The legend of ProAc began at 1973, exactly 30 years ago, and the protagonist was its founder, designer and soul figure Stewart Tyler. Like many audio designers at home and abroad, Taylor's first hobby was to assemble his own speakers. In Britain, a country with a strong musical atmosphere, he had a strong interest in music since he was a child, and later became fascinated with acoustics, which demanded extremely high sound quality. When I was in college, I paid special attention to studying acoustics and electronics. After graduation, I naturally began to design and make speakers. Because the sound quality of the speakers he made is very good, and his reputation is gradually rising, more and more people ask him to be a speaker, so he seriously considers specializing in this industry. 1973 founded Celef Audio Company, the predecessor of ProAc, in Borehamwood, England. With Taylor's talent in sound design, he launched several small bookcases. Although the output is not very large, it has been strongly echoed, recognized by fans and recognized by the market. Through the accumulation and summary of this period of time, Taylor gained more experience and gained the motivation for further development. 1979, after careful consideration, Taylor decided to change the brand name to ProAc (the company name is still Celef Audio), which is the abbreviation of Professional Acoustics, meaning professional acoustics. Taylor positioned the market of this brand as producing high-end speakers with excellent sound quality, rather than ordinary mass products. This positioning has continued, until today, ProAc has not changed for 30 years, and has always insisted on producing high-quality speaker systems, and has never made a mediocre cheap speaker. During the period of 1979, Stewart Tyler launched a landmark product-Tablette small bookcase box under the then Celef Audio brand, which turned a new page in the history of bookshelf speakers and left a colorful stroke in the history of ProAc. As we all know, in the days when Tablette was born, furniture-style loudspeakers prevailed, and products like Tablette, which are ultra-small and have a bass unit of only 4 inches, are rare. At that time, people were surprised by small speakers because they could make large-scale sounds in their small boxes. The legend of ProAc begins! In the first few years of ProAc, Taylor's factory was small and the output was not large, because he was only an expert in speaker design and was not good at the marketing of audio equipment. Around the end of 1980s, he began to hire marketing staff and moved to a larger assembly plant, and the production was expanded. The backbone product series of Tablette series ProAc is Tablette, which is also the most popular product of ProAc. From the very beginning, Stewart Tyler wanted to design a small speaker with a wide and deep bass and good balance, so as to meet the desire of many users to obtain relatively real sound in a small environment. After all, whether in Britain or China, enthusiasts with little home listening environment account for the majority. The appearance of Tablette series basically meets his requirements. 1979, after the first generation of Tablette was launched, it was quickly recognized by users in Britain and overseas, and it was all the rage. During the period of 1984, 199 1 and 1993, they were respectively improved and named as Super Tablette, Tablette II and Tablette III. These speakers are very successful, with global sales exceeding 50,000 pairs. For a small speaker factory, this achievement is unimaginable. I used to be a user of Tablette III, and I used it to enjoy music almost every day for five years. Today, in the second-hand market, a pair of Tablette III with good color can still be sold for about 4,000 yuan, which is two-thirds of the price of new products in that year, showing its reputation and classic degree! After Tablette III, Taylor did not continue to develop Tablette IV, but readjusted the cabinet, unit and frequency divider of Tablette series speakers, and launched Tablette 50 at 1996. There is a great difference between 50 and III, so it is no longer a continuation of III, but a brand-new small product. Tablette's first to third generation bass units are only 4 inches, and 50 is expanded to 5 inches, so it pursues a more balanced overall sound and better bass expansion. This cheap product, after Tablette III, was once popular in China fever circle. It has a good balance in the whole frequency band, full and firm voice, and slightly neutral timbre, especially its low-frequency momentum and dynamic performance, which can hardly be imagined as coming from its small box. Taiwan Province's "Audio Forum" and Japanese "Audio" have listed it as a sound product that can be kept, and even think that you don't have to change your mobile phone all your life if you want to listen to music. One year after the advent of Tablette 50, 50 signed editions were published. Both of them are about the same size, but in appearance, the signature version is much more beautiful in wood veneer grade and production technology, and the quality of high and low units and phase plugs has also been greatly improved. In 2000, at the beginning of the new century, ProAc Tablette series evolved from 50 to 2000, and the bass unit expanded from 5 inches to 6 inches. It seems that ProAc pays more and more attention to low frequency performance, which may be influenced by AV waves. In 2002, this long series, which lasted for nearly 30 years, added a new member-Reference 8. It seems that ProAc wants to keep this legendary series forever. As for the comparison between these new products and the classic old models, it is a topic that ProAc fans talk about. There are both nostalgia that the new is not as good as the old, and many people think that the new is not as good as the classic. Personally, the author thinks that the new Tablette is obviously different from the old one in sound style. The new model is more comprehensive than the old one. With the expansion of the bass unit, the sound becomes more balanced (or mediocre), which is more suitable for the audio aesthetic trend of our time, but at the same time it loses some valuable characteristics of the classic model, such as femininity, transparency and elegant high frequency. This also proves once again that the weakening of personality is the development trend of our time! Throughout the history of ProAc, we will find that it does not constantly introduce dazzling product models like some manufacturers, but almost every model has established a good image in the hearts of audio lovers, and many of them have become classic products. This is very valuable. I remember a sentence in the instruction manual of Tabelette III: As long as it is used correctly, this pair of speakers will never be indestructible. This is ProAc's confidence in product quality. Indeed, for many years, I haven't seen the dead ProAc horn. From this point of view, it can be said that each pair of ProAc speakers is a boutique that can be used with confidence. For the purpose of listening to music, most ProAc are masterpieces that can be listened to for a lifetime. In addition to durability, from the early Tablette to today's products, we can also find some characteristics of ProAc: First, the design of the frequency divider is excellent, which can seamlessly combine the treble unit and the mid-bass unit, so that people can't hear the existence of the frequency divider, as if listening to a full-frequency unit. Second, the low-frequency texture is excellent, the quality is not heavy, and there is no fake fat; Intermediate frequency is smooth, open and refreshing; High frequency is elegant and delicate. The whole range of timbre is elegant, rich in details and overtones, simple and natural. For Taylor's personal preference, all the speakers he designed used soft silk dome units, and never used metal tweeters. Third, ProAc speakers are of high quality, but compared with advanced speakers such as Dana and ATC, they are relatively easy to push, and most of them are suitable for being driven by bold machines. It is said that Taylor himself is a fan of Bold Machine, and he also uses Bold Machine to push the horn at home, so most enthusiasts like to push ProAc with Bold Machine. Of course, the author thinks that ProAc is not heartless, and a high-quality transistor amplifier can also be its good companion.

ProAc's products mainly have three series:

I. Studio series

Studio series is a series with a long history, because its prototype Studio 3 is one of the earliest products of ProAc, which came out in 1984. This is a three-way speaker system, which has the advantages of low sound dyeing, strong bearing capacity and natural timbre, and is very appreciated by users. This series is followed by Studio 1( 1987), Studio 100( 1993), Studio 150( 1997) and other models. Many models of bass units in Studio series are printed with white ProAc in the middle, which is different from others and becomes the symbol of this series. Most of the products in the Studio series have been successful, and some of them have become classic musical instruments. Although they have been around for many years, their improved models are still being produced, which is very rare for an audio manufacturer. I fell in love with the brand ProAc for the first time because I overheard Studio 100 and was attracted by its delicate and musical timbre. The model 100 has been produced for 10 years, but it is still in the ProAc product catalogue, and it is still being produced and sold, which can be described as an evergreen tree.

In the early products of ProAc, the mini tower made by 1988 was a milestone, although it didn't belong to any series, and it didn't continue to be produced later. I like the fast, neutral and transparent sound of this pair of slender small floor speakers.

Second, Tablette series

The backbone product series of ProAc is Tablette, which is also the most popular product of ProAc. From the very beginning, Stewart Tyler wanted to design a small speaker with a wide and deep bass and good balance, so as to meet the desire of many users to obtain relatively real sound in a small environment. After all, whether in Britain or China, enthusiasts with little home listening environment account for the majority. The appearance of Tablette series basically meets his requirements. 1979, after the first generation of Tablette was launched, it was quickly recognized by users in Britain and overseas, and it was all the rage. During the period of 1984, 199 1 and 1993, they were respectively improved and named as Super Tablette, Tablette II and Tablette III. These speakers are very successful, with global sales exceeding 50,000 pairs. For a small speaker factory, this achievement is unimaginable. I used to be a user of Tablette III, and I used it to enjoy music almost every day for five years. Today, in the second-hand market, a pair of Tablette III with good color can still be sold for about 4,000 yuan, which is two-thirds of the price of new products in that year, showing its reputation and classic degree!

Third, the response series.

The Response series was launched on 1989, which is the highest grade series of ProAc. It is an advanced speaker designed on the basis of the successful experience of Tablette series and Studio series. The first three speakers are response 1, response 2 and response 3. At 1993 and 1998, the best systems, Response 4 and Response 5, with amazing price and amazing performance, were introduced respectively.

Response 1 is a small bookshelf speaker, and its volume is similar to that of Tablette 50. It uses a 5-inch bass unit, but it is much better than Tablette 50 in unit quality and frequency divider. The treble adopts the unit of Scanspeak, a famous Danish factory. The bass adopts transparent polypropylene basin and phase plug, which has excellent speed and sound quality. What is popular in the market now is its improved response 1SC. It feels bright, transparent and delicate, with a good sense of high and low extension. It is an excellent small speaker and my personal favorite small speaker.