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Active Speakers

Paulq2

Paulq2

pfm Member
Am thinking of reducing box count and simplifying my system so am considering some active speakers instead of the current setup of:

Linn Akurate DSM (staying)
Nord Power Amp (going if I go active)
ATC SCM19's (ditto)

Room is quite small so I don't want anything that's going to be overly boomy though I want sufficient bass, not bright. I have a love/hate relationship with the ATC's as there are times I find them amazing and times seriously sterile. I guess that's because they don't colour the recordings at all but, occasionally, I miss a bit of excitement and bottom end (no pun intended). Despite that, the obvious contender is ATC SCM19A's but which others would be worth demoing before buying?

I am considering:

Dynaudio Focus XD
ELAC Navis ARB-51

Recommendations/suggestions very welcome please.
 
Zagreus said:
I can recommend active AE1s.
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Apologies I did omit to mention that I already have a pair of those in a second system. They are very very good but am just looking for something that gives a slightly more substantial presentation.
 
Given the praise on another thread here you may want to consider the Buchardt Audio A500. Look lovely too. Not cheap though.
 
James Evans said:
Given the praise on another thread here you may want to consider the Buchardt Audio A500. Look lovely too. Not cheap though.
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Yes, I did read that. My only reservation would be the substantial bass radiator on the back given the relatively small room size I have. Previously, I tried passive Dynaudio Special Forty and whilst they were amazing they just interacted with the room, bass wise, too much. Hence I moved to the ATC's being a sealed box. That's solved the boomy bass issue but sometimes leads to not enough if that makes sense.
 
Paulq2 said:
Apologies I did omit to mention that I already have a pair of those in a second system. They are very very good but am just looking for something that gives a slightly more substantial presentation.
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Have you tried them in your main system Paul?
 
Do you use a TT in your system? If not, there's also an option of going for high efficiency speakers and driving them with a dac that has a variable volume control. This is the route I'm currently venturing down with my Chord TT dac. I use the headphone socket to connect to my speakers which works just fine, but I intend to get the version two when I can afford it and use the XLR outputs which can give 17WPC. That's far more than I need to drive my efficient speakers.
 
Paulq2 said:
I have yes and there's no doubt they are very very good indeed. Just not quite enough for the main system I fear.
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Ah ok. Being a big Dynaudio fan and having owned many I would just worry about their port tuning and general bass output in a small room.
Can you home demo?
 
Paulq2 said:
Am thinking of reducing box count and simplifying my system so am considering some active speakers instead of the current setup of:

Linn Akurate DSM (staying)
Nord Power Amp (going if I go active)
ATC SCM19's (ditto)

Room is quite small so I don't want anything that's going to be overly boomy though I want sufficient bass, not bright. I have a love/hate relationship with the ATC's as there are times I find them amazing and times seriously sterile. I guess that's because they don't colour the recordings at all but, occasionally, I miss a bit of excitement and bottom end (no pun intended). Despite that, the obvious contender is ATC SCM19A's but which others would be worth demoing before buying?

I am considering:

Dynaudio Focus XD
ELAC Navis ARB-51

Recommendations/suggestions very welcome please.
Click to expand...
The obvious answer would be - http://atcloudspeakers.co.uk/hi-fi/loudspeakers/entry-series/scm19a/- not sure there is anything that would be better to be honest !
 
I've owned SCM19A's for about 6 months now, and highly recommend them.

I think moving to active would address the concerns you have with you're current setup. The bass is exceptionally well controlled, but digs a lot deeper than the passive SCM19's, which I also demo'd with the ATC P2 power amp.

However, the bass is very 'ATC' (taut and controlled), which if coming from ported speakers, can at first sound like a lack of low end. It's there (and in my case has much more texture/tonality than the B&W CM8's I had before) but IMO is rarely boomy like ported designs can be. As always, a home dem would obviously be best if possible.
 
Anybody looking at active speakers and not considering the new Buchardt A500/A700 would be seriously remiss.

They are significantly inexpensive given the feature set, and John Darko (in all of his patented condescending tone) just raved about them.
 
Hi,

Why active, went from active Isobariks to Shahinian Arcs, much better, just plays music.

Get a Linn Akurate 2200 amp and enjoy with the Arcs.

Cheers

John
 
How about the Kef LS50w II's that just launched?

If Steve Guttenberg's review on the passives is even half true then I imagine the actives should be well worth an audition. They also have DSP to help control room interaction / bass better.
 
Paulq2 said:
They are and I have heard them in this very setup - mind-blowingly good. Sadly just far far too big for the room I have.
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How big is your room ? Would you be able to use room treatment because if you can I would look at getting the 40A`s. My room is 10ft x 9ft 6" and with room treatment I have the 50A`s running fine in my room.
I would rather treat the room passively instead of DSP, the shorter route to the speakers the better
 
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