Naim amps are great with the ATC’s. In my experience, the SCM 11 are easier to drive than the SCM 7
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The SCM7s don’t get much love in these parts. Among small standmounters, there appear to be many more happy users of ProAc Tablette 10s (a speaker I’m curious to try) and Harbeth P3ESRs, among others. As far as I’m aware, @kuma is the only other user who prefers the 7s to the 11s.
This just underscores the importance of trying everything for yourself, speakers above all because they can vary so much from one room to the next. And yes, I would agree that it’s odd to prefer the lowest speaker in any range to the next one up 
That was my impression too, even though I ended up preferring the 7s.
I do like proac but the tablettes are particular about positioning with rear porting giving the potential for problems. My thoughts are that the ATCs are going to be slightly less fussy as they are a sealed box.
Hopefully should be getting them through midweek so looking forward to updating you then!
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The Tab 10s are not ported
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Indeed - they are sealed boxes so mine are very close to rear wall
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Neither they are, wasn’t aware of that! Maybe a bit too spendy but that’s worth knowing. I’ve admired the fact ATC build all their own drivers.
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Uniti Star, perhaps?
I’ve had the SCM7s on the go for a few days now. The NAIT 5si has enough power to drive them in the small room they are used in with no problem. Yes, you would benefit from having more headroom in a larger space as they are fun to crank and seem to soak up power without any complaint. I find between 9 and 10 o clock on the NAIT an adequate amount of juice. I’m sitting directly in front of them using them as studio monitors for some of the time and they work nicely in this respect. The sealed box low end is a bit different, it’s a while since I’ve heard anything that isn’t ported.
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Good to hear. What’s your source? (Apologies if this was mentioned earlier.)
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I use an Audiolab CDM/DAC (mid 90s), Tidal via Apple airport express optical into dac. Also an old Planar 2 (70s) undergoing refurb via a creek phono pre.
Well, the bad news is you probably need to upgrade your sources. The good news is the 7s are capable of big rewards for every step up
The CDM/DAC will be replaced at some point, probably when it stops working. It’s most likely the CDM will be first to go. On that sad day I’ll be looking at whichever used Naim player is cheap, cheerful and repairable. If the DAC dies I’m not sure which route I’ll go down. It’s a very good sounding setup so I wouldn’t bother replacing it for the sake of it.
As for the Rega, it’s got a clear upgrade path. Ceramic bearing, 24v motor kit, sub platter. The external wiring is now replaced by audio origami which was a big improvement, maybe internal rewire too? The 7s are more forgiving of the old Rega than I’d expect but the speed stability (or lack of) is noticeable. I’d be cheaper buying a new one but it’s kind of like a classic car that way.
The Rega Apollo/Chord Qutest combo would be outstanding (and cost effecive) if you want to have a separate DAC. I run that combo on a 32.5/hicap/250 with ATC HTS 7s (the wall mount version of the SCM 7s) and it’s fabulous. I would love to use a CD5 XS as transport but for some reason they are even more expensive on the secondary market than CDX2.2!
The main thing is the Nait works with the 7s and you’re happy with it. Glad that worked out.
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Maybe the CDX transport is no longer available? That would be a bit of a gamble for buying used…
I‘d be interested in checking out the Rega player in the event of the CDM dying. Do you ever run it without the Chord DAC?
No. However, I used to run an Apollo-R into nDac, 82/hicap/250, SCM 7s. I took the nDac off for a couple weeks when it needed service. Frankly the bare Apollo-R was not good enough for the SCM 7s. It was a relief when I got the nDac back. No doubt it would be the same result with Apollo/Qutest, 32.5/hicap/250, HTS 7s.
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Useful to know snarfy, thanks. I’d be inclined to seek out a used Naim player as I’ve admired the build and internal layout since I saw the the CD3 years ago. Might be the basis for another thread as I’ve a few questions about that.
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