A french Naim enthusiastic, I currently drive a pair of ATC SCM20 PSL with a Naim NSC-222 coupled with a NAP 250 in a 18 square meters living room of a 60 sqm apartment.
This system works terribly good compared to my previous setup : NDX2, Supernait 3 and PMC Twenty 5-23.
In the next 4-5 years, if I ever I change of flat in favour of a larger 85 m2 surface, I may be tempted by evolving onto active ATC SCM-50s.
My question for you is:
What are your feedbacks regarding the couple ATC SCM-50 ASL and Naim NSC-222 with or without NPX-300, which would be my natural choice.
Which other streamer / preamp combination do you juge as more performing for equivalent budget?
Thanks to everybody for your precious feedback!
JB from Strasbourg, France
I own ATC 50ASLs and use them in a living space that’s over 50m2 with ceilings up to 4.5m and the speakers easily drive the space. In terms of choice of streamer and preamp you have so many options. 222 with 300 power supply is good but the ATCs could benefit from a source even higher up the ladder. I feel the ATCs really complement Naim electronics, but I know other ATC owners love other brands for the front end; the ATCs will just tell you what’s happening at the source end whether you choose Naim, Linn, dCS or any of the many brands available. I have 5 boxes (3 for the streaming and 2 for the preamp) to feed my ATCs but Linn would do the same job with one, so that could be another consideration for you? As you already have the 222, adding the power supply and ATCs is a relatively simple upgrade and will just give you so much more, and your 50s will just carry on giving you more as you improve the preamp/streamer.
As jumping into the 50s will already cost me around 6K, I will try to avoid exploding cost in the preamp + streamer section and limitate it to the minimum of extra costs.
Thus, keeping the 222 will be a obvious choice with the possibility to upgrade with the NPX-300 a few months or years later.
I may have imagined the option of a ATC SCA2 coupled with a Naim NSS-333 (without NPX-300) but this will lead to probably to roughly 5K of additional cost, without the certainty it will make the source performance improved of x2 factor.
Thanks for your suggestion of Linn streamer, could be a good alternative, yes. I have also listed other top quality sources, such as Merging Nadac. But I appreciate the Tidal connect protocol embedded in the Naim modern range, and the reliability of the device / software couple.
I used to have a 272, the 222’s predecessor, and it was great. I am sure the 222 with the added power supply will be delightful through the 50s! I certainly wasn’t trying to dissuade you from buying Naim, but the ATC speakers work well with a wide range of electronics.
Hi JB, as Jim mentions your Naim 222 will work just fine with any Active ATC you choose. I have Active 50’s and use a Meitner MA3i DAC/Pre amp ( Naims latest streamers weren’t available when I bought it to compare). It’s a very simple set up that sounds superb. I recently borrowed an Emm Labs DV2 for a few days and my 50’s had no problem showing just how good that £30k DAC was and how good the ATC’s can be.
If you want to go higher up the source ladder one day I would look at Naim’s 333, Linn, Meitner and DCS.
Can I ask if you use your speakers with grills on or off ? I prefer the look of them off and I demoed these with them off, but being told they were designed to be used is leaving doubt in my mind. They also sounds more open and clearer off to me, but just not sure of I should be using them this way of that’s not the way they were designed! Thanks
You are correct, quite an easy demo but I have read covers on is the answer….
Active ATC’s are superb in my view but they will always appreciate source improvements - I see no reason why the 222 with or without power supply would be anything other than great.
Lots of value to be had buying used / ex demo if you are that way inclined too.
Key is you demo as I found the bigger the ATC the more room they need to breath so room matching is very important.
I run the tower versions, which are acoustically the same, with a 222 and 300. I agree with the other posters that they sound good with that combination, but there is still scope for further improvement. A different option would be the new dcs lina dac x, which is only a couple of grand more than a 222 and 300, but you do lose analogue inputs
I went from Superunity + NAP 250 DR into Spendor A9 to 222 into ATC50 Actives. I intended to audition the 300 once I fully adjusted to this combo, but the result without was so good I didn’t bother. Probably me ears won’t be up to it!
Paul.
The only ATC’s I’ve seen demonstrated at shows that had grilles on have been the 40’s.
All the others (50, 100, 150) were dem’d with grilles off.
When I home demo’d 50’s they arrived without grilles. When I asked the dealer if I should try the grilles his view was firmly that they were better without and cosmetic concerns were the only reason to ‘need’ them.
I certainly wouldn’t be worried that you are missing anything musically by not fitting them. Like you, I definitely prefer the visual aspect without.
Enjoy, they are superb speakers!
I agree there’s a difference with the grilles off, but apparently the speakers are designed to be used with the grilles on and have a flatter response across the frequency range that way. I like them both ways but I’d say I listen 80% of the time with the grilles on. If I feel some delicate cymbal work might benefit from the grilles off, I go that way.
I changed something on the system yesterday and have been listening with them on since. And I agree there are some types of music that really benefit with them off so it seems we have a win win situation. Thanks
Ok from the horses mouth then from Atc….. this is for the 50s upwards not the 40’s
Hi Mark,
Actually, we measure and calibrate the speakers at the end of line with the grilles off. This means that with the grilles on you can expect a little attenuation of the very high frequencies. This might be described as making the sound less ‘open’ so this is likely what you’re hearing.
If you prefer the sound with the grilles off then that is how you should have them, regardless of how they were designed to be. Having said that, as I said, we calibrate them without the grilles so that is the configuration that sounds/measures as intended.
