A-Audio's Proac Special Edition CloneIt was May 2009 when Anthony first surprised us with his Proac clone 1sc in one of Streetsmart's EB - which I believe coincides with Pilyo's subwoofer demo.
The little time alloted to demoing the clones in the EB proved successful in not only securing a promo (less 1k to the first 5 sets sold) specific to those who attended the EB, but also spin-offed another EB which was dedicated only to Anthony's clone.
To make the next EB more exciting, we planned a blind test wherein attending members can bring in their branded BS speakers to blindly duke it out with the clone.
In conclusion, not only did the clone bested some brands - it also made one member order a set of clones right on the spot & sold his B&W speakers the next day in the marketplace!
The 6k clone generated alot of sales for A-Audio and for those who have a set still speak of it in high regards up to this day. Unfortunately, with the various speaker designs of Anthony - the creation of the clones got sidetracked to the point that he stop producing them in favor of his new original concepts - the Genesis, Exodus, Ezra, etc.
The clamor for his clones didnt die however and when the clone's xover was transferred to his new speaker line, sonics became better. It was only apparent that the clones should be placed back to production but with some small refinements - thicker enclosure, more premium xover parts, Danish tweeter to replace the Velodyne tweeter used in the clones and to faithfully copy the enclosure size of the Proac Response 1sc.
Truth to be told, the A-Audio Proac clone had these enclosure dimensions:
H= 11.75"
W= 7.5"
D= 10.25"
The original Proac Response 1sc has these dimensions:
H= 12"
W= 7"
D= 9.25"
If you go to Proac's website (
http://www.proac-loudspeakers.com/ ), you'll notice that the Proac Response 1sc is now replaced with the Proac Response D1. The D1 has the following dimensions:
H= 12"
W= 6 5/8"
D= 10.25"
To satisfy Anthony's curiosity, he built the new clone with the exact measurements of the Proac Response 1sc as well as the newer and smaller Response D1 just to hear any difference........ and possibly to ask why did Proac elect a much smaller box to replace their legendary 1sc.
Both enclosures had the same wood thickness, bitumen, wrap-around foam, drivers and xovers - the only difference was the enclosure size which was half an inch in the width and a full inch on the depth. With these small incremental changes, should there really be a change in the sonics between the two?
YES, THERE IS!The new clone 1sc still brought back all the good sonics of the first clone 1sc, but was a tad smoother because of its new Danish tweeter - so it could be considered as a small upgrade to the previous clone 1sc - not really by much. But the Danish tweeter really helped improved sonics compared to the previous Velodyne tweeter.
The new Response clone D1 however blows both clones off the water!
It made the slightly bigger clone sound a bit 'nasal' in its presentation when comparing the two as the sound of the clone D1 has a richer and smoother midrange that seems to float effortlessly around your ear level - infact, making them almost invisible as the imaging was spot on.
Both anthony & I were surprised with how the little enclosure size difference affected the over-all sonics of the two almost identical speakers, but agreed that we now have found a good successor to the favorite Proac clone 1sc
The new Proac Clone Response D1 would still be priced the same as the previous clone 1sc - 6k.
NOTE:Please take note that Proac speakers are very revealing of one's system. They are NOT forgiving speakers, so your final sonics will be based on your associated gears that are connected to the them. Please take note also that proper stands should also be used to optimized your experience. The tweeter should be at your ear level when seated in your listening chair. Treat this as a high end speaker as you will be rewarded with high end sonics - even thou you only got 'em at bargain basement prices
As a personal suggestion, do try them in a bi-wire configuration
PICTURES:Due to the excitement, I completely forgot to bring my camera
- so pag pasensyahan nyo na po etong phone cam pics:
We decided that the prototype of this special edition clone to be wrapped in a different vinyl covering. But naturally, you can always elect anthony to wrap it on your preferred vinyl color.
In this photo, the proac clone 1sc is on the top, the left bottom is the clone 1sc and the lower right is the clone D1. Habang lumiliit yung box, gumaganda ang tunog
A-Audio's current speaker line up:Budget series:
Genesis BS - 3k
Ezra FS - 6k
Elite series:
Proac Response Clone D1 BS - 6k
