Please advice: is 30w x2 class A enough to drive ATC SCM19?

I'm not familiar with ATC speakers but have owned an AMS35i for a short period. Looking at the specs I'd say that it would drive them fine.

Only issue you might have is getting your hands on one. there were only 50 made & I think that they are all gone.

I bought one last year and had a few problems with it (long story). But when I demanded a brand new one after the second problem they were unable to provide one. So I ended up being traded up to a separate pre/power for a little extra.

Can highly recommend the sound if you can find one though. good luck

PS. Presume you have air-con over there, you'll need it

Thanks a lot Neu.
I did read the posts regarding your unfortunate encounter with the ams35.
Sad to say,AMS35i is not popular at all here in China.

A35, being 30w class A,is surprisingly not hot at all. That has something to do with the huge heat sinks I guess.

As you are probably well aware, I also own the 35i, which is the best amp under £10k that I've heard.........ideally, it likes speakers of high sensitivity (90 dB+) and low impedance, to get the most from it's doubling of power as impedance halves. This will be the case with most Class A.

The Sugden Masterclass are nice sounding amps, but the IA-4 only gets to about 45W @ 4 Ohms.

Luxman are also worth looking at, as I'm sure you know.

I have not heard the 35i drive the SCM 19s, but if you like to play your music loud, it may not be the best choice....but should work at moderate levels. Though saying that, the 35i has more power than it has any right to, given its rating......if you can find one. 

Don't they understand that you are out on the cold face trying to push their product! This years Xmas bonus is looking a little shaky!

Will be interesting to see where MF go from here. They've obviously made a decision to focus on the M series. Have you heard much about the M8 stuff?

Wonder what comes next for them in terms of high end A class? Will they do another prduction run of AMS series or realease something new.

I was so successful selling the 35i, that they ran out! 

In the current recession, and with the cost of lecky, I can see the AMS series being phased out.

I wouldn't be surprised to see the AMS, especially the 35i, becoming a classic.

I suspect that you are right, whichis a real pity.

As much as i like the M series stuff I don't see it as "special". Good but not good enough toset them apart from the competition.

The smaller modular M1 range perhaps?

Have you heard anything about the M8? Not much on the net about them yet.

While I rate the M6i as good, I preferred my AVR600 to it, so I'm inclined to agree.

I have seen very little about the M8.

I suspect SS will gradually move over to Class D, and Actives will become more prevalent. Unless outlawed, I see Valves continuing as a niche market, in the same way as vinyl has.

Thanks Cno.
I listen 99% classical and jazz in a small but dedicated room (about 140sq feet, acoustic treated with4 bass tubes and 4 diffusers ),so extreme high volume is not required.

Among Chinese audiophiles, ATC and Dynaudio are notoriously known for being " very hard to drive to full potential'.
It is commonly believed that, if the amp is not at least 3 time more expansive than the ATC/DYNA you are using, it's a waste of money, because you won't be hearing the real ATC/Dyna sound. The common amps used for ATC/Dyna speakers here are Bryston, Pass Lab,Gryphone and more recently, Bladlius. Sad to say,none British.

What do you think of that?

I have already placed order for SCM19, if I fail to drive it well with my current Accuphase power amp, would you recommend a power amp (under 4k pounds) just for 'hard to drive' speakers like ATC and Dynaudio(my next target is C1)? Please , no tube amp, and ATC amp is not available here in China.

Thanks again

ATC-SCM19 have a sensitivety of 85db, so would need some heavy duty power to play loud.

But aslong as you dont need to "rock" the house, your current amp should be able to drive them just fine.

From Accuphase's own description of  A35:

The power supply of an amplifier is its ultimate source of energy. Unless it provides ample reserves, sound quality will suffer, and even basic performance parameters may not be met. The A-35 has a massive power transformer and two 47,000 μF smoothing capacitors specially selected for their sonic properties. This sustains an output power rating of 120 watts into 2 ohms, 60 watts into 4 ohms, or 30 watts into 8 ohms per channel, and it enables the A-35 to perfectly handle even very-low impedance speakers or speakers with wildly fluctuating impedance characteristics.

robhifi wrote:

Thanks Cno. I listen 99% classical and jazz in a small but dedicated room (about 140sq feet, acoustic treated with4 bass tubes and 4 diffusers ),so extreme high volume is not required. Among Chinese audiophiles, ATC and Dynaudio are notoriously known for being " very hard to drive to full potential'. It is commonly believed that, if the amp is not at least 3 time more expansive than the ATC/DYNA you are using, it's a waste of money, because you won't be hearing the real ATC/Dyna sound. The common amps used for ATC/Dyna speakers here are Bryston, Pass Lab,Gryphone and more recently, Bladlius. Sad to say,none British. What do you think of that? I have already placed order for SCM19, if I fail to drive it well with my current Accuphase power amp, would you recommend a power amp (under 4k pounds) just for 'hard to drive' speakers like ATC and Dynaudio(my next target is C1)? Please , no tube amp, and ATC amp is not available here in China. Thanks again

There is a good chance that you will get away with your A-35, which seems to behave very like my MF....and may be hard to beat without spending a fortune.

FWIW. Power amps that I would recommend are (but may be much too expensive for driving the SCM19s):

Sugden MPA-4 Monos

Electrocompaniet AW180

Audio Analogue Class SE Power

Plinius SA-103

Classe CA2300

Musical Fidelity AMS 50

I have heard Bladelius, which sounds well. Bryston will give a very clean, powerful and neutral sound; and Pass Lab has a tremendous reputation.

Let us know how you go, and hopefully you will be fine without changing your beautiful amp.

Cno

There's a lot of misunderstanding about Watts and amps. A 30 Watt amp will go loud enough to make your ears bleed in an average room and with average speakers.  It's not Wattage that's important it's clean current delivery.

http://www.crownaudio.com/how_much_power.htm

Just been having another look at the specs on the smc19. One question, how much more bass do you think you'll be getting? i mean sure its going to be an improvement over your current scm7 but they are only spec to go down to 54Hz.

Maybe the Dynaudio Confidence C1 would have been worth holding out for. What is the price difference?

I really cant see your amp having any dramas.

I'd agree with this ONLY if the 30w amp has a lot of dynamic headroom.  If 30w is all it can put out full stop, then it's not nearly enough for a lot of speakers at an average listening distance - unless you actually want lots of clipped peaks and damaged speakers.  Remember, clean undistorted volume doesn't actually seem that loud - distortion seems loud.  A clipping amp sounds loud.  Read the Distortion segment of THIS.

A good example of a dynamic 'low powered' amp would be Cno's, it can put out waaay more than 35w for short bursts. 

From memory, the SCM19s have a fairly flat impedance curve that only dips to around 5 ohms so don't need loads of current, but they are inefficient so lots of dynamic headroom will be needed if you want to make the most of their excellent dynamics.

THIS article explains it well.

My speakers have a Sensitivity of 90dB, as opposed to the 85dB of the SCM19s, which makes quite a difference where only 30-35W are on offer. The Refs also drop down to 3.2 Ohms, which again plays to the strength of an amp that has high current delivery...compared to the benign impedance (5 Ohms) of the ATC.

So I agree with all the comments on this thread, with the very slight caveat, that the SCM19s may ideally be more suited to to an amp with more Watts, if loudish volumes in a largish room are involved......@ OP - What is your ceiling height?

I still think the OP will be all right, but am cautious by nature....especially when giving advice.