ProAc Tablette Reference Amazing Monitor Speakers

Amazing Sound. These speakers are mind blowers. Super compact, but when set up right, they produce and amazingly rich, full-spectrumed sound. The soundstage is incredible. Perfect condition. Non-smoker. 

From the Absolute Sound: 

It’s common knowledge that small speakers are usually dynamically challenged when forced to play in too large a room. And the diminutive Tablettes are not exceptions. But on my desktop, used nearfield, I was unable to push the Tablettes past their dynamic comfort zone. Their micro-dynamic presentation was subtlety nuanced, and macro-dynamics were equally impressive. On the recording I made in 2011 of the Boulder Philharmonic performing Astor Piazzolla’s 13-minute composition Tangazo (boulderphil.org/concerts/past-concerts/ jan-15-concert) the Tablettes did a superlative job of capturing the dynamic subtleties of its quiet pastoral beginning as well as the passion of Piazzolla’s frenzied high-volume closing lines.

Although they are small, the ProAc Tablettes were certainly not fragile. Near the end of the review I substituted a brand-new lynx Hilo DAC/Pre for the Benchmark HGC DAC-2 that had been in my desktop system.

Professional gear often uses slightly different terms for its inputs and outputs than consumer gear. With consumer gear “monitor” is usually a fixed line-level output, while “output” is usually variable, controlled by a volume knob. On the lynx Hilo the “output” is at full level, while “monitor” is the variable output. I connected the Hilo the way I connect 99% of the DAC/preamps I receive, and (hi) lo and behold, when I turned it on the ProAcs got a two-second dose of full power output at full-scale levels from the Accuphase P-300. That’s not exactly “best practices.” Miraculously, the Tablettes did not melt down and none of the drivers croaked. I daresay the same happy results would not be possible from many mini-monitors.

Comparing the ProAc Anniversary Tablettes with several of my usual desktop references was an interesting exercise in subtleties. For this test I place the speakers right next to each other on my desktop, set matched output levels using a 1kHz test tone from the AudioTest app, and then switch between the two while playing a mono recording.

The Tablettes produced slightly more lower-treble energy than the Role Kayaks in a nearfield setup. I also noticed that the Tablettes provided more inner detail than the Roles. But the Kayaks delivered more lower midrange energy, giving the Roles additional weight and gravitas.

When I did the same test using Aerial Acoustics 5B monitors I immediately noticed that the 5Bs produced a slightly darker harmonic balance than the Tablettes. After more listening time I determined that the Tablette’s upper midrange and lower treble was a bit more prominent than the same frequency region through the Aerial Acoustics 5Bs, which made the Tablettes appear, especially at first, to be more detailed. But after a few minutes of A/B comparisons I concluded that the added detail I heard was primarily the result of the Tablette’s additional upper-midrange energy. Especially when using them in a critical monitoring situation, the ProAc Tablettes were the easiest to “listen into” of all the passive monitors I’ve auditioned recently.

Final Thoughts

Over thirty years ago, when I heard the ProAc Tablettes for the first time I thought they were an exceptional speaker. Not much has changed in the interim. I still think they have a special magic. Tablettes offer a unique combination of high resolution and musicality that makes them a top contender for desk space, if you are looking for a small-footprint high-resolution monitor speaker.

Premium Stands (Solid Steel) included for xtra 

$175 + 45$ shipping

SPECS & PRICING

Driver complement: 5.875" (150mm) polymer-impregnated Kevlar mid/bass cone with black acrylic phase plug; 20mm ProAc silk dome tweeter with damped front plate. Mirror image offset configuration.
Nominal impedance: 8 ohms 
Recommended amplifiers: 10 to 120W
Frequency response: 35Hz to 30kHz
Sensitivity: 86.5dB linear for 1 watt at 1 meter
Dimensions: 6" x 10.625" x 9.75"
Weight: 5kg (each)
Price: $2200