Active ATC users: Which preamp?

After 15 years of Naim, I am seriously tempted to move on after hearing some very persuasive dems of the Active 20s and more recently, the Audio Note M2 preamp. Currently planning to retain the CDX but going for Active ATC 20s and NA's Spacedeck or Gyrodec SE. Preamp is the only thing that I am uncertain whether it should be my 72/HiCap or ATC's own CA-2 or the Audio Note.

I am worried that CA-2 might be too stark. I am hoping that the AN would "flesh out" many of those 30-40s early jazz stuff as well as maybe taking "the edge" off some modern digital recordings.

I want a system that can let me get on with the music and never think about upgrading again.

Home dem is not pos. on any products, so I need as much insight as poss to make an informed choice.

Thanks

 

try here....http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3090990218&category=3280


the link is duff. go to e-bay and search atc. signals at ipswich have the sca-2 pre amp s/h for £1395 ish. might be worth a look as there are few pre amps which will be better suited to the active 20's. there are only two days left on the auction, why not get in touch and make them an offer. they will have to pay at least £50 commission on the e-bay sale.

 

Hi , Just wanted to chip in with my preference of the spacedeck over the gyro SE. I only mention this because you say you will not have opportunity to dem.

Sideshowbob (why not PM him) has an ATC pre, and it sounded very clear and straightforward to me. I would certainly be happy to look at it if wanted ATC actives.

The one he has doesnt have a phono stage though, and I believe the phono board wasnt up to standard, necessitating an off-board one in his case.

Im insufficiently knowledgeable about the AudioNote pre's to comment on them.

Cheers
Chris

 

The phono board problem was RFI, nothing wrong with the board if you don't have RFI problems.

The CA2 isn't "stark" at all, I listen to a lot of jazz (it's my music of choice) and the CA2 is just fine. And at least one person here (dat19) has a CA2 and an SCA2 and can't tell any difference between them.

I used to use an EAR 834L valve pre with my Active 10s and that was good. It did add a touch of warmth. At that time, when I first had the 10s, I was probably still under the influence of reading reviews saying that ATC speakers are "ruthlessly revealing" and that their preamp was the same. Having had the CA2 and 10s for getting on for a year now, I can honestly say that's utter bollocks, and I wish I'd just bought a CA2 at the start and got on with it.

-- Ian

 

did whf ever get back to you about being a reviewer?

good to hear some stark honesty when it comes to products. too often the talk of noise floors and transparency get in the way of the simple fact that the job is done very well TVM

 

LOL. Strangely enough, they claimed never to have received my application...

As an addendum, a good valve pre is a nice thing, and Audio Note make nice valve pres, so if you do go the M2 route no doubt it'd sound good, although you'd lose remote control and headphone capability, which may or may not be important to you. I've just noticed you're in HK, I suspect we've met before on PFM!

-- Ian

 

ATCs are decidly not stark. I found them quite musical.

 

Curious to know what made you go from EAR to CA2?

Being a Naimee, I have been conditioned to believe that an almost all ATC setup only do round earth stuff (sstage, imaging, detail, transperancey , slam etc.) and has little PRaT. The old Recording Quality vs. Communication of Musicianship debate. Is that all a hoax?

I liked what I heard (Remiyo CDP?/CA-2/ATC 20A) but I was only "granted" a 4 song dem by the dealer (the only ATC dealer in my country) before some guy waltzed in to buy a pair of ATC 100A. The difference in service was astounding, infuriating but predictable in my town.

 

I saw one secondhand for £375, thought, for that price why not give it a go, discovered it sounded great, and having remote control again was, for me, a big plus. And I use headphones quite a lot, so the excellent headphone output was also a big advantage.

It's such a bugger that you can't get to listen to this stuff properly in HK. Yep, I think it's all nonsense. But everybody hears differently, I suppose, which is why the debates continue.

-- Ian

 

I'll be retaining my Exposure phonostage for now.

The CA2 isn't "stark" at all, I listen to a lot of jazz (it's my music of choice) and the CA2 is just fine. [/QUOTE]

To sidetrack, My friend, a jazzhead, who have heard all three systems (AN, Naim, ATC) made an interesting analogy:

Audio Note - Clifford Brown
Naim - Lee Morgan
ATC- Freddie Hubbard

I guess along as there is no Wynton Marsellis in the bunch it's okay

 

A rant, sorry..

Don't get me started, I've been told that :

A) with my musical tastes that, I don't need hi-fi.
B) whilst begging for a dem using using my own music , I was asked, "Are you really buying?"

The scene is quite weird, to buy HiFi you seem to have to like solo flemenco guitar, Carol Kidd, Diana Krall or Nora Jones or if you are a "rock lover" its Eagles Live or Santana ; spend a few Ks on cables, tuning dots?, ceiling suspended racks or mains generator.

I have personally witnessed a guy auditioning 10 pairs of speakers using 30 sec of one track on a cd to hear some conga thwacks and buying a pair based on that!!!!

I have also visited a client of my that had a dedicated "hifi room", tons of big assed yank gear (CAL, Krell, Genesis etc.) just to own a handful of CDs, half of which were Stereophile Test Cds and the reminder Mobile Fidelity and XRCDs.

Its depressing but I think over here it is all a status thing, like owning a sportscar or a yacht. As long as, it's big, shiny and tweaky.

sorry

 

you are spot on about the status thing.
Apparently, the uk is the most car snobbish country, too.
who says the class system is over?

 

Another vote for the CA2

I can't say I've heard the Audio Note, but if it has valve's in it, I wouldn't bother with it (mostly because of long term reliability).

I also have the SCA2 which I can recommend too. You might be more interested in the SCA2 if you fancy: a complex phono board ; balanced (XLR's) in; balanced (XLR's) out; some more inputs; oh and a nice glowing LED to show you the volume position.

The CA2 has the advantage of an headphone socket (which is why I bought mine - I already had the SCA2 which doesn't have a phones socket).

As for sonic differences between the CA2 and SCA2, well I can't tell them apart. I have some balanced gear around the place and run some fairly long cables at times, so balanced (ie SCA2) might be a winner.

The phono board in the SCA2 is a beast and I would expect it to be significantly more complex than the board in the CA2 (which I haven't seen). If phono is important to you the SCA2 may be the way to go - the board is configurable for various cartridges loads and might be more useful to you. (I don't have a turntable, so I've never used the phono stage).

People here know that I will argue that competently designed pre-amps all sound the same anyway, so if you are able to hear "warmth" with the Audio Note pre-amp that you can't hear elsewhere then I'd suggest it isn't right - you may like it, which is your choice to make, but it isn't right.

 

hmmm dat you have got the wrong idea about valves, small valves last 1000s of hours, they are reliable.
But I personally did not like the audionote kit pre based on the m7, very soft and warm, far too valve like for me. that makes about 2 or 3 audionote products that I can shoehorn into the boring category.

The logical choice would be an atc pre.

 

That's my point, there's 720 hours in a month

The Bryston powerpaks on the floor in front of me have a warranty for 175,000 hours

 

yes granted that is pro audio stuff, but I have had naim amps, audio analogue ones go, sometimes the output transistors blow, and it can be a pain, if your amp has no protection, your precious speakers can fry, too.
Michell alectos have no dc protection.

solid state doesn't = reliable always.

its no trouble to change an ecc83, you just take out and put in, and its only £4 or so. the circuit is so much easier, if something does go wrong, its dead easy to find.

you takes yer pick.

 

If reliability is an issue then ATC is a good choice. Their kit is guaranteed for 6 years. It's built to last.

 

Re: Another vote for the CA2

Thanks all, however, "Accuracy" is probably not a primary concern, I need something that enables me to "hear past" the mechanics and be able to enjoy the widest range of music/recordings without making 99% of what I have sounds like shite or taking my head off.

I still remember 15 years ago walking into a hifi store in toronto fully expecting to get (the powerful, yet "accurate") Audiolab integrated only to have my heart moved by a lowly, coloured Nait 2 2 hours later. (Couldn't afford it though, and ended up with a Cyrus One which I still have)

I like ATC speakers not because they are detailed or "revealing", but how "effortless" yet "tight" they sounded, esp midrange down. However I was only permitted a 20 minute dem, so I can't say fer sure how they perform in extended listening sesh.

 

I have a NAC 52, works quite well with the ATC actives. They are brutally revealing speakers.

 

Brutally revealing in the way that they let you know that the recording is crap BUT allow you to enjoy the music anyway

or

"Brutally revealing" like the Kans which renders some recordings physically painful to listen to

IMHO, "revealing" and "merciless a la Kans" are mutually exclusive. The 7s are very revealing and makes main/cable/component/mana phase changes and recording quality bloody obvious but they don't hurt my ears the way Kans do. At the same time Dunc PM also told me that the presentation of the passive and the active ATCs are quite different.

currently using 72/Hi/180...