eisenach's system

[eisenach]

ESL 63; Dell Laptop; Tascam CD-RW4U; Primare BP32; Sony 700ES 3-head cassette deck; Cambridge azur 540R for surround channels; Samsung TV; Epos centre speaker; Primare Pre32; Tag Mclaren T32R DAB/FM/AM tuner; Tag Mclaren DAC20; Quad 606II; Michell Gyrodeck; (out of sight, Rothwell phono amp); Cybest Fransat satellite tuner; Sharp MD-R2 Minidisc; Technics TE 95 timer/clock.

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[southall-1998]

Nice.

S.

[Marco]

Very nice, Martin. I love attic rooms, as for me they always create such a nice welcoming and relaxing space in which to enjoy music. I've also no doubt that your system (with the Quads at the end) will sound superb... Enjoy!

Marco.

[jandl100]

Well, well. So that's where my old 606ii ended up.
And good to see those Quad stats sensibly raised off the floor, makes a huge improvement, ime.

Nice system, I bet it sounds fab, Martin.

[eisenach]

Thank you, all. I've very pleased with the sounds the system makes. Sorting the mains out with an Isol-8 axis power strip made a big difference, too.
Jerry, it must be 2 or 3 years since I bought the 606 from you. After a check-over, it's been very happy driving the 63s, but I'm tempted to swap it for something that can use the balanced outputs from the pre32, then everything from the BP32 to the amp would be balanced, but on the other hand ...
The 63s are good. I tried replacing them with active ATC SCM20s, but they were nowhere near as good (in my room, imo etc.).

[jandl100]

All balanced? - didn't do much for me. As opposed to the reported experiences of many others, I prefer RCA connections.

ATC ? .... not for classicals
-- I remember the 1st time I visited a forum friend. He wheeled his ATC SCM40 speakers out as he thought they would be right up my street. Just an awful screech-fest, imo. Then over to his AN-E ... ahhh, back to music. Those were way the best AN-E I have heard, they vary so much between models.

YMMV.

[Marco]

I would tend to concur. The big weakness of active ATCs is their cheap (in comparison with the cost of the drive units used) built-in amp packs.

Whilst fine for studio monitoring purposes, their musical limitations (as you've correctly observed, Jerry) become all too obvious to anyone who knows what real instruments and voices should *actually* sound like. Trouble is, not many folk use ATCs passively, instead buying into the 'accuracy' bollocks of active designs, and the often exaggerated sonic benefits of having no crossovers, when the reality is that it's all swings and roundabouts.

However, listen to a pair of passive ATCs, with those horrible grey/grainy and tonally 'bleached out' amp packs removed (which emulate all that's bad about solid-state amplification), and pair them with a nice big (musical sounding) muscle SS amp, because being pretty inefficient, they need plenty of driving, and the sound produced is rather different - and quite superb!

That's because the quality of the drive units used on ATCs is top-notch, which unfortunately is only realised when suitably capable amps are used with them, able to reveal their true sonic potential. As ever in audio, context is everything...

Marco.

[Gazjam]

Love the big black and bronze Gyro....

[southall-1998]

Apparently the ATC SIA2-150 is a very capable integrated amp.

S.

[eisenach]

All balanced? - didn't do much for me. As opposed to the reported experiences of many others, I prefer RCA connections.

Well, it depends! The BP32 has a "better" output board on the xlr balanced outputs, so being able to use that I think has been part of the magic wrought by the pre32. It makes radio from the T32R sound great, too, though, and that's via rcas. Anyway, as far a balanced power amp, I think I'll leave well alone for a bit now. That's a New Year's resolution !

ATC ? .... not for classicals
-- I remember the 1st time I visited a forum friend. He wheeled his ATC SCM40 speakers out as he thought they would be right up my street. Just an awful screech-fest, imo. Then over to his AN-E ... ahhh, back to music. Those were way the best AN-E I have heard, they vary so much between models.
YMMV.

I've still got the ATCs in the front room family system. They're very good. Adrian English of English Audio, Hereford reckons they're one the very few speakers that get the tonality of classical instruments right, and he says he sells a lot to the local musical community. I would agree, though, that they're outstanding on rock, pop and jazz. The Quads, though, just give a hollistic, detailed bloom of sound, within which you can pinpoint every instrument and voice, and easily hear the tonal quality of the different instruments.
There was quite a spat amongst ATC afficianados about the older, boxy SCM40, with many thinking it was the weak link in the ATC line-up.