Don't be afraid of making a mistake, just accept it. What I have learnt these 2 years is that building an audio system requires careful matching. The vocal can be a bit forward, perhaps not to the taste to everyone, but I am enjoying music again. The A21 and SCM12 just sound superb, with enough bass weight for my taste and finally I got the magic midrange back! The imaging is superb. In my tiny listening room, I am only about 2 metres away from the speakers. Many people would not think the 25W Sugden A21 have enough power for the passive ATC SCM12. They are not as big as the 20 litre SCM20. I really want the sound I used to get from the ATC SCM20. They are black which is not my preferred colour. The Naim CD5 sounded flat, two dimensional and coloured. There are plenty of details, piano sounds like piano, and midrange is smooth and accurate. From stone cold, the 507 in my system sounds better than the CD5. I listened to it side by side to the Naim CD5 for 2 weeks. Then in Christmas, I managed to buy a used Meridian 507 CD player. Many people would think that changing the speakers from the ATC Active 10 to the Dynaudio Audience 52 is a downgrade, but in my opinion, the Dynaudio shows what the Naim CD5 is good at, with lots of pace and rhythm. The Sugden A21 amp is really nice, it has beautiful and lucid midrange like vintage valve amps such as Leak Stereo 20 and Quad II, but its bass is tight. I also found a pair of Dynaudio Audience 52 speakers in the local paper, although I didn't know if the A21 amp would have sufficient power to drive the Dynaudio, but I bought them to try out. I always fancied a Sugden A21 integrated amp, so I bought one. The Naim CD5 stayed with me for a few weeks before I found another CD player. I subsequently sold the CA2 pre amp to a zerogain member. Anyway the buyer took the Active 10 away. The Active 10 was given a proper front end and the valve pre amp really brought out the texture. The buyer of the ATC brought to my home his own home made valve amp and an unknown brand CD player with a Frankenstein expander. In November 2004, I decided to sell the Naim CD5, ATC Active 10 and the CA2 pre amp. There was a slight improvement in the midrange, but I still didn't like the sound, or the plastic feel of the Planet, so the Planet was sold. I tried a different CD player: a Rega Planet 2000 CD player. Another person who also had the Naim CD5/ ATC Active 10 briefly confirmed that the Naim CD5 is to be blamed. The magic midrange of the ATC SCM20 speakers has disappeared. I just didn't get on with the combination. What a mistake! The sound with the Naim CD5 was dull, lifeless and flat. The ATC Active 10 speakers are much smaller and the bass should be less dominant. I found a used ATC CA2 pre amp with the Active 10 speakers. I needed a pair of more compact speakers. The SCM20 monitors were just too big and the bass was too heavy in the small listening room in my relative's house, so I sold the SCM20 and the Naim 5 series amps, but kept the Naim CD5 and Nat05 tuner. All my belongings were in a relative's house including the stereo system. Moving the ATC SCM20 around wasn't an easy task, they were damn heavy. Then I was made redundant, so time to move on to another job. I was enjoying the sound of the system, although the Naim 150 power amp wasn't quite powerful enough to use the full potential of the ATC speakers. I kept the ATC SCM20 speakers because I like them. The sound was quite nice, but I wanted some newer amplifiers, so I sold all the older Naim components and got the newer Naim 5 series: 112/150 pre & power amps, CD5 with Flatcap 2 and Nat05 tuner. The SCM20 were made in 1994 approximately with the bass drivers re-coned by ATC because they were ex demo units and the last owner wasn't happy with the cone, so he took them to ATC for a re-cone. Two years ago I started off with a Naim front end and amps: CD3.5, Nat03 tuner, 32.5 pre amp, dual rail Snaps power supply, bolted down case NAP250 power amp driving a pair of passive ATC SCM20 speakers. After trying out different amps, speakers and CD players in the last 2 years, I have finally started to enjoy my system: Meridian 507 CD player, Michell Gyrodec SE turntable with DC power supply/Rega RB300 tonearm/Ortofon MC20 Supreme cartridge, Myryad T30 FM tuner, Sugden A21 integrated amp, Trichord Dino phono stage and since last week, a pair of ATC SCM12 monitors.
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