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.
