There’s no active version of the three-ways. You’ll need to go to ATC for that. 
Roger
Fantastic!
G
1 Like
I’ve got zero hum right now. I have noticed a very faint hum on occasion on my XPSDR but only when your ears are very close. I’m using rocket 33, 10’ lengths and they seem fine. I have not really experimented swapping cable to compare. I have some Chord Rumour cable in my other system, maybe I’ll give that a try to see if I hear a difference.
These speakers seem pretty versatile with placement. I get a bit more bass the closer they are to the front wall. The front of the speakers are currently only a few inches past the cabinet which seem to work pretty good. I have tried them out in the room more which seemed to give a bit smoother sound and deeper soundstage but it is not very practical having them stick out that far.
My main reservation with in speaker active is tlthreefold and quite considerable in my opinion.
- There is no upgrade path for amplification other than what the manufacturer provides, if they ever do.
- Amps go wrong more than speakers and now an amp outage is a speaker outage. Dropping in another amp while the other is being repaired/recapped isn’t an option.
- The majority (not all, so no complaining that “my setup is different”) of pics with active speakers have cables approaching from different directions to each speaker. Yes you reduce box count in the rack but still managed to end up with something visually more cluttered.
The amp packs for PMC are a bit more plug and play but most aren’t. I’d still think very carefully before any active foray. Some of the studio PMC actives use external rack mounted PMC power amps with crossovers in them. Separate power amp active would still be my preference.
3 Likes
Interesting, I have the opposite prospective:
- No upgrade path is a good outcome, perfectly matched amp to speaker and can forget about upgrading and enjoy the music. If I want upgrades I simply explore source / pre options
- If a separate amp or speaker has an issue the outcome is no music, the same as an issue with an active speaker
- With effort you can hide speaker cable as well as a couple of plugs so neither approach has to be a visual clutter - some can live with clutter and some can’t. Passive or Active isn’t the driver.
No right or wrong here and we all get to choose what is right for us but for me Active was a winner - financially, visually and sound quality.
I have become a bit of an ATC active fan boy but rooms, preferences and budgets all come into play when choosing a system.
Gary
4 Likes
I don’t believe this is true for most people at all. Boxing up an amp and running it down to your dealer is a different thing entirely to boxing (or crating) a giant pair of speakers. And for many people, when an amp is out of commission, they drop in another one, either borrowed or from the attic.
No upgrade path is neither good nor bad. I almost never upgrade. Some do often. But if you are prone to upgrading, even less often than some, the more integration the system has, the more that pushing you to throwing it all out and starting again - because that is the only option. Not being a serial upgrader, it shouldn’t bother me at all. But I dislike not even having the option.
1 Like
If the amps in my PMCs fail, I have the passive crossovers in the box. So I could convert to passive, borrow a power amp and would be good to go. Until then I have great sound in a very small package. It’s the best of all possible worlds. Positively Panglossian.
4 Likes
Many of us using active would say there’s no upgrade path needed. I have had ATC active’s for 7 years and never once thought that the amps were lacking in anyway. There is an option ATC offer to upgrade to anniversary amp packs with discrete componentry if the urge presented itself.
2 Likes
Yes, fair point, it is a faff boxing speakers!
Luckily I have an excellent dealer that can assist in such matters.
Lots of different paths for us to choose which his a good thing.
Gary
2 Likes
Yesterday had a listen to the Prophecy 7, also very nice, however I was struggling to hear a big difference between this one and the 24i being a 2-way. Bassdriver of the Prophecy 7 is smaller, tweeter is 27 mm softdome vs 19 mm fabric metal dome. Bass of the 24i is stretching further, that I could hear/feel. Furthermore we compared the NAC-A5 and the Audioquest rocket 44. Although differences on the Prophecy 7 were smaller than on the 24i’s, we preferred the AudioQuest. It was a nice demo with very helpful people. Will I switch? Not likely… going active is still in my mind and the fact I was not able to hear big differences, the 24i 2-way is really something.
4 Likes
Again a demo, now NSC-222 vs NAC-N272 into 250 DR. Dealer had to order dedicated cable to connect the NSC-222 to the 250DR. It was a revealing demo, the NSC-222 has a far more 3D imaging compared to the NAC-N272, music went over the speakers, it was if there were no speakers directed at the listener, with the NAC-N272 it was just less 3D. Next up will be a home demo with the PMC active modules which have been ordered.
5 Likes
It will be interesting to see what you think of the active upgrade. I bought mine without audition, but it worked out fine. I use balanced connections, but with your 272 you’ll need unbalanced to XLR leads, either from the din or the RCA. Alternatively you can just used RCA leads, as the speakers have unbalanced RCAs on the back.
1 Like
The active modules arrived. There is one thing which seems a bit scary: cutting away the foam behind the old modules. Something to look into today.
7 Likes
Wauw … this looks like a dealers job to do?
2 Likes
According PMC you can do it yourself, it’s just about cutting a piece of foam away and what if I want to go back to passive. Replace the foam by glueing the piece back in. That question I asked PMC now, waiting for their answer now.
3 Likes
It’s incredibly easy to fit the active board, and only takes a few minutes. I didn’t need to remove any foam on my 21s, but you get the sharp knife in the box. If you can slice bread you can remove two little bits of foam. 30 seconds per speaker and it’s done.
3 Likes
Perhaps a lost art or skill set! Local artisan baker locally - really good products, new stock everyday, staff suggest a very high percentage of requests for any bread is for it to be sliced by machine.
Similarly a reputed high attendance at A&E when avocados are being prepared!
Practical skills seem to have vanished!
2 Likes
I’m assuming in this comparison the 272 was powered by the 555 power supply? If so, that’s significant.
The NC 250 would also be a big step up from the 250 DR, and no special (expensive) cables are required.
1 Like
Job done, playing some music at the moment. The low frequencies are not that pronounced as in the passive set-up, which I like very much. Maybe it takes time to get settled or is this just the way D-amplification works?
4 Likes
Oodles of lovely bass on my 23i. Are you sure you selected the correct cross-over socket? (Sorry!) The reason I ask is that another forumite reported restricted bass, then realised they had selected the wrong cross-over. Once corrected the bass was better balanced.
G
4 Likes