My speaker upgrade journey - and a few questions
So I have been running Linn Majik 140 speakers since 2015. Started with a Rotel integrated, then Hegel 160 and currently the Hegel 390. I like the Linn speakers as they have great presence and clarity, but (like most of us) wondered if I could find new speakers that provide a significant upgrade in sound. Over the last three years I have listened to many, many speakers - Spendor, Vandersteen, Boenicke, Wilson, Sonus Faber, Focal, B&W, Borresen, Klipsch, Golden Ear, etc. Just for fun I listened to some that are well over six figures. Most were very good, but I just did not notice enough of an improvement over my current speakers. I even found a dealer with my Linns on the floor, so I was able to do a direct A/B comparison. Again, nothing justified an upgrade. Last year I took a shot on some Tekton Double Impact speakers I had never heard as many on these forums love them. I cancelled my order after about 2 months and no communication or speakers from Tekton.
I figured I would never upgrade and perhaps my hearing is just not that good - why don't $100k Wilson speakers sound dramatically better than my $4k Linn speakers??
Until today. I was sitting with John Rutan at Audio Connection listening to the Vandersteen Quatros and again had the same feeling - nice, but not worth it. Then John sat me down in front of a pair of ATC SCM40A (the active version) and I was stunned. These speakers are so much better in almost every way than everything I had heard before! And since they don't need an external amp, the sale price of my Hegel 390 will just about cover the difference between the active and passive versions. I hope they sound as good in my home as they do in the store.
Finally, here is my question. To keep things as simple as possible, I would like to use my Yamaha RX-A6A (AVR) as the preamp for these speakers and connect the speakers via XLR cables to the pre-outs on the AVR. Both the AVR and speakers have XLR terminals. This means using the pre-amp section and DAC of the Yamaha. The DAC in the Yamaha is the ESS SABRE ES9026PRO Ultra. Would I be compromising these awesome speakers with the Yamaha electronics? Thanks for your input.
I have passive SCM 40s, a Musical Fidelity A308 integrated, a Moon Mind 2 streamer, and a Pontus 2 DAC. I’m very happy with my system. The A308 line is great value, including their preamp. The integrated puts out 150 watts. I don’t think you’d want anything less with the SCM40s. All of my components are hard to find used, but you could try. I agree with much of what other posters have written. |
@bigkidz very well said. I think it has to do with the dome midrange. Detailed and uncompressed dynamics are impressive but dispersion not so good. They are made for studio monitors not so much home use so of course different design goals to begin with. |
