Which Amp? HELP NEEDED

OK, where to begin?????? I have finally decided once and for all to seperate my AV/hifi set-up, after much soul searching and even more spending, its time to admit that for me, never the twain shall meet. Now then, my bit of both system which if i'm honest leaned towards movie heaven, consists of the M&K750 MKII sattelites with an M&K MX-350 taking care of the bottom end. I used a Pioneer AX10I av amp fed by a Merridian 506.24 for stereo duties. I really liked this set up for movies but always found it wanting in stereo, my main bugbear was the stereo imaging. It's a bit difficult to describe but anything meant to be dead centre such as voices, snare drums, bass guitar, etc were there beatifully presented, hanging in the air for your listening pleasure whilst EVERYTHING else is panned either hard left or hard right. Tonally I quite liked the sound of the M&K's though they do have a slightly boom tish quality, though I'm almost sure thats down to the Pioneer. I bought the Meridian to tame this sometimes fatiging sound.

On a whim I've just bought a set of ATC SCM12's, I intended to use these with the Meridian but need something to go inbetween. Now then.....I recently set up the ATC's, biamped using the Pioneer, just to make sure they worked (and because I was excited), and was quite alarmed at how dark they sound. They have an almost closed in quality to them which I'm not sure I'm keen on. I did however enjoy their extremely informative midrange. I've tried them with some other intergrateds I had lying around all be it cheap ones and this same dark quality was winking at me.

So I now have a cd player which airs on the polite side and some speakers which I find dark. Am I on a loser here???? Is there an amp which will bridge the gap and bring these speakers to life.

Also I'm not even sure If I've just been living with the M&K's for so long that their sound has become the "norm" for me.
OH I'm so confused

Any help or advice would be SOOOO appreciated. Ta, Ryan.

 

Lyngdorf SDAi or TDA2200 depending on your budget.
See HF World review. You can download the review from http://www.tactaudio.co.uk/INFO/index.html Haven't taken the plunge yet myself, but intend to soon having heard it at a friends yesterday. Very transparent. Should fit in nicely.

 

I have the Tact SDAi2175 with the ATC SCM12 and definitely recommend it.... there is synergy going on. I'd also advise using a good traditional multi-stranded copper speaker cable with the ATCs, they don't seem to like solid core so much.

I've also heard the ATC SCM12s with Naim 200/202 combo, which worked well, and with a Bel Canto Evo2i, which was nice. But preferred the Tact to both by some way.

Also tried an EAR 869 valve amp (not warm and cuddly at all as valves are often cliched to be), very nice again but not sure what might have happened if I wanted to play loud.

 

pb

it sounds like you're not sure if you like your speakers or not.

have you tried lots of alternatives already to be sure?

 

For the SCM12's you need an amp that a) has balls (big ones) and b) is awake

Those already suggested should so the business. You might like to hear these too: http://www.nuforce.com/index.htm

The sound of the SCM12's is very clean and tidy. The cabinets are extremely dead. This can make them sound dark and shut in compared to other models. We are so used to hearing the cacophany of resonances that come out of most speakers in the sub-£1000 arena, that when we don't hear them, it sounds wrong. It isn't wrong and you should give them more time before rejecting them. I wish I had done the same.

I now have a pair of mini-monitors that also don't exhibit this cacophany of resonances. Now that I have got used to this, I couldn't go back to 'ordinary' speakers. This is why in the end I sold my Castle Conways. They were tons of fun and always enjoyable to listen to but the Dynaudio Contour 1.1s take me so much further into the music because the fine details are not smothered in resonances.

I'm not pointing a finger at Castle here though. The Conways are IMHO one of the top floorstanders in the sub-£1000 arena. You need to spend much more for the kind of cabinetry that can challenge a well built mini-monitor.

If I didn't have my ATC amp, I'd be looking at Lyndorf/TacT, NuForce, Bel Canto, etc.