NAP 250DR + ATC SCM40 speaker

I've not heard the a SMCs but 'on paper' they seem very similar to my Revel Performa f206s which the 250dr drives with ease. 

I have a very similar room set up, with SCM 40 being driven very well by SN2. The 250DR would  do a fantastic job with the SCMs in my opinion.

My 250dr spanks my scm11's with thunderous ease. It will be no problem with 40's

The only thing I'd wonder is whether the 40 is a little large for the room. I also wonder whether the 40A is worth considering, or if that's too big, the 19A. If I was thinking of ATCs I'd certainly try the active versions as well, excellent as the 250DR is. 

A NAP250 with ATC SCM 40s will be able to achieve a continuous SPL of 104dB at 1m (i.e. quite loud enough to make you deaf after a few hours).

250 DR here effortlessly driving SCM19s here so the 40s would be much the same . I've had them 4 months now and they keep getting better and better and ..... PZ mentions above average sound levels but I've found that my listening levels are a fair bit lower than with my old PMCs , they will go as loud as you like though . 

I must say I've never understood why people want to listen at levels that will damage their hearing.

I completely agree

I have personal experience of SCM40A. They sound magnificent, for me the perfect speaker, there are not enough superlatives in the English language to describe them. There is a big BUT - you need a room that can take the bass energy that they release. Heartbreakenly, I didn't and have recently traded mine in and downsized to SCM19A. I tried everything to hang onto the 40 but nothing could tame the low frequencies and room modes/resonances. My view is SCM40A sounds better overall, especially in the mid range, but the SCM19A are a close second and hard to beat for a two way speaker, mine are two days old and still breaking in. They are a much much much better match for my room and I have no regrets about downsizing. My room is approx 4m x 4m. The scm40a needs a minimum of about 2 foot from side wall (measuring from side edge of speaker cabinet) and 2 foot from rear wall (measuring from front centre of driver) to sound their best.

Looking at your room dimensions and listening position my guess would be that they are too big a speaker for you. You may get bass boom issues (the bass gets bigger as they break in), especially if you have wooden floorboards and an open chimney breast.

If you don't already own a NAP250 then my advice would be to buy the active versions as you will save some cash and the speakers will sound much better. I won't go into why to keep this post short.

From experience 2m is uncomfortably close to SCM40A, I would say a minimum of 8ft.

If you are able to try SCM40 or SCM40A then do, you might find they are okay. Make sure you have a right of return\exchange though as I suspect they will be too big for your room. In which case SCM19 or SCM19A may be the best option for you.

Huge posted:

A NAP250 with ATC SCM 40s will be able to achieve a continuous SPL of 104dB at 1m (i.e. quite loud enough to make you deaf after a few hours).

I think the OP wants to know whether the NAP 250 DR is capable of driving the SCM 40 at high levels without the speakers showing distortion. The maximum SPL of the SCM 40 is 112 dB which is quite a bit more than 104 dB. At high levels the peak SPL may exceed 104 dB so that would be slightly over the 250 DR's limit.

Some folks may relish occasional short sessions of loud music. Peak SPLs above 100 dB can be common at high levels though exposure shall be controlled to avoid permanent hearing damage.

pz posted:

Hi Mates,

Could a NAP250DR drive a pair of SCM 40 speakers properly to the above average (loud) sound level ? Speaker sensivity (on paper) 'only' 85 dB 1w/1m.

My room is about 5 x 3 meters, speakers should be placed along the short wall, discance from back wall is about 1 m and 40 cm from side walls. Listening position is about 2 m from the speakers. Any personal experience ?

Thx in advance.

 

Personally I feel a 3 x 5 m room is too small for the SCM 40. I previously had a 3.5 x 5.2m dedicated room and that too was too small for most medium-sized speakers. Halloween Man's advice and experience are pretty spot-on. I would even consider comparing the SCM 11 and SCM 19 to see which one would be a better fit for the smallish room.

Thank you very much for your kind replies. It seems that I reject to try out SCM40 due to its size. Here it is rather difficult but impossible to organize home demo of speakers so I have to be considered when select the potential candidates. I have 282/SC/250 so active speakers are not a real possibility. I will try then SCM19 as it was kindly recommended. Any other aspirants which could give good result with this electronics and given room ? (They could  be stand mounter or tower.)

At the moment I have a pair of Harbeth C7ES3 on stands. While it is an excellent all rounder its bass response could be  faster, thigther with a bit more punch. All in all I would like to try out something else as well. In the near past I had a demo of Kudos S20 but it was too brigth in my room especially when compared to Harbeth.

Don't overlook the scm11

I saw and heard these speakers for the first time at an audio show a few weeks ago and I was mighty impressed. 

The were in a huge room (at least some 15 x 10 meters) driven by Jeff Roland amps and filled that room with ease. I thought it was one of the best and most engaging speakers I heard that day with great drive, slam and musicality. I was even more impressed when I heard their price. I expected them to be much more expensive based on how they sounded.

But I agree with HH. I'm pretty sure the 40s are (much) too big for a room measuring 5 x 3 meters with only some 2 meters listening distance. There's not enough space and distance to project their soundstage and they'll likely pump up the room like a pressure cooker. Some small high quality monitors will give much better results imo. 

I think you should definitely try them in your room before grabbing your wallet!

Richard

If you are near Cambridge come listen to 250dr plus scm11 in my iec listening room 

Interestingly my room is 4.4 x 3.85m with the speakers on the shorter wall and the 40's and 40A's work superbly. They are 0.6m from the rear wall and 0.8m from the side. Measurements from the rear and side of the enclosures. My listening position is 3.3m from the front of the grill. 

The reason I went for the 40's originally (with my 250DR) is that I hate the over emphasised bass that some manufacturers peddle. I auditioned price proximate speakers from KEF, Sonas Faber and PMC and the 40's blew them away. I want accuracy and not over exaggerated bass that particularly PMC in my view are guilty of. Each to our own I guess and as with everything in this fascinating hobby, it's very subjective.

The 40's combined with the 250DR is a wonderful combination but the 40A's are a significant step up in every way. In particular the bass which is clean, clear and accurate.

It would appear I've been lucky with my room as others have obviously struggled with the 40's and 40A's in rooms larger. Room/speaker integration is a complicated and unpredictable subject which makes a home demo essential. It would be interesting to know if any of the people who have had issues have suspended wooden floors? I'm sure it doesn't help as the floor i'm sure will act as a passive radiator to some degree. Thankfully I have solid concrete floors.

I have ATC active 50's and have absolutely no issue with "room size" - just make sure that size wise, they don't look rediculously large for the room .... otherwise, should they be fine!

After all, ATC's (including my 50's) are used in recording studios for monitoring.... those rooms are not large and the listening is done quite close to the speakers.

Anyway, why not simply drop an email to ATC and ask the question regarding room size and appropriate speakers etc.

They are the experts and know their products ..... not me 

ATC will suggest a speaker appropriate for room size. I have learned room acoustics make a huge difference and it should be factored into your speaker choice. There are many factors at play, not just room size, speaker position, and listening position. The construction of the room can also make a big difference. Some people get lucky, others like myself, not so lucky. I have physics against me - small squarish room, solid brick walls, chimney, suspended timber boards. For example my floor will resonate just like a guitar top and there is very little for low frequency waves to be absorbed so they just hang around and increase in amplitude and take a long time to decay. Low frequency waves in a domestic environment are impossible to treat without making your room look like a recording studio. The corners and room boundaries are the worse places to position speakers or put your listening chair. If you play a 45hz test tone in my room it is very loud in the corners and room boundaries (it will hurt your ears) but almost silent in the middle of the room. If I use a speaker that unleashes less low frequency energy then the problem is reduced.

Studio environments are very different. Any worth their salt are constructed/treated with room acoustics in mind and should have a fairly flat response at the listening position.