Are ATC SCM-7's equal to Dynaudio Audience 52's?

Wait to hear your ATC's. They are a truly great speaker. I'm a musician who has spent years in studios. The ATCs are the best monitor speaker I've heard.

Rather than get a more expensive (but not necessarily better sounding speaker) I think you want to hear them with your NAD. Then if you get the upgrade bug, think about buying a better integrated. Or don't submit to the deadly upgrade virus and just buy more music. If the system is in a small room, you may have hit on a nearly ideal combination.

Seriously, the Dynaudio 1.3se's are very nice. They equal the SCM 7 in some ways but not others. While the Spendors and the Dynaudio 52's will play lower notes in the bass, I don't think they are nearly as accurate as the SCM-7s. ATC makes wonderfully revealing and musical speakers. It is hard to find that combination in any other speaker line. I can say that because I've owned Apogee's, Vandersteen's, Snell's, Watt's, and Sonus Faber as well as ATCs. I've had happy musical moments with each. I don't even own ATCs at present, but I regret I sold mine and will probably get back to them after I pay off my remodel.

Whatever you decide to do, good luck.

Matt

Ecce, ATC SCM 7 strong in Mid , weak in high extention
It requires very high current amplifer to push the bass unit(the bass unit magnetic is even larger than the diameter of the woofer bass unit!) . So i dont think your NAD can drive it well. That why people suggest use Active ACT speaker in some cases.

Personally using Dyna 1.3se with Sim I-5 have good result except power. However , Dyna also need high quality and current to sound their best . I did part my Dyna with a Rotel 1090 amplifier with a poor result.

Spendor may be easily to part with amplifier and have a typical British sound character , which is warm and good image. I think NAD is not bad with Spendor.

I've listened extensively to these speakers with moderately priced ASL tube gear and some decent CD player. They were wonderful. Best cone speakers by far in that price range with excellent detail, treatment of vocals and piano.

They are citical to the front end and material quality. Also very hard to drive with inferior equipment. Best imaging I've ever heard from a small monitor.

The Spendors are also very good, less critical of front end and more managable as far as amplification.

i agree with yuenricky in that they are super, super difficult to drive. they, like maggies, open up with lots of *clean* power. the active models are the way to do ATC - not only is the the power supplied, but you get the benefit of an active crossover.

as for the high-extension being weak, i can't say i agree with him, but they *are* using a new tweeter which is better than the last one. perhaps he was more bothered by the previous tweeter. i wasn't, but the new one is clearly better.

if you do decide to go passive, though, you'll be happy. ATC makes what i believe to be the best speaker in the world.

I have only listened to a smaller Dynaudio speaker (perhaps it was the Audience 52?) in a store demo and recall that I liked their sound, although I can't offer too much insight since this was some time back. I just purchased a pair of ATC SCM7 speakers for use in my home theatre as rear speakers to match up with the ATC mains and center channel I am using. Prior to setting them up in the HT, I swapped them out in place of a pair of Harbeth HL-P3ES-2 speakers that I have in a different part of my house. Needless to say, I was VERY impressed with their sound, and they certainly gave the (slightly more expensive) Harbeths some stiff competition. A very clean, smooth sound that was quite alluring and with a character that I'd have a hard time summing up in words. I had a seat in front of the speakers and found them to be highly capable of letting me effortlessly sink into the sound. I'm feeling kinda bad about relegating them to the unglamorous duty of HT surround speakers at this point. I was running them off a 60wpc Densen B100 integrated amp and this seemed to match quite nicely. I expect that a different amp choice with a little more power and/or current could boost their performance even more. Obviously I'm a little biased, but I think ATC make awesome speakers and would say you made a fine choice. If you're getting a good price, I say stick with your original intentions.

On the minus side the ATCs thrive on big power and are only 84db sensitive. They also have physical limitations that will show up on material with strong bass at high levels.
On the plus side, they will rival just about anything out there from midbass up. Crossed over to a subwoofer (or two) they would surely make a fine fullrange system, but this can be tricky. I run my Quad 12Ls full range with subwoofers.
The Dynaudio Audience 52, Green Mountain Europa, Von Scheikert vr1 and Quad 12L seem to be the top rated monitors in this price range right now. I like the 12Ls Im using now very much. Any of these would probably suit your needs. The above speakers may be easier to drive and have less bass limitations, but on an absolute scale I doubt any are 'better' than the SCM7s you are considering (I came very close to buying a pair of SCM7s).
And to make things more complicated, someone has listed a used pair today....hmmmm.
Anyway you go, I dont think you will go wrong...good luck.

ATCs are great. However, it is very picky on amps. If you don't have a good amp then you'll never get the best out of ATC. As far as bass goes on the ATC, while it has one of the best mid bass, the SCM10s I have sounded much deeper than many floor standing speakers we have compared to. What does it mean? it goes back to amplification.
Sometimes it might be easier just to get active speakers from ATC.