ATC SCM 11 vs SCM 19

Regardless of whether you state you have an endgame set up or not you’ll get several of the usual suspects offering recommended upgrades, improvements and better sounding kit before you’ve even had time to have a proper listen to your new set up. This forum never ceases to amaze me.

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@ninanina Congratulations on choosing the key elements of your system. I strongly suggest you ignore suggestions for further upgrades for a good while whilst you live with it.

Lots of changes all at once risks a very uncertain situation where you can find yourself disappointed and not sure why!

Get the basics right now, within your budget, and with the help of the dealer who appears to have been very helpful. then sit back and enjoy for a good while.

Atom HE plus ATC 19A seems to me a very appealing combination. Might tempt me at some point for my office system.

Bruce

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Really enjoy reading here. The combination atom with active LS seems like as simple as it is perfect.

If I will ever downsize - the time might come someday - I will vote for active speakers (atc 20s or 50s) :smiling_face:

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Consider building poweramps in the feet of the SBLs. It should fit in there somehow.

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This is THE idea. :heart_eyes:

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Yes many Naim speakers have sufficient space for active modules. I can only dream of that !

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Thanks Bruce

I am currently over the moon with the HE and 19a’s and l definitely won’t have upgrade pangs anytime soon

As some people may know I made another thread about my ‘dream system’ which was sold on but what I hear now is just as good and maybe even better as it’s certainly more dynamic sounding

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And yes my very local dealer has been fantastic

No pressure from them and home demos no problem whatsoever

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I’m genuinely happy you are enjoying your new system and blocking out others improvement noise.

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Thanks AKH

I’m absolutely loving the HE and the active ATC 19a’s sound wise, it’s wonderful :grinning_face:

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Best way to describe the HE and active 19’s is ‘effortless beautiful sound’. It sounds amazing and I thank HH and others for suggesting active ATC speakers to me

The HE is such a neat unit and seems to be a great streamer feeding the ATC’s via XLR’s

I’ve never had such a stripped back system before; just two items giving me everything I need

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I’ve contacted my friendly local dealer to tell them about my decision…. Demo 19a’s plus a new Atom HE

They are closed Monday so intend to visit them on Tuesday to finalise things

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Agreed, especially when their upgrade produces a “night and day” difference :rofl::rofl::rofl:

Yep you’re onto something there @Ardbeg10y :joy::+1:

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As some will know I re listened to the passive 19’a with my system and actually preferred it

While I thought the Atom HE produced a good sound with the actives, when I swapped back to the passive 19’s with my XS3 system it shouted ‘keep me, keep me’…it wasn’t a sound I was prepared to give up

In the end I thought the Atom HE with the active 19’s sounded lovely but I missed the ‘bite’ of the passive’s & XS3 system

Two of the most telling tracks I compared on both systems was ‘My Love is Your love’ Whitney Houston and Dire Straits ‘You and Your Friend’… not necessarily my favourite tracks but the WH track absolutely rocks the whole room via the passive 19’s and the DS track clearly defines the initial left channel guitar leading edges perfectly… on the DS track I remember saying “boy that sounds so good”

I tried both test tracks with the Atom HE and active 19’s and wasn’t so impressed… in the end I thought the Atom HE & active 19’s sounded a little bit flat and too smooth sounding compared to my XS3 & the passive 19’s

That’s why I ordered a new pair of 19’s.. I know a lot of people don’t believe the XS3 can properly drive the 19’s but that’s not my experience at all

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I considered taking my PMCs active to simplify my set up. My MF nu vista 300 power amp has a combined weight of 65kg and takes up space.

My dealer said not to bother, but I insisted on a demo. Ok, so it didnt include my power amp, but did put active PMCs up against passive with a couple of power amps, albeit a bit more expensive than the active modules.

The active set up was ok, until I heard the passive. The active setup lacked low end punch and I wasn’t convinced by the top end either. I really wanted to like the active PMCs, but my dealer was right. I asked him how many active modules he has sold, and was told “ not many”. Shame really, but they were not for me.

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TGR I’m sure you already know that I had the same experience between active vs passive ATC’s albeit with an Atom HE vs my own XS3

I chose passives because, with my current setup, they just sounded better to me

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Your next purchase will be a streamer