Yes a power supply is mandatory here This is where you need to connect the din-xlr on classic preamps
Ah right, thank you, I may well just get a set of the Flashbacks so I can home demo. the 40 Actives.
I am dying to find out if they work at home as well as at my dealers room. If the actives get the treble to open up even a little bit more than the passive I will be very interested in this as a posssible upgrade.
Back to the SMC40.
So the new speakers have been in place now for 5 days and every time I listen to them it’s a revelation. I’m re-listening to albums and hearing something new each time. e.g., on one album, what I thought was some faint strange background hiss now presents itself as rain! It’s like having a whole new album collection 
So anyway I have a small issue. My current speaker spike floor protector cups are slipping on the floor. When I had the old speakers in place I purchased a thin sheet of sorbothane and cut some pads (only about 2mm thick) for the bottom of the cups but I pulled this off when we put the new speakers in place because it was a total pain trying to tweak the position of the speakers with the cups sticking to the floor. The problem now is twice I’ve had to get the tape measure out and realign the speakers. It looks like the vibration of the speaker/floor is causing the speakers to move across the floor!! This is obviously NOT best practice for accurate operation of the drive units - not good if the speaker moves back when the drive unit wants to go forward! So I could go and get some more sorbothane or is there a better choice for spike floor protectors? What about the Linn Skeets? It’s only fifty quid for a set of eight.
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or you could try soundcare superspikes , they work a treat under the 19a.
One option… So they’re quite grippy then but not TOO grippy (like the sorbothane)? I take it they’re something line fifty quid per set of four? May I ask what size did you get?
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I took the ones with a M8 thread diameter
It’s done, I just ordered 40A’s in satin black finnish. Should be here in ~two weeks. I’ll report when I have them. I have 19A’s in demo until then. At this point I’m even scared to connect my old system back so I won’t get any second thoughts. What a nerve wrecking decision but I feel relieved now.
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Congratulations Patu, I’d say it’s a safe bet given you’re already familiar with 40 passives. In my experience the 40A better the 19A in every aspect.
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I feel excited on your behalf! Look forward to your report.
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Yes it’s terrible when you order a major purchase and then you have that delay before the goods arrive. It gives you time to rethink and reconsider… ‘have I done the right thing or…?’
Best to switch off for a couple of weeks… if it was me I wouldn’t connect things back up until the new speakers arrive
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Yeah I feel excited and terrified at the same time, but mostly excited. I’ve built my current rig almost ten years since I got my first Naim gear. Now I most probably need to get rid of it completely and start building again from the other end. Naim might step aside for a while but probably not forever (372!).
I think I’ll just keep the 19A’s connected until the 40A arrives.
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Congratulations Patu I’m sure you won’t regret it.you will have months and months of pleasure getting them run in and used to them.
Mine took months to run in properly.!
Lot of fun for you,
I have played that track. It was mixed by engineers , who skipped most of the dynamic range classes.
But it is not bright by any means, it is actually quite listenable and i’m not fond of this type of music.
It’s a great track. We all hear things differently and have different preferences. I’m sure different setups and different rooms can make big differences. Perhaps even variations in sound from the same model. If it works for you then that’s the most important thing.
About to return my demo. passive 40’s back to my dealer.
I am 90% sure the ATC SCM 40 is my next speaker. It’s seen off my ProAc D48R in midrange clarity especially with vocals, treble/midrange/bass cohesion and just pure engagement and fun factor.
Sure it won’t plumb the depths the ProAc will or sparkle at the very top of the treble but - you know what - who cares !!!
It’s just such an addictive speaker in what it can do to my favourite music , track after track, after track…
The only issue I have is active or passive. Patu has clearly voted with the actives (well done BTW). I just have a real nagging doubt about selling my 300DR and Superlumina speaker cable and DIN to XLR amp. cable set to throw my lot in with the actives…and I really can’t trial each one side by side at home right now. My dealer doesn’t have a naim friendly active cable set to lend.
Decisions, decisions…
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SCM40 truly is an amazing speaker, congrats on your choice. I used to own small ProAc monitors in my first apartment, TR8 Signatures. Stunning speaker but very small in size and it wasn’t enough in my current apartment.
Flashbacksales makes DIN - 2XLR (for connecting naim pre to active speakers) cables for decent price. I’m tempted to order one set myself so I could try my current rig with the actives. SN2 has pre-out with RCA connectors also but 202/282 don’t. I have Mogami 2549 XLR-XLR and RCA-XLR cables coming in so I can properly demo multiple sources.
My take on the SCM40 (yes not the SMC40) is upper and lower range are very good but the mid range and detail is truly excellent and that compensates for anything lacking at the other extremes. I sometimes miss the lower end that the demo RAM30 speakers could deliver but so often that lower end would turn too over powering. On too many tracks it was simply over the top. Of the upper range the ribbon in the Proacs is a fantastic tweeter but again the bass was too much (though the RAM30s’ were better than the Proacs at controlling the lower range).
I think I’ve narrowed the cause of the overblown bass down to a change of room arrangement. I used to have the listening sofa some metre away from a wall…new room arrangement with everything reversed and the sofa is now only a tenth of a metre from the wall. I spoke to another Proac user (D20R the same as I had) and he complained of the same issue and he’d narrowed the problem down to how close he was sitting to the wall; pulled away and it was much more controlled.
I had grave doubts about selling my 252/300DR as well, to go SCM 40A, but you know what I now don’t regret it for 1 Second, even though the 300DR is a fantastic amp.
I fed my 40A with an Auralic Vega G2, which I find amazing.
I also purchased a REL S5 SHO to add the very bottom end , and I now feel as well as hear !
Good luck
My SCM 50 ASLTs are on special stands, stands are on soundcare superspikes, while speakers are on their spikes (6 each), and floating on coldray special holders, it gave a very impressive sq shift
Interesting that you found the SCM40A needed a sub - it ties in with my own impression from the specs of the range, the 40 not interesting me because it appears it doesn’t go low enough, although some users say it does go low in-room. I have felt that if I were ever to audition the 100 is likely the lowest model that would do it fir me… But I have never thought of having full size speakers AND a sub! (Though to get ATC’s sublime mid driver I can see why you’ve taken that approach.)