Source is an Auralic Vega G2. (Actually the dealer’s box on loan, while I wait for mine to arrive, so should be well burned in.) I auditioned the Vega against my 272/XPSDR and, for my musical tastes: mostly acoustic classical, jazz, folk etc. preferred the Vega by some margin. Unlike the 272 (or any pre below statement level, I think) the Vega has balanced outputs which conveniently match the inputs on the speakers. The choice was made after home auditioning, so I knew what to expect. Will I miss the rituals such as massaging burndies, anaconda-style wrestling with Naca5, having yet another go at sorting out the rats’ nest behind the rack? In a way, yes, I think it’s part of the fun of Naim ownership, but I’m also amazed at what a one-box system can deliver and the lounge certainly looks a lot neater.
Roger
PS I still have a Qb in the kitchen, so I’m not entirely Naimless.
"Integrated circuits are wonderful devices, though they have clear limitations. Chief among them is their inflexibility. They are purpose-built functional blocks and, as such, designer’s hands are tied if they want to customize their performance aspects. For example, one of the tenets of high-performance audio engineering is ensuring open loop stability. That is, can the amplification block operate in a respectful manner without feedback? Integrated circuit amplifiers typically do not, while properly designed discrete stages can. (Because of their power limitations, most ICs rely heavily on feedback to achieve their low distortion specifications, while larger die discretes can sink more power and achieve lower distortion without heavy negative feedback)
Another limitation, …, is current flow and bias levels. Because ICs are based on small die silicon chips containing (typically) hundreds of components, there’s little tolerance for heat, thus limiting the designer’s options. The opposite is true with discrete designs where the choices are pretty much endless."
I think the term they use is ‘critically tuned’… But whatever the purpose, whether to extend the bass or prevent compression non-linearity, the result of course is the same as a bass reflex, the port giving output from the rear of the cone, designed to be in-phase with the direct radiation, just maybe primarily over a different frequency range.
This explains it better and is what Ben told me ‘ In the large ATC’s the port has no output, it is tuned as a clamp on the woofers excursion below the [resonant frequency). It is an acousticdamper, not to create any output. You may look at their white pages or some other technical explanation beyond what I can explain
Congratulations andyl, great choice! While I had 19A for home demo, I also auditioned many different dac/pre’s with them. PS Audio DS was probably the best I auditioned and I almost bought one based on that. Such an organic and flowing sound, really something else and truly enjoyable. I’ve never heard the Bartok or Vega 2. Luckily I waited for 40A’s to arrive because in the end some room correction was needed for the low end and I went the Linn route. Otherwise I’d probably have the DS now.
Entirely down to size, 30.1 offers about as much bass as my room can take.
The only other speaker I really enjoyed was Spendor Classic 2/3 but they were just a touch too big for my room.
SCM40 is probably the most complete speaker I’ve listened to/owned but if they are too big for your room then I would suggest comparing SCM19, 30.1 and Spendor 2/3 depending on your taste. Another speaker I’ve considered but never listened to is ProAc SM100.
Rear ported speakers simply just do not work in my room unfortunately otherwise I would have also tried Dynaudio Special Forty.
You can delete my above concerns about the ATC40A not peering deep into a recorded as good as my previous D9 or D48R were able to.
They have taken another huge leap in performance (mainly overall detail and the soundstage music presentation are easier to place and follow) now this recap was done. The PRaT is even a touch better as well.
My goodness these are exceptional speakers. At any price - let alone what they retail for.
I wonder if anyone has tried the SCM40A with a Wilson Benesch Torus to fill in the very bottom. It would seem on paper to be a good way of getting true full range from relatively compact system and relatively modest cost.
Welcome to the ATC club - they are simply incredible speakers, a speaker to last for a lifetime. My passive SCM40’s have brought the biggest uplift in sound quality, precision, scale, impact and drive of any upgrade I have ever made in 35 years of pursuing high fidelity.
Certainly I’m struggling to think of any speaker I would rather own at anywhere near the price or even three times the price and I have no idea how ATC are able to build something this good for the price.
I’m 3 months in and still loving playing music I thought I knew well and literally reeling with giddy excitement at what I am hearing - enjoy!!
ATC recommends a minimum of 75 watts. I guess if you have a very forgiving definition of “okay’… If not, it’s probably no.
I once heard the 19 drives by the XS2, and I wasn’t too impressed. I didn‘t know ATC at that point, and the dealer where I bought the XS2 ex-demo wanted to sell speakers too. So he was keen show me lots of options hoping one of them would gel… I guess the SN 2/3 might wake up the 19, and the 250DR will drive them well…
Hi Jim,
I suspect that you are more realistically looking at a NAP250DR or higher to grab hold of those SCM40 bass drivers. Even then, you may be better to sell the NAP150x and buy SCM40A instead. The auditioning could be fun though!
Well, as it happens I just tried an ex-dem 250DR.
But it overpowered my speakers in the room from volume 30 up.
(I play across a 22 x 11 foot room.)
It didn’t play well at the low volumes (17-21) I use at night.
And generally the whole sound was wrong.
The transformer hummed - and there may have been something wrong with it.
It was a joy to return to the 150x and Arivas that were literally made for each other.
But I know at some point I’ll get new speakers, and these are top of my candidate list.
The question is whether they would play nicely across my sitting room.
Probably best to kick back and enjoy what I have for the meantime!
cheers
Jim
Understood Jim. This speaker-room interaction thing seems to throw up all sorts of undesirable effects. It took 6 years (!) of auditions with 5 star reviewed, audio excellence rated speakers before we finally heard the ART floor standers that we have today. It was such a relief to find a pair of full-range speakers that actually worked well in our living room.
Our impression from the experience was that there are many well engineered speakers out there but the speaker-room interaction dominates the speaker’s internal quality when it comes to the perceived sound.
Good luck with your search and may it take you far less time than it took us to replace our previous Proac stand mount speakers.
