Someone’s going to suggest this, so might as well be me. If you’re interested in SCM40s and with your preamp, you really should listen to the active version. To my ears the 40As give a more musically satisfying and enjoyable sound than the passives driven by a 250DR. By no stretch of the imagination could they be described as “fruity”. ATC have their roots in the studio monitoring world and aim for transparency and dynamics in their speakers but without losing musical communication especially in their consumer range.
I’d strongly recommend a demo of the 40As preferably at home, but then I’m biased!
I have no experience in using active speakers. I have no doubt in beliving that active ATC sounds better than passive ones.
Steve Guttenberg have some thoughts though:
Hi
Taste and invironment are variables that seems to differ more than my system.
and now with the 252/250 my wallet tells me that this setup is going to stay for a long time.
The 252/250 has a different type of voice than my old 202/200 hence the question:
What is the speaker 252/250 owner prefer?
Or I might be wrong - if a 252/250-owner buys a Supernait, he will keep his loudspeakers.
Well the 252 has by common consent a more mature presentation than the 282 and 202. But the only thing is to demo in your room. How much space can you allow behind and at the sides?
There is nothing special about the 252/250 that makes one speaker more appropriate than another. People simply buy the speaker they prefer to match their room, their budget and the sound they like. There is no right answer.
You don’t mention your source, your room size or your budget, all of which might help elicit suggestions.
Is your 250 a DR version? The non DR 250.2 is quite different and will contribute to the ‘fruity’ sound you mention. The DR is much more fleet of foot.
In my opinion there is a lot special about the 252/250 compared to my old 202/200, and the music presentation is quite different - to my ears.
Room size and Budget are variables and much can be done to tune a room (and a budget)
My Sources are Rega P9 (used to have the LP12) and the CDX2/XPS-olive, serviced)
The 250 is non-dr and is Powered by a Supercap (olive-recently served)
My question is actually very simple - do you have a 252/250 combo? In that case, which loudspeakers do you use?
What is a good match with the 252?
Hi, I used to have 252/250.2 with Dynaudio Confidence C2 and before that 282/SC/250.2 with the same speakers. I’m not 100% sure I have the correct understanding of fruity but I found that especially the combination cdx2/xps2 it was a bit to warm and bass rich for my taste. This I cured with replacing the cdx2 with a cds3, but also considered cd555ps which also helped in my situation. I believe this is a balance issue rather than 252/250 phenomena, and yes the speakers (and room / placement etc) are obviously important but it might be other ways to solve the issue.
My first try would be to borrow a 250DR as HH suggest, my limited impression is that it has a different tonal presentation than 250.2.
The list of speakers that people use and enjoy with a 250 amp is too long to be meaningful!
What to look out for? Don’t look at speakers that are rather difficult to drive . . . that like a lot of current . . . Those abound, and some dealers will tell you “they’ll be fine.” When the amp isn’t really up to the speakers, you never get out of said speakers what they are meant to, and can, deliver.
The local hifi store offered a pair of demo-used Dynaudio Contour 20.
I couldnt resist.
Have heard they in the store last year and was impressed.
Are they a good match With the 252/250-2?
Time will tell.
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