This Hi-Fi setup takes the minimal approach for maximum performance. Highly accomplished ATC SCM50 ASLT paired with the Swiss army knife Linn Selekt DSM installed with the upgraded ultimate Organik DAC.

Sunday afternoon, disappearing into an indulgent binge watch of Grand Design episodes certainly is a feast for the senses. There is a general theme. The home-builders state a budget of £X that Kevin McCloud adds 100% £X based on £2,500 per square metre all-in building cost. After marriage collapse, bad health, ancient ruins/sewage pipes/spring well unexpectedly uncovered, the final cost is £X squared, but rising from earth - an ECO concrete, larch clad, glass, steel contemporary monolith of geometric perfection of a naturally beautiful space that somehow compliments it’s surroundings.

The ATC SCM50 ASLT

Arriving from ATC in two large flight cases, I imagined myself as a roadie setting up for a Pink Floyd Wembley concert. Along with a handful of other manufacturers, ATC are pro studio monitors company first - with their home Hi-Fi selection evolving from this deep history. Unlike some speaker manufacturers, ATC make the drivers themselves. The SCM50 comprise of the High frequency tweeter 25mm ATC SH25-76S, The SH25-76S tweeter is the product of over 40 years' experience building one of the world's finest acoustic transducers - a dual suspension tweeter that minimises distortion. Mid 75mm ATC Soft Dome and the low frequency 243mm Driver.

This Super Linear bass driver overcomes one of the longest standing obstacles in speaker design - that is the detrimental effects of magnetic hysteresis. The magnetic characteristic of the steel used in the magnet assembly of a loudspeaker is inherently non-linear due to magnetic hysteresis. This results in a distortion of the input signal in the loudspeaker causing audible colouration.

ATC’s solution to this lies in their super linear magnet development to add rings of the SLMM to the magnet assembly pole and front plate, adjacent to and concentric with the loudspeaker voice coil. The effect of the rings is to reduce 3rd harmonic distortion by between 10-15dB between 100Hz and 3KHz. The addition of the SLMM produces a significant improvement in sound quality, reducing the level of distortion so dramatically as to reveal another layer of information to the listener.

The resultant improvement in the quality of the reproduction of human voice and piano testifies to its success. And certainly, anyone familiar with the ATC sound know that this is exactly where they excel - mid range revealing, characterful clarity. You can read more about this technology here.

Positioning was really easy to set up. The ATC are handed and depending on your listening requirements and room, positioning with bass port on the inside or outside gives really good flexibility.

Amplification

This loudspeaker design includes the equivalent three MOSFET power amplifiers totalling 350W per channel. The 200W direct coupled amplification in the bass promises excellent low-end power; the mid headroom matches it with a 150W feed, while the high frequencies get 50W, In the Audio T Bristol dem room, measuring 7m long x 5.6m wide with 3.25m high ceilings, the ATC SCM50 ASLT never felt under powered and indeed had a lot of presence.

Source

The Linn Selekt DSM has three levels of DAC performance level; Standard, Kataylst or Organik. The entry level DAC is still capable of 24/192, The Katalyst uses it own stabilised power supplies and voltage reference point. This mean that any "crosstalk" from other audio channels and circuitry are isolated and give a cleaner/purer music.

We fitted our Selekt DSM with the Organik - Linn’s own in house DAC. Most manufacturers take off-the-shelf chips, compliance check, programme and tweak to get the best out of them. Linn’s route is via FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) - deep programmable logic far more efficient in terms of processing time as well as offering very tight timing when compared with optimised code running on 3rd party chips. Organik uses an 8-layer circuit board, facilitating optimal delivery of power and clocks to the DAC. Power for the conversion stage is generated by a discrete regulator, and delivered using multiple internal power planes.

The Organik occupies the stratospheric rarefied air of top performing streamers. The strength is clarity and engaging with an emotional depth of performance, that is so difficult in the digital realm. With Organik DAC in line out mode and direct XLR outputs straight to the ATCs it was unquestionable, this is one of the most synergistic systems we have encountered.

We experimented with adding ATC’s own pre amp, the CA-2 Mkii, and that improved things again. We suspect that ATCs SCA2 or Chord Electronics Ultima Pre 3 would be an even better match.

Also, we upgraded the standard power and XLR cables to Chord Shawline, which significantly improved stereo image, noise floor and detail.

In summary

For me the most successful Grand Design is when the contemporary minimalism is contrasted with a the personal touch and sometimes bold statement interior. Think chintz - translating themes from nature and exotic locations onto wallcoverings, fabrics and bed linen in bold colours. No shying away from rich textures and opulent accessories.

This is what we have here with this system - minimal boxes with maximum punch. Breathtaking clarity, dynamic range and a truely High End Hi-Fi system that could out perform a passive equivalently priced system and would require a lot more power amp budget. Indeed we tried this, as we had the SCM50 passive crossover units - think Naim 350 mono blocks (at £12,000) to exceed the performance of the SCM50ASLT.

Justin, Max & James - Audio T Bristol

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