Fair enough, that’s a good few votes for the SCM40s, I will add them to the list to audition. My local dealer doesn’t stock them so I’ll have to find another dealer, hopefully one that also has Dali…
What’s the size of your room? How close to them would you be sitting?
I would agree that ATCs as worth considering. Possibly SCM19s (or even 20s) if the 40s are too much for your room.
FWIW my dealer is also a big fan having taken on ATC a few years ago. When I mentioned that I might consider Kudos Titans, which he also sells, he immediately pointed me towards ATC as he felt that they offered similar performance at a considerably lower price.
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And is with this kind of conduct that the dealer won a potential client: the inverse approach of the typical “ anything goes to make money”
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Room size is a perfect square- 7m x 7m, I sit 4Most from the speakers which are 3m apart
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I called a nearby dealer today that I could see stocked ATCs, he tried to steer me away from them because they would be too hard for a 250 drive and he had seen a 250 burnt out driving ATC SMC40s? Should I look for another dealer?
Actually I went elsewhere and ended up with some Shahinians which I’m really happy with, but yes, he’s a good dealer and I still go to him for other stuff.
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A perfect square is, in theory, the worst possible room shape. You might want to consider putting some of your budget into room treatment especially if your new system has more extended bass which can highlight room problems that you didn’t notice before.
That’s the combination I’m running. I just switched from Harbeth M30.1 to Dynaudio confidence20. The original plan was to get the Heritage Special but while waiting a pair of 2nd hand cf20 became available. I’d look at the contour 30. The Harbeth are great on vocals and their midrange but don’t do large scale or deep bass. The Dynaudio is more open scales up and more detailed - I would expect the contour line to be similar or HS special? - not sure of price in pounds
Thanks Chris, what sort of things should I be thinking about?
Confidence 20 £9000, Contour 30 £6200. And ther is small matter of colour, I can have any speaker I like, as long as it comes in white…(don’t ask…). The contours do, confidence doesn’t
I think the key thing is to home demo some speakers and choose the ones that match your room, not just your amp.
Apart from experimenting with speaker positioning, you can achieve a certain amount by adding soft furnishings to the room - thick carpets and curtains, cushions, upholstery etc. In my experience this only achieves small changes at best.
You can try adding dedicated room treatments, bass traps etc. but at this point of course you have to consider what is aesthetically acceptable to you. I would only do this if you measure the room acoustics (REW is a software package for this) and consider having the results professionally interpreted.
Finally you can try digital processing. Roon can do this if you load the results of your REW room measurements into it. A company called HAF (Home Audio Fidelity) has been discussed here recently as a good professional service.
I guess you will want to get your new system up and running before deciding how far to go with any of this. You might just be lucky and find that you’re happy without it, but I do think there are gains to be had.
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Just seen them on sale new at 1800 euro reduced from 4500 euro…
I’ve been doing the same rounds of auditioning recently and in doing so have decided to move up budget in the process but have probably listened to a lot of what you have!
It’s all deeply personal but I’d agree with comments made on the ATC 40’s - in my mind they sounded like a more expensive speaker (they are still on my list interestingly). I also like the Kanta 2’s if you can stretch and I think a set of pre-owned PMC twenty5 26 are excellent vfm at sub £5k.
What have you seen on sale?
Russell K Red 150 speakers have always sounded delightful when I’ve heard them on the end of a 250DR.
Signals, the Suffolk based Naim dealer, also rate them highly, as a search of the Signals website will confirm.
Happy auditioning, BF
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You should act comfortably. Do what you want. But as you can see , @ChrisSU “I still go to him for other stuff.”, is a case of:
Whatever de outcome ( potential client is not guaranteed ), at least the relationship is built with trust. Eventually you’ll go there sometime.
second this have S20A with my 282 / 250 setup once got them set up right very happy with them find them good with wide range of music too
Agree re Russell K speakers. I think they are great fun and pair beautifully with Naim equipment, but don’t seem to get as much Naim forum love in comparison to the usual suspects. I remember hearing an NDX / Supernait2 / Russell K Red 150 at a show - in some respects a modest system, but it added up to more than the sum of its parts.
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How does the Nova drive SCM40s ? I have Dynaudio S40s with a Nova but the SCM40s are my favorite speakers. I heard them with Supernait 2 and didn’t feel they were under powered but although the output power of Nova and SN2 same, I know the current abilities of both are not same. It is always said the SCM40s need some juice to sound best. Can you share your experience on the combination, how do they play at low volumes which is not the strength of both the Nova and ATC and how does the Nova keep up with base control of 40s ?
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