The Naim 252/300 vs ATC SCM 40MKII problem..

[AndyU]

I’ll hunt out a dealer. This has come about because I was contemplating spending 4K on a pair of Yamaha NS2000, and then looked at the alternatives… it just seems to make more sense…

I also have an Audiolab 8200CDQ which has XLR outs.

Lack of balanced outs isn’t an absolute showstopper; the wiring diagram for phono to XLR is in the ATC manual and a decent dealer should be able to make you suitable cables, or you can buy them online from people like designacable. Balanced does have advantages though, as it is less susceptible to some kinds of noise. The cable is the same for balanced or unbalanced, and is awful lot easier to run and much less conspicuous than Naim type speaker cable. And cheaper. Win win win win win.

 

[Andrew C!]

I’m very tempted to go for a pair of SCM40A and just be done with it - one decent preamp (even an AV one if there’s one suitable out there?) and a cracking turntable.

There are several options for actives. Home demo ‘essential’ at the prices involved.

 

[Woodface]

I really like mine, very much fit & forget as you know they have the right amount of power to drive them.

I reckon I’ll end up with 50s in the next two years to scratch an itch but who knows.

 

[adamdea]

Go active! SCM40A. Simple. Better. Just think how good your speakers would be with a power amp driving each drive unit. Just think how simple your hifi will be without a big humming power amp in your rack and hefty speaker cables all over the floor. Go active! You know it makes sense! You will be grateful for the rest of your life.

As an SCM40A owner I agree, although you do need to get power cables to the speakers. My main system now consists of the speakers and a mini-dsp shd as streamer dac and pre amp. (plus the turntable and phono amp). Obviously it sounds terrible but that's down to my cloth ears.

 

[adamdea]

The bass alignments ATC uses seem to me (from carefully auditioning to the SCM40A and from owning the SCM50A) to be quite "lean" compared to the taste of many domestic audio enthusiasts.

I have found that they respond well to being tuned to taste by being moved towards room boundaries (as per the manual) and increasing the amount of "room gain" in the bass. Actually that situation seems more preferable to me than one where you are trying to get rid of too much bass in a real-world deployment.

That's i how I have mine (pretty much against the wall) with a bit of dsp to get rid of the modes. The only downside is that I have a feeling some people might like the effect of space behind the speakers and that this might have indirect benefits in perceived spaciousness.

 

[adamdea]

Lack of balanced outs isn’t an absolute showstopper; the wiring diagram for phono to XLR is in the ATC manual and a decent dealer should be able to make you suitable cables, or you can buy them online from people like designacable. Balanced does have advantages though, as it is less susceptible to some kinds of noise. The cable is the same for balanced or unbalanced, and is awful lot easier to run and much less conspicuous than Naim type speaker cable. And cheaper. Win win win win win.

In my case its also a win because, to make things really neat, i have to run the power and signal cables next to each other in quarter cylindrical trunking, which makes balanced star quad cable a good idea.

 

[Woodface]

Balanced speaker connection is much more pleasing than fiddling with L&R banana type cables.

 

[Cappuccino]

Passive 40’s can be tuned to perform better than active with careful choice of amp. However there are two mods that are required.

1. undo the terminal plate on the rear and remove the spades, nuts n bolts ATC laughably call binding posts. Get a decent single set of WBT binding posts and connect all wires to this single set. Ie all three +ve together then all -ve together. Massive improvement.
2. Purchase a set of Townshend supertweeters, connect and set back 5mm or so from front facia. Integrate into speakers and be amazed.
3. Yes an additional. Stand speakers on Townshend speaker platforms.

Doubt you’ll find a comparable speaker under £20K. Yes maybe in a single area but as an overall package this setup is totally musical.

 

[AndyU]

Passive 40’s can be tuned to perform better than active with careful choice of amp. However there are two mods that are required.

1. undo the terminal plate on the rear and remove the spades, nuts n bolts ATC laughably call binding posts. Get a decent single set of WBT binding posts and connect all wires to this single set. Ie all three +ve together then all -ve together. Massive improvement.
2. Purchase a set of Townshend supertweeters, connect and set back 5mm or so from front facia. Integrate into speakers and be amazed.
3. Yes an additional. Stand speakers on Townshend speaker platforms.

Doubt you’ll find a comparable speaker under £20K. Yes maybe in a single area but as an overall package this setup is totally musical.

Then just think what would still be on the other side of those glitzy WBT binding posts! Little bits of wire, a PCB, all sorts of resistors and capacitors and inductors and solder tracks. If you think getting improved binding posts is a good idea, just think how good it would be to get rid of the whole crossover! Go active! One drive unit, one amplifier.

 

[Woodface]

Passive 40’s can be tuned to perform better than active with careful choice of amp. However there are two mods that are required.

1. undo the terminal plate on the rear and remove the spades, nuts n bolts ATC laughably call binding posts. Get a decent single set of WBT binding posts and connect all wires to this single set. Ie all three +ve together then all -ve together. Massive improvement.
2. Purchase a set of Townshend supertweeters, connect and set back 5mm or so from front facia. Integrate into speakers and be amazed.
3. Yes an additional. Stand speakers on Townshend speaker platforms.

Doubt you’ll find a comparable speaker under £20K. Yes maybe in a single area but as an overall package this setup is totally musical.

Do you work for Townhend?

 

[Cappuccino]

Then just think what would still be on the other side of those glitzy WBT binding posts! Little bits of wire, a PCB, all sorts of resistors and capacitors and inductors and solder tracks. If you think getting improved binding posts is a good idea, just think how good it would be to get rid of the whole crossover! Go active! One drive unit, one amplifier.

Indeed the internal wiring was next on the list, and thoughts about the crossover had gone through my mind.

My point was active 40’s can easily be bettered if your starting with a quality amp, and you can change the tonal balance to suite your requirements with an external amp.

loved the 40’s and had to take a serious jump to better them. I just think ATC could substantially improve them with a few additional pennies spent.

 

[Cappuccino]

Do you work for Townhend?

No nor ATC surprisingly, but tried both products on a suck n see basis and amazed by them. The platforms more so than the STs but the STs work so well with the 40s.

i always found the image height and treble extension a little lacking but the STs resolve both if dialled in correctly.