Set-up and installation
Contents
We place the small monitors on our IsoAcoustic stands, they fit just about two metres apart and only 30 cm from the back wall. ProAc emphasizes that these monitors, due to their closed construction, can even stand against the back wall. Given their limited size, they obviously thrive better in a smaller listening room. They are very easy to place but we intuitively rotate them quite a bit (30%) to get a tighter stereo image. It depends a little on what you prefer.
The ProAc Tablette 10 Signature monitors replace our much larger Atc Scm19 V2 speakers in the set below:
- ATC CDA2 Mk2
- Benchmark AHB2
- Metrum Acoustics Onyx
- NAD M50
- IsoAcoustics Aperta 155
- Cabling: Audioquest and Grimm
We also connected the ProAcs to both a Bryston B60r and a Keces E40 and both went very well. These monitors clearly show the differences in amplification and are easy to control despite their low sensitivity (86db). This is due to their rather exceptional impedance of 10 Ohm. A small tube amp will also be able to control these little ones effortlessly.
Sound
It is said that the new crossover on the Signature has been worked on for a very long time and we notice that because the interaction between tweeter and driver is ‘flawless’. After a few days of listening we see the following characteristics on our notes: playful, refined, pure, detailed, fast, emotion.
This is a monitor for the connoisseur, the listener who likes to listen to jazz and vocal work. Someone who listens to his favourite music at reasonable volume in the evening. Jazz works great because of the unseen speed of these mini-monitors and vocal work sounds fantastic through the pure midrange. With good reinforcement we obtain a tight low end with enough punch. Occasionally we miss some foundation but we are so absorbed in the music that it is often not an issue. However, a subwoofer would dot the i’s, we think.
Listen
We take some CD’s out and start with Kurt Vile’s album “Believe i’m going down”, one of our favorites. Because of the ProAc Tablette 10 Signature especially the rich instrumentation stands out. On the song ‘That’s life tho’ of course the different guitars stand out, but the peripheral instruments, tambourine and horn, come through very nicely as well. The high level of detail in this monitor is its greatest forte. We can see very deeply into the recording and all the individual elements in the song are very distinguishable.
On the next album, “Easy Tiger” by Ryan Adams, some songs lack a little body but this is compensated by the natural flow of the music. This almost organic rendition emphasizes again the instruments and voice. It’s the kind of loudspeaker that reproduces a stroke of a string beautifully like the song “Oh My God, Whatever, etc”. And which doesn’t camouflage the rawness of a voice so that songs contain more emotion and are more intens. The ProAc Tablette 10 Signature, for better or for worse, lets you hear it all.
Completely different music comes from Geir Jensen aka Biosphere who has been making soundscapes for decades. This electronic music is full of small samples and bleeps and the Tablette 10 Signature lets it through effortlessly. Ambient music must have atmosphere and intensity and this monitor succeeds very well in that. The threatening undertone on the album “Cirque” gives us goose bumps and we’re totally absorbed in the music. Listening pleasure is further enhanced by the high level of audibility and the wide soundstage.
It goes without saying that heavy metal or deephouse are not the genres you have to let loose on this modest monitor. Singer-songwriter, jazz, ambient and EDM go very well. It is especially with that intimate, personal music that this speaker shines. The ProAc Tablette 10 Signature shows its class when you play your favourite songs in the evening, when the rest of the family is under the sheets, and offers comfort after a long, busy working day. Not bad for a modest monitor.
