ATC SCM7 with NAIT 5Si

Hi! Wondering if anyone has tried out SCM7s with a Nait 5Si. I’m looking to replace a pair of AE1 series II in the very near future as I fancy a change. ATCs are reputedly power hungry so would be interested in hearing from anyone that has heard this setup.
A dealer has kindly offered to lend me a demo pair but I wouldn’t want to be messing anyone around if it’s a terrible match!

I’ve heard an SCM 7 driven by a little Linn Majik integrated in a large loft. So Nait 5Si should drive them no problem. You’ll love the speakers. It is one of my favourite mini monitor. Nothing better for the price.

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my little 5si drove scm11 with no issues…

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are you looking for musicality or accuracy ?

Ideal answer is both - but any speaker is a compromise.

depends on your music taste as well…

I heard an AE Reference 1 standmount and it was an excellent speaker - no way inferior to ATC SCM standmounts…

I wonder if you would enjoy music more with a Naim source ?

good luck for your search

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I remember the Linn Majik, it was a nice little amp but no powerhouse. Good to know thanks!

If naim built a CD player with digital inputs I’d be all over it. I’m sure they have their reasons not to. Possibly a DAC?
The AEs work fine with the nait but after 20 years of listening I do fancy a change. I’m also aware that the foam surrounds will eventually perish on the bass drivers so would prefer to move them on before I have to get the super glue out :grinning:

Good to know thanks!

Yep. I was really surprised, too. You are right that ATC are usually hard to drive ( I have a pair of 10s still ) but 7 is much easier on an amp. Yet 7 has all the virtues of the ATC I love. ( hopefully you’ll love it, too )

Also a good source helps, too.

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“Power hungry” is, I think, misleading. What HiFi, reviewing the Atom, reckoned its 40W could drive the SCM50s well (but that’s What HiFi). What is true of the ATC speakers I have heard is that they respond very positively to more amplifier power. The bass is tighter and dynamics of, say, solo piano are reproduced more convincingly. Even ATC’s own integrated is 150W per channel which might say something. They’re also extremely revealing of source. I don’t know yours, but you might at some point consider @anon93526344’s suggestion of a Naim source. I’m not so familiar with the 7s and 11s, but I have seen suggestions that the 11s are actually easier to drive well than the 7s.

All that being said, I’m sure your Nait will drive the ATCs and make enjoyable music. So I’d go ahead with the home demo and let us know what you think.

Roger

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I had the current version ATC SCM7’s and they were too much for the NAP100/UQ2 combo IMO.

That’s interesting… were you running it quite loud? Looking at the Nap100 specs it’s a bit less powerful and the power supply is slightly smaller than the Nait 5, but not a lot…

Thanks Roger. The Nait is sitting on the end of an Audiolab CDM and DAC of mid 90s vintage. It’s still a good sounding bit of digital and the DAC gets a lot of stuff put through it such as Tidal via an airport express with good results. If the CDM dies I’ll be on the hunt for a CD5 something but will probably keep the DAC for as long as it runs.
Stereophile report getting a good noise from the ATCs using some real low wattage thing (a Miniwatt?). However there is some real entertainment to be had with running capable mini monitors with powerful amps. I was drawn to the AE1s after hearing them cranked on the end of some massive musical fidelity amp with a separate power supply (m300 maybe?) - scary stuff!

I can’t agreed more with your statement. It is exaclty what you drescribed. The ATC arent the easiest but certainly not the hardest at all.

Nope, reasonably low volume. Home demo them, dont take my word for it

The answer depends in part on how loud you typically listen and how big the room is. If you like to let it rip and have a big room then you need a bigger amp. If you listen at moderate volumes you should be fine. Either way you need a great source for them.

I ran SCM7 in a big room with a CD5/112/flatcap/150. The CD5 was good enough. The amps were a bit underpowered.

Now running Rega Apollo/Chord Qutest/32.5/hicap/250 into HTS 7s in a small room and it’s fabulous. The 7s really enjoy the extra power of the 250.

Been using a Nait 3R for the last week in place of the chrome bumper system because the hicap needed service. It’s actually doing a good job in spite of being underpowered, so I assume the Nait 5 would be okay if the room isn’t too big.

ATC speakers in general have a long-standing reputation for (i) being ruthlessly analytical, (ii) being power hungry and (iii) only sounding really good at moderate to high volumes. Based on what I’ve heard of the current range (introduced about six years ago), this no longer applies, assuming it was even true in the first place.

What I think is true is that they are very revealing, but without being clinical. I’m currently running a pair of SCM7s at the end of a full monty LP12 -> SuperLine / SuperCap -> 552DR -> 250DR, and they’re in no way embarrassed by what’s coming down the pipe. So while your Nait should be perfectly adequate, if you’re prone to upgraditis, you may find yourself wondering “hmm, what if I upgraded [insert component here].”

In some ways they’re reminiscent of the first generation of Linn Kan. Conventional wisdom was that Kans worked OK with a Nait, but they really needed a good pre/power to get the best out of them. I had Kans (still have them in my attic), and I didn’t feel like I was hearing them properly until I had a 250 up them. The SCM7s are an altogether more well rounded speaker, and don’t have the same edge-of-the-seat presentation, but they both definitely belong in the “overachieving small speaker” category, and, unless you crave a bigger and more effortless sound, may be the last speaker you ever need.

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I had a NaitXS2 running my SCM19s for a while… it was scertainly punchy and bouncy, but just a tad slow. The 19s are a lot larger than the 7s

Those are very different speakers to my ears. 7s are much faster.

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They sound faster because of less bass in the sound. I have the 40 with an SN3 and i had tried the 7 the 11 the 19 and finnaly choose the 40. Yes the sound sound faster on the smaller ATC but is more a psychoacoustic thing than a physic thing. At the end you will not feel any of the ATC slow even the one you choose.

When you go bigger on ATC range you have more space a more larger soudstage more clarity (yes yes !), a more " real" feeling and of course more bass.

The ATC are tuned to be played at a certain level to give their best. This is true. They will play very well at low to moderate volume but will give you all at higher level and this is soooo fun ti have a big sound without any distortion or constricted sound. But imo they are well tuned for a domestical use. They are analytical but never boring and harsh they just traduce the fun and the emotion whit brio. They sound flat so many people whant a more emphased sound on some frequency. But i think that once you a accoutumed to the ATC sound, you cannot come back on anything else.

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19s are fast with the right amp… very fast indeed… in fact one needs to match carefully with supports, but yes sounds different to the smaller SCMs I have owned… it has a slightly more prominent lower mid…

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