I have had my ATC SCM40 passives for over two years. Mine are Tri-amped with a pair of Audiolab 8300MBs 250 watts for the Bass and four Audiolab 8000Ms 125 watts for the Mid Range and Tweeters. The sound is (for me) perfect and many fellow audiophiles are gob smacked by what they are hearing! I am very lucky that they suit my listening room dimensions and seating perfectly.
Passive tri amp?mind to share how you work with it cause I'm confused with how it split from signal to power amp. Recently I done with vertical and horizontal only ,never try tri amping
@@noicealot Basically my 8000Q preamp has two main Pre outputs, one pair goes to the 8300MB mono power amps for the Bass the other pair goes to the 8000M mono power amps for the Mid Range Dome and from the Load Out phonos on those power amps, feeds the second pair of 8000Ms for the tweeters.
@@stephengarratt5076 How does that work regarding crosstalk between speaker wiring from the different Amps.. would like to listen... thanks for the upload
You could wrap a cloth around the grill if you wanted to but as is the grill will protect the drivers from any accidental damage, and that is all they are really there for.
I have these speakers. A few problems with them 1. They are an afterthought by atc, the real speaker is the atc scm actives which look identical but have active crossovers and a power amp , 30 watts into tweeter, 150 watts and 60 watts into midrange and bass drivers. 2 they are difficult to drive and so you need very powerful and expensive power amp. 3. They only sound good loud. 4. They are very revealing of your source distortion. 5. Following on from 4. If for example you have even an expensive Music Ustreamer upstream as a source, all the distortion will show up in sound. 6. Midrange on these are its strength but when the singer goes up in voice to high frequency thus activating tweeter, there is distortion in transient which is jarring on ear, this problem probably due to the fact the passive crossover is not as well designed, since these speakers require active crossover
@@BrianGarside Don’t get me wrong, these are excellent speakers but a purchaser must also have as a must a very powerful high grade power amp of at least 150 watts, and it must be designed with a focus on audiophile power regulation-Naim is another brand with an emphasis on power supply. As current goes back and forth to the coils, capacitors etc of the passive crossover from each channel of the power amp, you need a strong stability of the power amps power regulators to avoid distortion at the crossover electronics. Also, these speakers drivers will ideally require 300 watt power blocks since 300 watts will reduce by 50 % by the time they hit each heavy driver, and ATC have a150 amp directly into the bass driver of the active version. These are extremely revealing speakers so in addition to a power amp, any distortions or just the say the overly analytical character of the upstream electronics . And will probably purchase the scm 40 actives to make a 2 box solution. If you are not a rich audiophile who can tinker endlessly you need to take as your guiding principle for sound and in that respect the atc actives are an audiophile bargain given the upstream carp eats mentioned. I expect the same issues mentioned will apply to the scm 11s. The best value for money speaker in the atc range is the atc scm 50s actives but they are still hugely expensive at 4 times the price of these scm 40 passives
@@fizywig This all makes sense. High powered amp with good current behind it and very low noise floor is what they need. I had the Parasound JC5 400x2 amp selected for such as task on a pair like these. Still need to purchase. Im going for passive and just get my own amp. Thanks for your feedback.
@StringerNews1 will the active atc scm 40 s be a big upgrade from atc scm passives, and hence sell my amplifiers and upgrade? Will that be a significant sonic upgrade?
@@fizywig Hi, Can you help. My listening space measures 19.5ft (6m) long x 11,5ft (3.5m) wide x 3-4.2m high. Please advise which is the better of the following ATC speakers for all genres of music between ATC SCM19A, SCm40A and SCM40ASLT for my space. Any possible issues with overpowering bass with the 40A speakers? Thanks in advance. Reply
Ah...have those...among the others.. Yes...they sound great Only.....you should live in the house...if you wish to have best from them If you live..in apartmant...beter finde something ellse... ...cos, you should push them loud...to loud for apartmant... Actualy,...your neighboures..have ears too And you will not be able to push them loud enough....to heare all ..what they can delivere Still...I like them so much
One downside to the actives is that if ever a problem with the amps your screwed. Need to ship back or repair. Non active is simpler and prob last forever.
I have these speakers and absolutely love them. If there is a negative. They are power hogs. I wouldn't recommend pairing them with anything less they 200 watts per channel into 8 ohms. Other than that. They are magical to my ears.
As an owner of the SCM19 and now SCM40s I agree they like beefy amps but power amp ratings aren't the whole picture. Also the size of the room is very important. I run mine in a 12x18' room with a Luxman 590axii Class A amp which is only rated at 30 watts (8 ohms) and it plays plenty loud without strain.
@@MrBax70 Grazie della tua dichiarazione, forse la stanza è 12*18 piedi? non pollici! Io possiedo un Accuphase E-560 Classe A di 30 watt, e pensavo che fosse impossibile pilotarli bene, invece tu mi hai chiarito bene che è possibile, Ok amico
@@soundstage_hifi7724 I have these speakers. I am buying New power amps should I sell my act scm 40s for £2000 and buy the scm actives instead? Are the actives much better than these 2?
@@willbrink Hi, Can you help? My listening space measures 19.5ft (6m) long x 11,5ft (3.5m) wide x 3-4.2m high. Please advise which is the better of the following ATC speakers for all genres of music between ATC SCM19A, SCm40A and SCM40ASLT for my space. Any possible issues with overpowering bass with the 40A speakers? Thanks in advance. Reply
ATC, manufacturer of the world's greatest mid-range driver since 1976!
I have had my ATC SCM40 passives for over two years. Mine are Tri-amped with a pair of Audiolab 8300MBs 250 watts for the Bass and four Audiolab 8000Ms 125 watts for the Mid Range and Tweeters. The sound is (for me) perfect and many fellow audiophiles are gob smacked by what they are hearing!
I am very lucky that they suit my listening room
dimensions and seating perfectly.
Passive tri amp?mind to share how you work with it cause I'm confused with how it split from signal to power amp.
Recently I done with vertical and horizontal only ,never try tri amping
@@noicealot
Basically my 8000Q preamp has two main
Pre outputs, one pair goes to the 8300MB mono power amps for the Bass the other pair goes to the 8000M mono power amps for the Mid Range Dome and from the Load Out phonos on those power amps, feeds the second pair of 8000Ms for the tweeters.
@@stephengarratt5076 How does that work regarding crosstalk between speaker wiring from the different Amps.. would like to listen... thanks for the upload
@@fredfungalspore
All that I know is that my system works and gives me and those who visit me great pleasure.
Sounds brilliant! Have you heard your system with the Holo May Dac yet, the "ATC" of Dacs im terms of unparalleled quality for the price?
Can you deacribe tbe sound of the atcs compared to tge bowers wilkins 805s in the back? I have the B&Ws and i'm veey interested in tve ATCs
If not tri wiring does it matter where you connect the cable to the speaker? I see that you connect black to the top and red to the bottom at 0.14.
Imagine these are ribbon tweeters, like the proac. Will the high be better?
Probably not, ATC has developed an in house dual suspension tweeter based upon their legendary mid-range driver, and the tweeter is very competent.
This is in my list. What about the bass??
The bass is incredibly good.
What distance from wall do you normally recommend?
Rest of the system seems to be components from Naim Audio, what are they exactly?
Since the grills seem fairly stiff (I haven't received mine yet) it may be easy to get a cloth to wrap around it.
You could wrap a cloth around the grill if you wanted to but as is the grill will protect the drivers from any accidental damage, and that is all they are really there for.
Absolutely no need.
I love them like that. Grill looks a bit different in a good way (to me!)
I have these speakers. A few problems with them
1. They are an afterthought by atc, the real speaker is the atc scm actives which look identical but have active crossovers and a power amp , 30 watts into tweeter, 150 watts and 60 watts into midrange and bass drivers.
2 they are difficult to drive and so you need very powerful and expensive power amp.
3. They only sound good loud.
4. They are very revealing of your source distortion.
5. Following on from 4. If for example you have even an expensive Music
Ustreamer upstream as a source, all the distortion will show up in sound.
6. Midrange on these are its strength but when the singer goes up in voice to high frequency thus activating tweeter, there is distortion in transient which is jarring on ear, this problem probably due to the fact the passive crossover is not as well designed, since these speakers require active crossover
is this the case with scm 11's ? so the passive crossover sounds like it cant handle the transitions well.
@@BrianGarside Don’t get me wrong, these are excellent speakers but a purchaser must also have as a must a very powerful high grade power amp of at least 150 watts, and it must be designed with a focus on audiophile power regulation-Naim is another brand with an emphasis on power supply. As current goes back and forth to the coils, capacitors etc of the passive crossover from each channel of the power amp, you need a strong stability of the power amps power regulators to avoid distortion at the crossover electronics. Also, these speakers drivers will ideally require 300 watt power blocks since 300 watts will reduce by 50 % by the time they hit each heavy driver, and ATC have a150 amp directly into the bass driver of the active version.
These are extremely revealing speakers so in addition to a power amp, any distortions or just the say the overly analytical character of the upstream electronics
. And will probably purchase the scm 40 actives to make a 2 box solution. If you are not a rich audiophile who can tinker endlessly you need to take as your guiding principle for sound and in that respect the atc actives are an audiophile bargain given the upstream carp eats mentioned.
I expect the same issues mentioned will apply to the scm 11s.
The best value for money speaker in the atc range is the atc scm 50s actives but they are still hugely expensive at 4 times the price of these scm 40 passives
@@fizywig This all makes sense. High powered amp with good current behind it and very low noise floor is what they need. I had the Parasound JC5 400x2 amp selected for such as task on a pair like these. Still need to purchase. Im going for passive and just get my own amp. Thanks for your feedback.
@StringerNews1 will the active atc scm 40 s be a big upgrade from atc scm passives, and hence sell my amplifiers and upgrade? Will that be a significant sonic upgrade?
@@fizywig Hi, Can you help. My listening space measures 19.5ft (6m) long x 11,5ft (3.5m) wide x 3-4.2m high. Please advise which is the better of the following ATC speakers for all genres of music between ATC SCM19A, SCm40A and SCM40ASLT for my space. Any possible issues with overpowering bass with the 40A speakers? Thanks in advance.
Reply
Ah...have those...among the others..
Yes...they sound great
Only.....you should live in the house...if you wish to have best from them
If you live..in apartmant...beter finde something ellse...
...cos, you should push them loud...to loud for apartmant...
Actualy,...your neighboures..have ears too
And you will not be able to push them loud enough....to heare all ..what they can delivere
Still...I like them so much
One downside to the actives is that if ever a problem with the amps your screwed. Need to ship back or repair. Non active is simpler and prob last forever.
I have these speakers and absolutely love them. If there is a negative. They are power hogs. I wouldn't recommend pairing them with anything less they 200 watts per channel into 8 ohms. Other than that. They are magical to my ears.
Yes very true- I'm using 250W and when I tried a 300W amp it made a big difference.
As an owner of the SCM19 and now SCM40s I agree they like beefy amps but power amp ratings aren't the whole picture. Also the size of the room is very important. I run mine in a 12x18' room with a Luxman 590axii Class A amp which is only rated at 30 watts (8 ohms) and it plays plenty loud without strain.
@@MrBax70 Grazie della tua dichiarazione, forse la stanza è 12*18 piedi? non pollici! Io possiedo un Accuphase E-560 Classe A di 30 watt, e pensavo che fosse impossibile pilotarli bene, invece tu mi hai chiarito bene che è possibile, Ok amico
What's the price of a pair of those speakers.
These speakers are £3,750
new about 4500 euro
@@soundstage_hifi7724 I have these speakers. I am buying New power amps should I sell my act scm 40s for £2000 and buy the scm actives instead? Are the actives much better than these 2?
@@fizywig Personally, I'd get the actives and will some day.
@@willbrink Hi, Can you help? My listening space measures 19.5ft (6m) long x 11,5ft (3.5m) wide x 3-4.2m high. Please advise which is the better of the following ATC speakers for all genres of music between ATC SCM19A, SCm40A and SCM40ASLT for my space. Any possible issues with overpowering bass with the 40A speakers? Thanks in advance.
Reply
Neanche con il famoso midrange sono riuscite a battere i medi delle tannoy turnberry gr .sovravalutate😢