Aaaah yes cost , for some reason I thought you had a 250 you could sell to help fund etc . I was lucky that by the time I scaled down my system and sold everything I ended up about even . I also thought going active would save me money in the long run with less amp faffing …
I recently bought a pair of ATC SCM20ASL speakers to go with my Nova, absolutely amazing speakers, the mid range is the best i have heard and the new tweeter is amazing too and great tight bass, but i shall soon be buying a pair of JL Audio F112 subwoofers which will i certain bring audio nirvana,
I have owned Sonus Faber,Gryphon Mojo s2 and most recently BW 805D3, the ATC’s are altogether something else,
I’m getting the active ATC SCM19A for home demo tomorrow. Will do comparison against my current setup (nDAC - SN2 - SCM40 passive) and also try out different configurations. The dealer brings Mytek Brooklyn DAC+ to try out with them but I plan on borrowing Hugo TT2 and Naim 272 also, possibly even NDX2 but even though there’s variable output on NDX2, I realized it doesn’t have headphone amp so I’d need separate headphone amp with it. I’ll keep you updated.
looking forward to your findings, Patu. Regarding the ndx2 variable output , having heard it on the nd555, It cannot be confused with a good preamp, like the 202 or 272. Alternatively , you could pair it with a townshend allegri , for a breathtaking result.
I was not convinced when i ran my TT direct on my 19a , but TT2 could be different.
Not familiar with the RAm speakers but my ATC SCM 40A are the best speakers I’ve ever heard at anywhere near the money , and you get power amps built in so serious box count reduction !
Well, the advantages of active vs passive are quickly clear when I’ve been now listening to the SCM19A five to six hours yesterday and two hours today. I have two configurations, NAC272 + upgrade PSU to SCM19A and then Mytek Brooklyn DAC+ to SCM19A. First the 272 sounded slightly “meh” but it needed to warm up properly, today it sounds much better. Mytek is surprisingly good little box though, I never thought it’d perform this well. It sucks though that 272 doesn’t support Roon. I have lifetime license for Roon so this is kind of a deal breaker for me. I’d need external bridge to use 272 with Roon. I really don’t understand why Naim won’t bring Roon Ready to older streamers. I might borrow the NDX2 later this week but I’m not sure if that’s the way to go either.
Incredible control, insight and power with the active ATC. They keep up with the music better than my passive SCM40A driven by SN2. Better clarity and insight. Only thing it falls short on compared to passive SCM40 is low end, which doesn’t go as deep. With 19A it’s super tight and controlled though. Otherwise it offers just stunning sound quality. I’m so used to deeper bass though that now I’m already thinking if there’s a way I could go for active 40A but that’d mean serious strip down of my front end (to afford them). Mytek does great job in front of these though. Presentation is different from 272 but not clearly worse I’d say.
What sort of cables are you using between 272 and the Active ATCs? Can you go from single ended RCA to balanced XLR?
I use really basic Canare RCA-XLR cables there. Unfortunately my dealer didn’t have better ones in stock for the demo. I know ic-cables can have a huge impact. In my own passive setup I use Linn Silver DIN between ndac and SN2.
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Glad you are enjoying the 19a. active operation is really the way to go for atc lovers. it really makes the speakers disappear. Regarding the nac 272 and Roon, i see that you
have a mutec. What prevents you from using it with the way you were using it with your naim dac ( fronted by your PC) ?
Hi, what I would say with the 19s and similar infinite baffle speakers is that they are room sensitive in terms of placement and size for deep bass… mine are reasonably happy down to about 38 Hz then fall away fast with in room measurenet … (using REW and calibrated Mic). But in a larger room that would rise and start to fall away at 50 to 55 Hz which could feel light in the deep bass but punchy.
In my room with my 250/552 the 19s move the air and on some tracks can get an appealing rumble and very deep bass, but still keep tight and agile… but I know in a larger room that would largely disappear and be inaudible…
All about the importance of room/speaker matching
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Yeah, I actually connected it already to the 272 and it works fine that way. But it just feels wrong to get a streaming preamp only to bypass the streamer completely. I do start to feel that active is the only way after all but what to do with the front end…
Simon:
I don’t feel that my ~19-20 m2 listening room is big. Still the passive scm40 has never felt overpowering or too big here. Also the sweet spot in my room has a slight dip in the bass which works very good with big speaker like scm40. With 19a I miss the lower hitting bass of 40, even though they do many other things better.
I’m using a dcs network bridge with a Hugo TT. The dcs is really superb and is Roon Ready. Since you already have a HC-DR . I believe something like dcs - ndac-psu - 202/HCDR would make lots of sense and easily would outpeform nac 272 + PSU
I would take passive 40s over active 19s every time. I thought the active 19s were too fast and forward for my taste. They were ruthless of poor recordings. The passives were a bit more forgiving but both passive and active 19s were bass light in my room (4m x 4.3m).
If you feel that the passive 40s can’t keep up with the active 19s then you might want to check your amp is driving them properly. ATC P1 amp drives them right in my experience.
The best of all worlds is of course the SCM40A actives, sublime with 272 or Hugo TT in my experience. Passive 40s with a good powerful amp such as P1 is a close second. 250 might also be a suitable amp.
The mid driver of the 40s is superior to the 19s - that’s where most of the music is at.
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Interesting comments.
Would a 252/300 with the passive 40 also give the 40A a run for the money ? I just feel a bit too restricted upgrade wise with active speakers (great as the 40A must be).
I can understand that. I can imagine 252/300 with passive 40s will sound superb and if I were you with your setup then that’s where I would go.
btw The 40s offered too much bass for my room (4m x 4.3m) and that’s why I let them go, otherwise I would have kept them.
I’ve been home demoing the 40’s for a week now and I’ve discovered just a subtle change in the angle of the speakers makes a VERY noticeable change in the bass. Angled straighter, so only slightly towards the listener, the bass is less than if they’re aimed more inward. When the dealer left them they were almost pointed straight outward. As an experiment I decided to play with their angle and bent inward just a small amount extra the bass was starting to get a little over blown. I’ve now pointed them back the way they were and back to a nice tight bass.
active 19s are not ruthless per se. With active atcs , you hear differences like crazy,
this is of course a bad thing , if your source is not up to it. Have you tried them with a different source
than your laptop ? The additional driver in the 40a is adding some weight and warmth to the presentation,
this is something that may obscure deficiencies in the source. I feel that the 19a are more coherent , and the two drivers are more seamlessly integrated( maybe this what you mean by fast ).
I tried everything, in the end physics got the better unfortunately.
I’ve never had any issues with a battery powered Apple MacBook (bit perfect playback) into Hugo TT. If the designer of the Hugo TT, Rob Watts, is happy using a battery laptop for critical listening then that’s good enough for me.
I do agree that 40s add weight and warmth compared to the 19s. I never felt the 19s were more coherent or more seamlessly integrated than the 40s. Both seemed equally coherent and the three drivers of the 40s sound to my ears beatifully integrated.
Rather than considering it restrictive, perhaps it is liberating to find there is no need to ever upgrade again (including speaker cables)… Or an upgrade could be 40A to 50A, 100A or 150A 
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