I played Atom and my beloved ATC scm7 v3. I didn’t like this combination. Very, very warm and stuffy. No opening of the midrange and treble. No further plans revealed. The low tones are gigantically warmed, boosted and extended in time, ugly. Although when I read the Naim forum, I have the impression that in England people love this stuffy, muddy, heated sound. A matter of taste. Maybe this is the famous British sound school? It should be as warm and stuffy as possible, no air, no ethereality, no detail, uniform colors.
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Also matches my experience and I love ATCs! They need more power to shine.
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Please tell me whether the Leema Tucana 2 amplifier has the same warm, sultry and average dynamics sound as the Supernait 3? Is it also a sultry, dense sound, heated throughout the entire band, which unifies everything into one shape? Or is it (God willing) the opposite of the color and character of Supernait 3? Thank you.
I understand you don’t like the combination of Atom with ATC SCM7s and I’m not surprised. I certainly wouldn’t use that system myself. What I don’t understand is why you have to be so rude about it and with nationalistic overtones, too. And then to ask advice from the people you’ve gratuitously insulted, seems to be really pushing it!
But, in the hope the tone of your posts was not really meant, I’d suggest if you’re looking for an integrated amp to use with your SCM7s, which are not the easiest speakers to drive, you lend an ear to ATC’s own SIA2-150. No way could that be described as stuffy or muddy (at least to my English ears.)
Roger
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Excellent reply PeakMan i have atc scm40 passive wonderful speakers 
British and proud of them 
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I haven’t listened to the Atom so can’t comment on its sound but my experience with Supernait’s and Naim amplification in general certainly doesn’t tally with your description of being warm, ‘stuffy’ and lacking in dynamics - if anything Naim amps generally err on the side of brightness with exceptional dynamics in my experience and are thus a very synergistic match with ATC’s.
As for the Leema Tucana I have just spent three months with the Tucana Anniversary edition and was extremely impressed with it. It has many of the virtues of Naim - speed, drama, dynamics and has very high output and excellent drive capability. My review for Soundstage Ultra will be out on January 1st should you wish to know more.
The ATC amplifiers are also extremely impressive and like Naim and Leema I would consider them an excellent match for ATC.
As ever your best bet is to draw up a shortlist and to try various options with your SCM7’s. As a rule I find ATC loudspeakers do tend to need a certain amount of power to ‘open up’ - they’re not the greatest for listening at very low background music levels, but give them some juice and little else comes close.
JonathanG
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Interesting, thank you for sharing your experience with that exact combo. It’s interesting - I would describe either the 7s or Naim amps as stuffy or muddy. I had a similar problem when I tried certain underpowered amps on the 7s but it went away when I put a 250 on it.
By the way it looks from your profile that you are using a Nait 50 with your 7s. I have never heard the 50. Do you feel like it drives the 7s well?
Respectfully, instead of using insulting terms, you would do well to better understand amplifier and loudspeaker matching. ATC recommend amplifiers in the range of 50-200wpc to power the 7s, as they are inefficient (84db) and need a lot of power to perform well. An Atom is rated at 40wpc. Have a look at Stereophile’s review of the 7s to understand why this all matters.
It’s hardly surprising that presented with the demanding needs of the 7s, an Atom cannot ‘open them up’.
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Hello. Thank you for your answer. Have you listened to the Trigon Exxceed or Shanling A3.2 mk2 amplifier? If so, how do they compare in terms of dynamics (micro and macro), treble openness and airiness, and neutrality compared to the anniversary Leema Tucana 2?
You are both very rude and very wrong. I do have an Atom in the small room I sometimes use as an office as well as my wife’s Muso QB in the bedroom. Other than that no Naim so that hardly makes me a “Naim fanatic”. My main system is Linn Klimax/ATC active 40s (as you could have found by looking at my profile) and I have an Auralic streamer waiting to be installed in a second system.
I tried to reply to you in polite terms, but I guess there comes a time to stop feeding the troll.
Roger
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PeakMan another superb reply obviously he doesn’t
understand your wealth of experience regarding Atcs and other hifi manufacturers. I could reply regarding you need good amplifiers to get the best from atc speakers they are power hungry. I have Cyrus mono x 300 mono blocks they beat the Atcs into submission
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I’m afraid I haven’t heard the Trigon Exceed or Shanling A3.2 Mk2 so can’t comment on those other than to caution against the Shanling because it is made in China and personally I would be dubious about spending that kind of money on a product that may not be easily servicable. My experience with Chinese products in general is that they offer great value for money right up until the moment they break (which is often!) and cannot be repaired. I prefer to spend my money on brands who stand behind their products (like Naim, ATC, Michell, SME, Sugden, Quad, PMC etc) and who can still repair pretty much anything they have ever made. Yes, you may pay a little more up front but I have just had my 1992 Naim CD player repaired at the factory - try doing that with any other brand!!
Quality and longevity has its price, but invest in high quality gear and the rewards last a lifetime… I am just not interested in products that are turned out in some Chinese sweatshop and cannot be repaired because a manufacturer cannot be bothered to keep spares or employ technical staff to support them over the long term…
You may pay a little more for something like a Naim amplifier but they will be there for the rest of your life ready to service it and support it and personally that means the world to me.
JonathanG
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I’m considering a pair of ATC SCM 20A SL Pro but although there are a couple of places fairly near me where I could audition, both places do not sell Naim stuff. The idea is to have a 252/Supercap as the front end. Previously I have always thought the SCM 40A would be good but the room size is a bit small and will need near field listening, so my research leads me to think the SCM 20A’s might be a good compromise. I might enquire to a couple of ATC/Naim dealerships near me if they might be able to get a pair in on demo.
Tim
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Do not overlook SCM19A, it is a floorstander, hence, save you some money for stands.
19A has the same driver as 20, however, the active 20 has a slightly more powerful amplifier and better spec tweeter.
Am using the 19A near field too, seated 5.5ft from the speakers and the speakers are about 5.8ft apart.
Spend some time in positioning them, they image very well and with good recordings, they can disappear too.
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If you are going down the Pro route I would definitely listen to the SCM25 as well as the 20’s . I listened to both some years ago and preferred the 25’s which now have the ATC tweeter . I think they are essentially the same drive units as the SCM40 but in a smaller package .
The feeling I got from the Pro store I visited was that most people preferred and bought the 25’s for near field listening . The SCM 20 were also really good but slightly missing some of the richness that comes from the ATC mid range unit .
Peter .
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Try active 50s if you can and stop there
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.
Ignore advice about “room too small”.
Was concerned about that before auditing ATC50 Actives in my normal sized lounge.
Using 222 as source, fabulous result!
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Thanks for the replies. I do have a pair of SCM 19’s downstairs, but they are being powered by a SuperNait 1 with HiCap DR and are feeling a bit underwhelmed.
I actually have listened to the SCM 19A quite a bit, but found them a bit boring. However, that was quite a few years ago and a different room. I’ll investigate the SCM 25’s but they maybe a bit out of my budget range. The emphasis is on losing some boxes from the main listening room upstairs and creating a bit more room but will only be able to place the speakers about 7 feet apart and 7-8 feet to the listening position.
Cheers
Tim