naim with atc

The answer is definitely yes - I imagine a search for 'Active' and 'ATC ' together would pull up some.

I've tried 272 at home with 40a and it was superb, an unbeatable one box system. Well worth an audition.

You might want to check out Jason Kennedy review of 272 partnered with SCM40A in hifi plus magazine Feb 2016. He states 'the combination of NAC-N 272 and SCM40A is all the system most of us will ever need, and the best sounding three box system I’ve enjoyed to date'. Same conclusion as myself. Mind, he's counting two speakers in his three box system.

SCM40A is terrific. ( even with a mediocre preamp! )

How these with room placement, can they get relatively close to a back wall? 

Gary

Halloween Man,

Looking at your profile I see you use the Chord Shawline IC between source and ATC. I have a Shawline on order (DIN > 2XLR connection), and was curous about the custom configuratio you have employed? Did you change conductor geometry due to DAC driving the signal? Was their a price premium from Chord to do this?

Thanks in advance.

Aric

The exact wiring is shown in my profile, Chord didn't charge any extra to standard XLR to XLR, their customer service is excellent. There are a couple of reasons for this wiring. The RCA outputs of Chord dacs offer best sound quality as they are single ended devices. ATC only offer xlr input even though the built in power amps are single ended like chord DACs. This particular wiring takes partial advantage of the noise-canceling characteristics of balanced audio, so less noise.

Halloween Man posted:

The exact wiring is shown in my profile, Chord didn't charge any extra to standard XLR to XLR, their customer service is excellent. There are a couple of reasons for this wiring. The RCA outputs of Chord dacs offer best sound quality as they are single ended devices. ATC only offer xlr input even though the built in power amps are single ended like chord DACs. This particular wiring takes partial advantage of the noise-canceling characteristics of balanced audio, so less noise.

Ah, makes sense, thank you. So presumably DIN to XLR is already optmially wiring (within the specific models of Chord that allow for a DIN and XLR configuration). 

Hi Aric, sorry, I'm not sure. I'm not familiar with din to XLR... perhaps another forum member could comment?

It sounds like Chord optimized your RCA > XLR cable to be as close to either DIN > XLR or XLR > XLR as possible. They are a great company and make wonderful products.

How do you find the Shawline vs. whatever else you had?

Oh, and Aceone, I've had Streaming/NAC172XS and CD5XS/NAC172XS and CD5XS/82/HC and CD5XS/nDAC/82/HC and CD5XS/nDAC/52/SC all into my active ATC SCM10a-2 speakers. I like my old ATC's so much I just had them sent off to the authorized repair center to have new tweeters installed, amp pack recapped, and since the speakers were manufactured, ATC has adjusted the resistive bias to lower the amp's heat output and prolong their lifespan; so that was done too. 

Unfailingly, they show up all the improvements my system has undergone. Haven't heard the 19A or 40A, but would be interesting to hear how their floorstanders do. I tend to believe the rave reviews.

Aric posted:

It sounds like Chord optimized your RCA > XLR cable to be as close to either DIN > XLR or XLR > XLR as possible. They are a great company and make wonderful products.

How do you find the Shawline vs. whatever else you had?

Aric, there is nothing special or "optimised" about the RCA to XLR wiring for Halloweenmans system. It is just how ATC recommend wiring single ended RCA to XLR connectors. There is a diagram on page 9 of the ATC entry series brochure, or page 4 of the pro brochure. Essentially XLR pin 2 is hot and gets wired to the centre pin of the RCA plug, XLR pins 1 and 3 - screen and return - get wired to the screen of the RCA.

It is a slight deviation from Chord's standard RCA to XLR. Chord would normally simply connect pins 1 & 3 of XLR but I asked for three separate conductors running right through the cable to get the noise cancelling benefit. Chord's standard version would be as shown in the bottom illustration.