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ATC SCM150 Amp and Preamp recommendations

Just received my ATC SCM150 passive speakers last week and looking for amplifier suggestions.

I have a large, well-treated room (45' x 16' x 8') and primarily listen to large-scale classical music — symphonies, piano concertos, cello works, etc.
For me, dynamics are critical, but so are tone, instrumental timbre, and harmonic richness.

Front-end setup:

  • Technics 1200G with Umami Red cartridge

  • Luxman EQ-500 phono stage

  • Aurender A100 streamer/DAC

So far, I’ve tried the following amplifiers:

  • Classe Delta Stereo + matching preamp: very polite sound, but too soft on top, poor bass control, slow and muddy low end, recessed midrange — overall unable to properly control the speakers.

  • Luxman L-595A SE: gorgeous microdynamics and a liquid, beautiful midrange; however, limited in dynamics and authority due to power constraints. No brightness !

  • Auris Fortissimo (tube amp): outstanding midrange and highs with a very holographic presentation, but again lacks bass energy and authority due to lower power output.

  • Luxman 507Z - way too bright for ATC, so assuming Luxman M10 will be just as bright 

Given these impressions, I'm now looking for a serious amp/preamp combination that can bring out the full potential of the SCM150s — maintaining musicality and tonal beauty but with the dynamic slam and control these speakers demand. 

Budget: ~$20-30k for amplification, ~$10-15k for a preamp (open to used market gear)
I'm also open to bi-amping if someone has successfully done it with the SCM150s.

Amplifiers I'm considering:

  • Electrocompaniet AW800

  • Simaudio Moon 861 monoblocks

  • Hegel H30 monoblocks

I'm also looking for preamp recommendations to pair with the above amps — ideally something that adds a touch of tube warmth and harmonic richness, but without softening transients or slowing down the dynamics.

Would love to hear from anyone with direct experience driving SCM150s, or who can recommend synergistic combinations that deliver both the dynamic authority and tonal sophistication I'm after. 

ei001h
maxwave's avatar
maxwave
1,015 posts
 

@ei001h 

Also ; Vinnie Rossi  warranty is 10 years ..

That says  a lot about the building quality of their procucts.

After almost three years mine has been perfect .

dynamiclinearity
302 posts
 

Why not covert them to the active version? Every ATC review I read that compares active ATCs to passive ATCs prefers the active versions. Getting rid of the passive crossover parts that are hard to drive adds to the dynamics you want. For what it's worth the last speakers Gordon Holt, who founded Stereophile, paid his own money for was a set of active ATC 50A speakers. He told me they were the only speakers he knew that made the recordings he made(Gordon did tons of live recordings) sound like what he heard at the live performance.

ei001h OP
298 posts
 

It seems that high-power solid-state amplifiers are quite rare and extremely expensive when it comes to good quality equipment, and almost impossible to audition due to their size. I prefer not to buy blindly and risk paying a huge amount only to be disappointed. Converting to active is not an option — I could have purchased the active version, but I specifically chose passive in order to experiment with different amplification setups. At the moment, it appears I’m still limited to options like the Electrocompaniet AW800, Simaudio 861, and Hegel H30. Among tube amplifiers, Vinnie Rossi and Audio Research seem to be the most highly recommended for matching my tastes

lordmelton's avatar
lordmelton
972 posts
 

@ei001h 

Well said, it's far from an easy decision and you may need to choose several times before you get it right, but you made an excellent choice with your speakers.

Enjoy your journey.

mapman's avatar
mapman
22,729 posts
 

These newer GanFET class D amps are an option I use and can recommend trying.

https://classdaudio.com

Small, cost effective and should be up to the task.  Also US made to-boot. 

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