has been ‘nice music’. YMMV obvs.
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ha- nice comment.
 
I heard some Kudos 505 stand mounts at a show driven by Exposure electronics and the sound was very good to my ears but I couldn’t compare it to ProAc as there weren’t any reference points. Most of my listening is at low volumes in my study and here the ProAc D20R excels. The sound, to my ears, is amazingly good at low settings with a clear natural sound including bass that goes deep although, obviously, not flapping your trousers.
 
ProAc Response D2 non ribbon would be my first choice for these reasons :

They pair very well with powerful and meaty Naim amps in general.
The soft fabric tweeter will enable you to listen to some recordings with medium quality audio.
They will not create any listener fatigue on long listening sessions.
They will be very detailed while staying musical.
The port location makes them easy to set in a listening room.
And they will keep their value ($) over time so they are more of an investment than an expense.
Oh, I forgot, they also go very deep in the 30 something Hz while staying in control so you won’t need a sub !
 
I had Kudos C10s for a while. I personally thought they were more musical than hifi -I'm imagining the S10 to be like a C10 with the bugs taken out, which is compelling.
 
Sue Pertwee-Tyr said:
I haven’t had any experience of using Proac, and no experience of the Kudos model in question, but from what I’ve heard at shows, my general impression in Proac rooms has been ‘nice hifi’ and in Kudos rooms has been ‘nice music’. YMMV obvs.
Click to expand...

Funny - my experience has been the exact opposite. Part of what makes this interesting!
 
i absolutely loved my b&w 804s , they keep their price so well . BIG sound . having had them for a few years i demoed some of the new diamond version 804d . these were also superb, much clearer . they were in fact about 6k new then and so i tried the focal 1028be instead which had a clearer sound that the 804s . personally i think naim goes better with the 804s . one of the gents on here changed from the sn2 to luxman 505 with his 804s .

I would definately be trying the s40 which sound so beautiful with naim
apart from the 2 you mention

kerr acoustic are worth looking at


and tannoy eaton legacy sound fantastic with any amp !!!


at 3000 pounds the pearl sibelius is well worth hearing and superb at low volume . these are exquiste with vocals

 
Sue Pertwee-Tyr said:
I haven’t had any experience of using Proac, and no experience of the Kudos model in question, but from what I’ve heard at shows, my general impression in Proac rooms has been ‘nice hifi’ and in Kudos rooms has been ‘nice music’. YMMV obvs.
Click to expand...

My experience of a friend's system comparing Kudos C10 Supers, C20s and Proac D12 was the complete reverse. It's wise to audition speakers, the room is so important. The D12s stayed right up until he heard some much more expensive ATCs.

OP for what it's worth I liked the old C10s more than the C10 Supers in exactly the same system/room. They might be worth finding. The balance of the Supers seemed to have been tilted forward for that 'detail' effect.
 
I know one of the guys on the road from Proac and he always reckoned the D2 was the best balanced speaker in the range, lovely speaker.
 
You shouldn't have any issues using them in your room, In fact my bets are you'd prefer these to the S10's, which IMHO can sound stiff and boxy, even in a near field setup.
 
I’m kinda surprised by the general reaction to Kudos S10, I was expecting an avalanche of praise, a no brainier, but ProAc really seem to be the Naim pairing darling.
ProAc D2 has been mentioned a lot, another box of theirs that seems to fit the bill on paper is the SM100, any reason it’s not up there?
 
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