Show us your ATCs

Hi, you can also watch on YT the video of Hans Beekhuyzen, who compared Gaia and Townshend podium.
It’s very important to have the right Gaia model regarding speaker weight, even if the Gaia 2 are given for 54 kilos, they didn’t worked with Scm50A, here the Gaia 1 would be needed. As soon as you reach 90% of the maximum load of a Gaia model, It’s better to take the upper reference.
I tried Soundcare superspikes, which gave a better control in the lows and overall clarity. The Gaia further improve openess, bass control, focus, sound stage. It’s like the back wall disappeared, sound stage depth and stability increased, the mids are wonderful, it nearly feels like an acoustic room treatment. You can easily find them discounted around 20/30%, you can sell them without high losses or borrow them from your dealer. Podium seems good but I find them quite ugly, expensive and less well integrated to the speakers imo.

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Same experience, I had Gaia II under 40A but when I updated to 50ASL, they didn’t work well. I did like them with 40A though. I later tried Gaia I under 50’s and they worked better but I stuck with regular spikes and spikeshoes. I also have 30mm thick marble slates under the speakers. Very dense Nero Assolute black marble. With regular spikes there’s more punch and impact on the sound but with isolation the room obviously plays less with the speakers.

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Thanks for the info guys, i’ll definitely do a bit more research and see if i can get a home demo.

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Pete, how are you getting on with the ALS50’s?

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Hi Al , everything is good with the 50’s thank you . I’ve been away a fair bit over last few weeks so I haven’t indulged myself too much. When I have been able to listen they’ve been absolutely wonderful . I’m wfh right now and listening to The Wall in the ‘background’ and its never sounded so alive .

Had a bit of a mare with my 40’s thoughon the bay , I encountered a total time waster who bid but was surprised to win so will have to re list … Some people eh .

Hope all is well .

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My dealer sold my 135’s and my Usher speakers for me on a commission basis. I might have got less money for the amps in particular, but he/they were extremely helpful with regards to the ultimate sale and disposal of the speakers that it was worth every penny.

Don’t see how you can decide to bid on a pair of speakers and then be surprised to win.

Hopefully, when you re-list them, you will have more success.

Glad you are happy with the 50’s: please post a few pics if so desired.

Best, Al

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I was hoping to pass them on to someone I know but they are kind of in the way so my patience ran out … I’ll resist with better pics and fixed price I think .

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I bought the gaia 3 on my Atc 40 on carpet and was taken aback at the upgrade! For me the room was a problem it can be a bit over exiting at all levels so these cured most of that? So excessive low bass tamed and harsh edgy instruments gone! After a few days settling in they changed to sound overly warm still amazing as I could play records I was unable to play before but it sounded a little underwhelming so…. I borrowed the carpet spikes which took a few days to settle in but the difference was big!!! Note still tamed but now the dynamics returned but even better. So settling in times seems important! The end result I am sure is room dependent if you don’t need them it will be obvious but for me they’re a no brainier. I love them. Good luck if they work for you.

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If your dealer is kind, I would strongly recommend switching to Gaia 2. With the Gaia 3, you are really too close to the max accepted load, a range where the Gaia’s performance decrease.

They recommended the 3 said they worked fine? Plus another £200 for the 2s I will ask them! It does say both on the website have you tried both?

The product calculator recommends the Gaia 2 as the best choice for passive scm40.
I tried Gaia 2 (max load of 54Kg) on Scm50A weighing 53 Kg with their stands and it didn’t worked well here, bass was bloated, performance was far better with spikes in this particular case. Chech the performance curve of Gaia vs weight, reaching 90% of the max load limit, performance go down. You can find Gaia discounted on some websites, I paid a bit more than 300e for 2 sets of Gaia 3 and a bit more than 400e for 2 sets of Gaia 2. It seems possible to negotiate a discount of 25%, regarding the direct offers of other websites.

The dealer said they use the 3 and with good results so I went with their recommendation. They don’t look to strained I just say but who knows! Thanks anyway

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Have anyone tried Chord Hugo TT2 as preamp for SCM40A?

Yes I’d be interested in what people have to say about this. My subjective bias - probably unfair - makes me think that TT2 straight into the SCM40A’s might be a bit analytical? I do like my passive 40’s and I’m saving for second hand actives, so this thread is of interest to me…

I think you may be right, but as I have (had) no experience with the Chord gear, my opinion counts for nowt.

However, I have said elsewhere, that the ATC’s are very “neutral”, imo, and will relay the character of the source pretty truthfully.

I think @Camlan got it right when he suggested using a Naim preamp to maintain the Naim signature sound. (I use my 52).

I don’t have the TT2 but Dave/Mscaler into SCM40A’s and it sounds fabulous.

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I Compared the TT2 into my 40a vs using the 282 and much preferred the latter’s sound signature. Who knows which is the closer to reality, logic says the TT2. One thing to also remember is the TT2 is generally thought to have a different sound sugnature to other chord DACs (warmer) and I found this to be the case compared to a Qutest

272 to 50ASLT - love the sound

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I read a review somewhere, they have the similar opinion as you.

No doubt about that!