Hello everyone. Once again relying on the communities vast knowledge base.
I recently got a pair of ATC SCM40 passives. I used it with my NAC 252 pre amp, NDX2 and NAP 300DR. Now on this setup turning the 252 volume to around 9 - 10 o clock is about as loud as I can bear without getting knocks on my front (and only) door. Normally I listen to about 8-9 position.
I also got the ATC P2 300 Watt power amp. When this is connected to the NAC 252 I need to turn the volume to almost 11 (even 12) to get the same perceived volume level. Why is this and why did I expect the P2 to sound louder (at the same volume setting) than the NAP 300?
Why 90W sounds louder than 300w at the same setting? Or at least that is what it sounds like to me.
Thank you for reading
The loudness will depend on the gain, not on the number of Watts.
The gain is on the P2 side I assume?
No, the gain of each Power Amp (Naim vs ATC) - is clearly different.
NAP300:
Audio Inputs
Input Impedance 18kΩ
Analogue Input
2 x XLR
Audio Outputs
Minimum Load Impedance 2Ω
Frequency Response
-3dB at 2Hz and 70kHz
Gain +29dB
(I believe all Naim NAPs have the same Gain)
You can find the Gain for the ATC…
That’s great information Ian. Thank you very much. I’ll check for the ATC.
From the Naim Audio website…!!
yes I understand. Im in healthcare so all these terminology can get tricky. Though I can’t find the gain for the ATC. Anyway it is still useful to understand this is the explanation. The different gain between the amps.
Doesn’t matter, really. You have proved that the ATC & Naim have different gains/sensitivities.
This is what I found:
‘The P2 offers twice the output but with about 1dB less overall gain (+24.7dB versus +25.7dB for the P1) ’
It’s a lower gain which matches your observation.
Thank you very much for helping me look into this. Appreciate it very much.,
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