Will do - without the option to try the gear you need to trust your dealer !
They are, but I think the issue is rather about getting the best from them, which is where the beefier Naim amps have an advantage. Larger sealed-box designs such as SCM 40s can be more power hungry than ported designs, too. It might be worth noting that ATCās own power amps start at 150 wpc.
Roger
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So much is personal taste. To my ears active 40s were just so far ahead of the passives, even driven by a 300DR, that I knew I had to have a pair. The actives gave a precision and stability to placing instruments and voices in an acoustic space and an almost physical sense of them ābeing thereā that I had simply not heard before. These are things that matter to me and hearing them in my room was a āwowā experience that I thought I was far too old and cynical to experience again. My view hasnāt changed in the three years Iāve had them in the house.
Roger
5 Likes
Insofar as 40s and other good monitors are so transparent and highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the recording engineers so mercilessly, do you find that once you own a pair that it has diminished the percentage of physical recordings (vinyl, CDs) that you play?
I suspect there might be a bifurcation:
- I didnāt know that was so good!
- I didnāt know that was so bad!
And maybe some things migrate up or down?
Has it changed what you play?
I have recently added some 40s to my 250dr, but I havenāt heard them with any other amplification so not much help Iām afraid. All I can say is that to me they are incredible and the best upgrade I have made so far. I did however make sure I had the best source and amplification I could afford in place first. They are the final piece of the puzzle.
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That was my experience in my room, actives worked much better than passives with 300drā¦ā¦
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I ran a pair of 40s with just a Nait XS for a short period of time and it did surprisingly well. A 250DR followed and it was a noticeable improvement, but the XS was not shamed. Eventually I listened to a pair of actives and that was that. I had expected the increase in power to deliver better bass performance (and it did), but I was struck by how much better the overall āpackageā improved. - mids, imaging, etc.
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THE RESULTS ARE IN:
Ever try to tow a locomotive with a VW Beetle? Youād have better success doing that than driving passive ATC SMC 40s with a (recently recapped) 70-watt NAP 250.
For me, an ultimate test of system is simple: How often do I play it? After four days with these 40ās, I started reverting to my tiny 1st gen Kans, and wondering how to dump the ATCs to a greater sucker or someone with six monoblox or whatever. Sometimes smaller is better.
With the 250, the 40s dished up cold plates of monotonic mush no matter what the song. Everything compressed. No air, timing, spacing or PRaT. It offered nice detail and power to Rene Flemingās solos, a midrange paradise, but nothing else. The bass was bigger for sure, but echoed and boomed, and the overall sound was bigger, but then again they had the home field advantage 40L filled with waves, as opposed to my doughty shoebox Kans. Nor did the 40s produce any round earth artifacts. The worst of all worlds, perhaps. No punch on transients; the upper frequencies sounded tinny. You get the idea.
Then my 250DR arrived.
Wow!!!
I am IN the studio. Now I know why (many) people rave about ATCs. All the above-cited mediocrity vanished. I was instantly smacked with depth, clarity, separation, air, with punch and definition at the low end, controlled sparkle at the top, and the vaunted clarity of midrange for which ATC is noted. I know some people prefer 250s to DRs, but with my eqiupment and room thereās no comparison.
I shortly will be replacing the NAC82/HiCap with a 252/Supercap, and reasonably hope for another quantum leap in the experience. I will keep you posted. Thank you again to all who proffered answers to this question.
BTW: The supplied interconnect cable that came with the DR sucked. When I first installed it with the HiCap, the results were, uhā¦better. When I swapped it out for the older cable handcrafted by my friend who used to work for NaimUSA, the system soared into the cradling embrace of Thalia. A massive upgrade.
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Did you try active 40ās - worked better for me than passive with 300 plus no speaker cable or Naim interconnect!
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Glad you are enjoying them, they really are a great loudspeaker. Just avoid listening to the actives unless you are ready to slide down yet another slippery slope.
No I have not tried Actives. A bit priceyt for me. However, I just snagged a pair of active Isobarik PMSs. Heh heh.
Actually, a pair of active SCM 40s costs less than passives plus a 250DR.
Roger
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Excuse me but what about xlr cables I have passive 40s and my cable runs are 8 mtr so moderately decent xlr cables are around Ā£200 per meter. In my case they start to become expensive if you pay Ā£500 per mtr
for decent cables ouch. Plus it would require long runs for mains leads no sockets nearby. If preamplifier was placed closer to speakers itās going to look a mess
Understand, in my room the passives sounded ok but the actives were so much better but if you canāt get it to work fair enough.
Enjoy
Sorry its probably me but I am getting a bit lost.
@PeakMan covers the cost question for ATC SCM40Aās but how are Isobariks less expensive with 3 stereo power amps, a Snaxo and power supply and six sets of cables?
How lucky to have those cables Guard them with your life. There arenāt too many of those. 
P.S. Active SCM40 will be even better with your new 252/SC. A few years ago I have heard a direct comarison of active vs. passive SCM40 and it was night and day even with a loopy PS Audio pre.
That was my experience too Kuma, in fact the sale of super lumina, speakers and power amp netted a profit of Ā£2.5k!
I have a dealer 5km away that stocks ATC. He proposed that i try the SCM 40. I assume the new versions. Both active and passive. I would not mind giving them ago but i suspect a 300 passive would not be the way to go
My pre/streamer, which I bought at the same time as the active ATCs has balanced outputs, so balanced cables are the name of the game for me. āHow long do you want them?ā was my dealerās question. I opted for 8m and they were thrown in for free. I was told theyāre from ATC themselves. Some folks on the forum use Mogami cables I think, but theyāre more like Ā£200 for a 10m pair than Ā£200 per metre.
Roger
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Decent XLR cables (more than moderately) need be nothing like that. I use home-made ones using Mogami cable and Neutrik plugs/sockets. Depending on the specific wire (I have balanced), the wire itself is typically around Ā£2-Ā£3 per metre, and Neutrik plugs/sockets maybe Ā£4-Ā£5 each. If soldering isnāt your thing thereās a supplier called Designacable that do a ranger of cables using Mogami/Neutrik at about 2-3x the parts cost.
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