If you look carefully at the drivers used in the ProAc Response series - and also click on "discontinued models" on their website, it's pretty easy to identify which speakers will be the next to be replaced.
The D15s used a midrange driver with a copper phase plug. It was replaced by the D18s, which has an EXCEL magnet system with an acrylic phase plug.
The Response 1SC also used the copper phase plug. It was replaced by the D1, which has an almost identical driver to the D18 (just a bit smaller) - with an acrylic phase plug.
The Response D28 and D38, and the Response centre channel both use the 6.5" Volt midrange. The D40, which recently replaced the D38, uses a carbon fibre cone developed for the high-end K series.
The Tablette Signature 8 used a copper phase plug as well, but the new Tablette Anniversary replaced that with a carbon fibre cone based on the K series.
So to summarize: it would seem that the currently shipping ProAc Response range (based on midrange drivers) all fall into one of three generations. We'll call them 1, 2, and 3 even though ProAc has been through three decades of new generations:
Gen. 1: Based on copper-plug midranges and Volt midbass drivers. Response D2, D28, Response D Monitor centre channel
Gen. 2: Based on the EXCEL magnet system and acrylic phase plugs: Response D1, D18
Gen. 3: Based on carbon-fibre cones developed for the K4/K6: Tablette Anniversary, Response D40
I thus speculate that the next two speakers to be updated by ProAc will be the D2 and the D28 - the D28 should receive carbon fibre cones, and the D2 will either get the same driver as in the D18 or perhaps the carbon cone that will go in the replacement D28. I think which it is depends on how the new carbon cone will load a small ported box - reviewers have been more split on the carbon Tablette than on the D18s, which have received nearly unanimous praise.
It's an important point: Just because the copper-plug version of the D2 might be the next to go does NOT mean you shouldn't buy it. A lot of people like the old Tablette better. The D28 - the oldest and least technologically advanced speaker in the Response range - is one of the most adored speakers in hifi. Newer isn't necesarily better at this price level. It might just be different.
I've been reading your thread...if I were in your shoes I would buy the D1s.
BTW I own the Boston A25s and have listened to the A26s. They are seriously good for the money. If you had a nice Japanese amp (say JVC or a 400 quid Denon) they would make it sound wonderful.
In fact, I once memorably heard a pair of Boston Accoustic bookshelf speakers (BA60s, which cost US $198 per pair at the time, which was 1989) which I owned. I was helping a friend buy and amp and foolishly told him that the speakers would make a bigger difference so not to worry too much. The sales guy said, what speakers do you own, and I told him. He brought a pair into the high-end demo room and connected it to a large hunk of Krell iron (which at the time cost about $12,000). It was unreal - my speakers, my clear but refined little bookshelvers - had bass coming from all six surfaces in the room, and a vocalist - Harry Connick I belive it was - physically in the room with me, complete with intake of breath and little tongue noises between lines. It was a sick demo, to say the least (and of course my friend then spent $200 extra on the amp).
So a nice clean pair of speakers will do wonders even if they aren't "high-end" (this doesn't work the other way around). But I recently was listening to the A25s, thinking about how clean they sounded - then I hooked up a pair of KEF Q300s in the same system and was reminded that, just because it sounds good, doesn't mean it can't sound better - and let's face it, the KEFs aren't exactly high-end either.
You listen to orchestral music, you've got a nice amp...buy some nice speakers. If you buy D-whatevers and they replace them next week with slightly better speakers, you still have fabulous speakers, and you might not even like the new ones as well. Even if the new ones are better, the old ones will be better than A26s. Your logic leads to never buying anything you really want for fear it won't be the "best"anymore.
The D1s aren't getting replaced for awhile, they sound amazing, they are well suited to your amp and type of music, and they offer great resale value too. What are you waiting for?
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