Steve Guttenberg reviews an ATC active?

@willywonka wrote:

I've always loved ATC speakers but my God the price on their speakers is just over the top! 

Compared to what? Veneering is expensive, not least tower versions of the ATC's. What Steve didn't mention, oddly enough, is that the pro versions in duratex black (that are the same speakers) come cheaper: the SCM50ASL Pro retails for $17,500/pair, which saves you $4,500 compared to the version Steve reviewed. And, again: it's the same speaker. For $23,000 the SCM150ASL Pro can be had, so just $1,000 more than the ones in the review.

Still not cheap speakers, but the build, parts and engineering quality is indisputable, and in that light (and their active configuration considered) the pricing is actually fair. Many high-end speakers in the same "weight class" of the SCM150ASL Pro just mentioned are way more expensive - sans amps, that is - and none of them houses a world class midrange driver like the one found in the ATC's here. 

Sorry @spoutmouzert 

Sort of looked like I picked on you when I didnt mean to do that.  I meant to take issue wirh the idea that pro people are clueless and have no idea what sounds good.  While one can find plenty of examples that support this, one can also find plenty of examples of home audio people being clueless too!   I think its more that the "low end" of both markets have some embarrassing aspects to them.

for the ATC SCM40, here is a list of speakers in the same pricerange

https://speakerchoices.com/?pricemin=7000&pricemax=9000

Expensive active speakers are a hard sell outside of the studio. At home I already own amps, I don’t want to buy another packaged with a speaker. In a studio where space and time are limited a package makes a lot more sense.

Depending on the design, actives can be the fulfillment of design intent by an active crossover implementation + hand picked power amp sections, all in one box from the engineer.

In such a case, the engineer still lets you tweak your linestage, dac, phonostage, turntable, whatever all day long. He only took away your freedom of choice on the power amp. However, some audiophiliacs might think they know more than the guy who designed the stuff and have more tools in hand for execution. Hence, it’s a "hard sell’".

And to add to what @deep_333  just said, I think there is far more sonic variations to discover in what's BEFORE the amplifiers:  preamps, linestages, DACS, phono cartridges, arms and  turntables, cables , streamers, etc.

Brad