To Philip Beaudette,
Good morning. I read your review about the Simaudio Moon 240i integrated amplifier and it made me very curious.
One question, however: Do you think that the Moon can deliver enough power to drive ATC SCM11 speakers? They say that these speakers need a lot of power. [I have a] small-to-medium-[sized] living room [and] most of the time don’t play my music very loud.
Thank you in advance for the response.
Kind regards,
Chris Eikelenstam
The Netherlands
I’ve never even heard an ATC speaker, let alone listened to the SCM11 with the Simaudio Moon 240i, so it’s impossible for me to say with certainty if the Simaudio would have enough power to drive these speakers. However, I looked at the specs for the SCM11 and also visited ATC’s website and they specifically state in the description that it has a “flat impedance curve allowing easy load for amplifiers.” Therefore, I find it a bit remarkable that they recommend an amplifier with 75W to 300W of power -- that seems like a lot (as you probably know, the 240i puts out 50Wpc into 8 ohms).
Although the SCM11’s sensitivity is a little on the low side at only 85dB/W/m, it’s not ridiculously low. The fact that the SCM11 has an 8-ohm impedance that the company claims is flat, combined with its 85dB/W/m sensitivity, I think there is a very good chance the Simaudio would have little trouble powering these speakers, especially since your room isn’t huge and you don't listen too loudly. Simaudio rates their power amplifiers honestly, so when they say it can produce 50Wpc, they are talking about real continuous power, not peak output for a short period of time.
Again, I have no experience with ATC speakers but I’m still pretty skeptical that you need a minimum of 75Wpc to drive the SCM11 speakers. If I were in your position, I would definitely consider the Simaudio 240i a possible partner for these speakers, at least based on what I’m seeing from the specifications ATC has published. Please let me know if you have any further questions. . . . Philip Beaudette
