These unusual-looking towers deliver a sparkling performance
View online review whf.cm/Response_DT8
The use of two types of 16.5cm mid/bass driver working in tandem may be clever from an engineering point of view, but visually it unsettles us. There are no two ways about it, the ProAc Response DT8 look odd – as does seeing the company name plastered liberally on the front of the speakers.
You can’t really miss the logo on the tweeter faceplate, lower mid/bass driver and on the badge near the base of the enclosure. But, more than that, you will also find that it appears no fewer than three times on each mid/bass driver chassis, making nine times in total. We can’t help thinking that’s overkill.
We have no complaints when it comes to build though, which is as good as we have come to expect from ProAc. The 98cm-tall cabinet feels immensely solid, and is blessed with crisp edges and neatly applied wood veneer.
The enclosure’s walls use differing thicknesses of MDF to spread resonances. They are heavily braced and damped to give the drive units a solid, low-noise foundation to work from.
Something a little different
There are five standard finish options – black ash, maple, mahogany, oak or cherry – so these speakers should fit well in most rooms. If you fancy something a little different there are two premium options – rosewood or ebony – available for, appropriately enough, a premium.
So, why use two types of mid/bass driver? In engineering terms, there is always a trade-off between the optimisation of midrange and bass performance in a drive unit. Designers simply end up with a compromise that best suits the product.
By using different drivers working in tandem, ProAc’s engineers have attempted to get the best of all worlds – a polypropylene cone in the top unit shoots for natural mids, while a stiff poly mica diaphragm in the lower aims to deliver powerful but articulate bass. The trick is to get the two working seamlessly, which is no easy task.
Less fussy about placement
Despite a nominal impedance of just 4 ohms, the DT8 aren’t overly demanding of an amplifier. They are pretty sensitive, at 90dB, so there shouldn’t be an issue getting to high volume levels with most price-compatible models.
These floorstanders use ProAc’s usual downward-firing port arrangement that vents to the sides. This configuration makes the speakers less fussy about room positioning than conventional rear-firing ported alternatives tend to be.
In our test room, we position the Response around a metre into the ro
