Loudspeaker recommendations

ProAc D48R, Dynaudio Contour 60i, Vandersteen Treo CT, B&W 803 D4

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As Iā€™ve never heard of that brand, I got curious and searched, interesting ā€¦until I realized price :money_mouth_face:

Thanks so much Opus. Difficult to audition everything, especially within my system but I have heard the B&Ws which were not to my particular taste but I could understand their appeal. I am also pretty familiar with Dynaudio although not the model you mentioned. They are extraordinarily transparent and much like a studio monitor in my opinion.

Ouch, last time i checked it was (in germany that is) 16kā‚¬ not 20kā‚¬
Sorry for that.

ā€¦but they are fantastic :face_with_peeking_eye:

Try to get a listen to the Vandersteenā€™s they are very goodā€¦ So are the Big ProAcā€™s

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Usual rules about demo preferably at home apply. Amongst your candidates should be Dynaudio, Kudos, Neat, Focal, Spendor, Fyne.

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ā€¦ and Proac

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US dealers very rarely do in home additions. Especially with speakers

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My Naim system is more modest than the OPā€™s system. My listening area is not large. However the construction material yields a difficult sonic challenge. I hsve been very pleased with the Spendor A4 and Chord cables. Many speakers do not work well in my room. Homr audition in the USA is difficult. I have a 40 year history with my dealer and trust his judgement in helping me to switch from Rega to Naim.

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hi there i took on all you said i was actually contacted by an audiophile on face book through another vinyl enthusiast known for a while and i was listening to the monitor audio 100 silver and his stand by pair bronze 100, then he had a pair of audio vectors, i must say was kind of taken with the monitor bronze and the silver so itā€™ll be a on the day choice iā€™m figuring the 20th 22nd this month the new speaker day

The Kudos Titan range also work very well with Naim amplification, plus you have the option of going active, should you so desire.

DGā€¦

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Have you tried contacting Avalon they may have upgraded drivers for your speakers. Also FWIW Iā€™ve owned MA speakers not and fan of their tweeters. The current B&W are Very different than the ones you listened to in the past. The Diamond tweeters are sweet. Bass is tight and extended.

Thanks Opus. That was my original intended route somewhat sidetracked because they donā€™t support the old Avatars (I think the company has been sold twice) and these are over 20 years old.

What are you thinking at this point?

Thanks for the question Opus. We are due for an update.

Following everyoneā€™s advice I had an unexpected opportunity to have a loaned pair of passive SCM40s at home for a few days. I am still looking for more chances to audition various other speakers but thought I would share my impressions. I was driving them with a NC 222 and 250.

I read several website and ā€œmagazineā€ type reviews of these speakers before I heard them for the first time. Unusually, my impression of their sound is very similar to the characteristics described in those reviews. The midrange is quite exceptional and is especially noticeable on vocals which are rendered very well even on complex material. Bass is tight and impactful. Ideally I would like a bit more bass extension but this is not different from any other speaker I have tried of similar size and sealed configuration. I was intrigued by the fact that a few people described this speaker as ā€œdullā€ or ā€œflatā€. My impression was exactly the opposite but the tweeter does not have the sizzle and emphasis of other designs. It reminds me a bit of the top end of the old SL6 when I first heard it years ago and I really like that natural sound. In common with other less sensitive speakers these open up when played at higher volumes. That might be a disadvantage to people who need to use lower volumes most of the time.

Overall, these are very nice speakers. The studio monitor heritage is there but I feel ATC has done a good job of retaining many of the positive characteristics of a monitor but much more suited to the home rather than the studio. They seem to work really well with Naim if you like that sort of sound.

One thing that I am still a bit puzzled about is why they provide three sets of binding posts on the back of the speakers. These come connected together by removable metal plates. I am not sure what happens when you remove these connector plates. Do these three sets of binding posts connect to different drivers through their own separate crossover or do all the binding posts go to the same crossover?

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SCM40s can be tri or bi-wired; and the link is there for a single run of cables. Mine are attached directly to the HF posts.

Naim doesnā€™t normally recommend tri/bi-wiring.

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I have my SCM40s wired with the positive to the top plug and the negative to the bottom socket. My dealer experimented with all the different layouts and after trying a couple I decided to go with their choice. I have also replaced the metal links with short lengths of wire between each of the binding posts, I believe the wire used was originally from the internal wiring of a Naim speaker but any good quality speaker wire should be fine. This made a slight but noticeable uplift in the SQ. Positioning of SCM40s is pretty critical to get the best out of the bass in my experience, I find a shift of around 1cm can make a difference. Also following ATCā€™s recommendation of positioning in an equilateral triangle is advisable.

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While I have Kudos 808s in my main system, it is a weightier one. However I have Dynaudio Evoke 10s on my Uniti Star, which are excellent for the size and at the launch demos of the NC 200 series, I heard a 222/250 with Dynaudio Confidence 30 floorstanders and was amazed by how good it sounded, so I would give the Dynaudio option which best fits your budget a try.

I donā€™t think ATC do, either. My understanding is that the the multiple terminals are there mainly to support bi- or tri-amping, which is popular in certain markets.

Roger

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Not sure what markets, but it is the best way of driving (and for that reason used almost exclusively in pro audio) - but of course costly and complex compared to passive single amping. Quite unlike bi or tri-wiring, which has never made sense to me, and in some circumstances could cause loading issues for the amp.