£2,000 Speaker, what’s inside the Proac Response 1SC?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 พ.ค. 2020
- Following my review of my much loved Proac Response 1SC, I take a look at the cabinet, drives and crossover parts inside the speaker. What do you get for your money? Does it represent good value? You decide!
For me it looks like an insanely overpriced speaker. For that amount of money I would expect a much more precisely built item from inside out.
If you look closely, you will find, that that electrolytic capacitor is in series with that other "blue thing". That "blue thing is actually an inductor! The inductor is in series, with that 10Ω 'sand box' resistor. Being that you have a resistor in series with the inductor and a cheap electrolytic capacitor, the inductance of the resistor is meaningless, because it just adds a tiny amount of inductance to an inductor already in the circuit. The ESR of the capacitor adds only a tiny bit more resistance to the resistance of the inductor, and the resistor. That whole circuit is a band pass filter, used to dampen LC resonance in the high pass filter for the tweeter, and the low pass filter for the woofer. All it is, is a damper, to keep the 'hot spots" out of the crossover points of both those filters. They really don't affect the signal path too much. The large white inductors and the PolyPropylene capacitors ARE in the signal path, and are indeed premium quality components. Since the values of the damping circuit are not ultra critical, you have a lot of tolerance there. Premium quality is not necessary for those components. the band width of the band pass filter is wide enough, that it just doesn't matter.
I used to be under the audiophile spells. Spent many thousands. BEWARE LOOKS CAN BE DECEIVING. I am a big advocate of blind listening tests as they shield the senses from aesthetic and brand biases.
Go DIY. Simple as that.
I changed the Alcap 30uF capacitors (the blue one) in cross over network to Solen. The difference is day and night. I suggest to you all, the 1sc owners.
People think that a speaker costs because of materials. But forget that they pay for the man hours of design and tuning.The person and his years of work. You don't pay that much for the raw materials.
Makes me wonder where the £2k goes. They probably cost about £200-£300 to make.
Your presumption about the additional padding material is correct. The goal is to leverage the internal resonance on every side of the cabinet. Elimination is not the name of the game so much as it is control. Most manufacturers I know will use accelerometers to identify where the bulk of the energy storage is, and then treat it accordingly. Some will build shelves. Some throw different materials at the offending areas. The solutions vary, but the goals are usually the same.
Great video. The stapled panels look like a dynamat/ bitumen type material. Good to dampen high frequency harmonics resonating through the cabinet. Overall a well made speaker with nice quality components, case, damping and drivers. Even the internal wire looked a nice gauge. Externally they look beautiful, love the wood finish.
Good to know that ProAc needlessly puts such cheap components into the crossover of a rather expensive speaker. Certainly puts me off wanting to buy any of their products. You should do this sort of expose' on speakers from other manufacturers as well. It would certainly help those of us who otherwise might be fooled by the price point into assuming the speakers contain high-quality crossover components. I'm sure ProAc isn't the only manufacturer using cheesy components.
I am not a technical guy; but let me tell you this. The 1SC were the first speakers I listened to and opened my eyes (or ears I should say) to British mini monitors heaven. I clearly remembered these babies were on display at my local audio shop back in 1995-1996 if not mistaken. They used some KRELL amplifier to drive them, and boy.... they just put some magical spells on me!! Ever since then, I 've been into "British" sound and no turning back (ended up buying a pair of Harbeths). Great video and keep on rockin'... thanks
Thanks. I have the older non 'C' model. So no copper phase plug. Still love these after more than 20+ years!
Nice twist on the typical hifi videos and the insides look to be about as expected.
ESR = Equivalent Series Resistance
Built my own Transmission Line speakers a couple of years ago with a posh driver and crossover kit. Cost about £900 all in. Haven't had the urge to replace them since and I have gone through lots of brand name speakers in the past. Room treatment is more important than any hi-fi components though. Nice channel by the way.
I think the interior damping pads are probably descendants of the old bituminous felt damping pads found on many, particularly UK, speakers. The intent, and result, was to change the physical vibrations of the box panels at resonance into heat in the low viscosity of the tar like bitumin that impregnated the felt. The energy would be released at a much lower and less objectionable frequency. The felt was there to keep the vibration "absorbing" goo from becoming mobile and collecting at the bottom of the cabinet. If memory serves they were an essential part of the LS3/5A's. I think there were also issues with them drying out as well as concerns, perhaps unfounded, about toxicity. I'm sure the newer versions have addressed all of these. As always, a wonderful presentation!
That other "capacitor" looks to actually be some sort of iron-core inductor. I don't know enough about crossover design to speak with authority, but it seems to be part of a notch filter or impedance correction for the woofer. Since these parts aren't in series with the audio signal, it is frequently a place where cheaper components can be used.
If you're anything like me I bet you were really pleased that terminal needed tightening as an excuse for a look inside! Excellent video as ever, thanks!
Thank you for this video (too!). I'm looking at Proacs now and this came extremely useful. Thanks again for your efforts.
About the electrolytic capacitors: they have a much higher volumetric capacitance than PP capacitors. In amplifiers they tend to fail over time and certainly the cheap Chinese ones. Their life expectancy is also highly dependent on operating temperatures. The higher the temperture the shorter their lifespan.