Your thoughts about ATC loudspeakers

Modest volume listening is always compromised at the frequency extremes and is not everyone’s cup of tea. The ATC SCM 40 mk2  do it as well, or better, than any loudspeakers I’ve owned.

Good point JB. Only speakers that have  non flat frequency responses sound good at low levels.

The ATC speakers are truthful and we have created amazing sound in our store on a 40w Naim Atom which played more than loud enough for most clients.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ

@jon_5912

What at are you using as a source and preamp with the Active 110?

A tube preamp will warm up ATC as they simply reproduce what is fed to them...very faithful to the source.

I'm using a Bryston BP25 and benchmark dac1 along with a velodyne dd18.  It's a very unsuperstitious solid state system and I'm not complaining about it at all.  It's exactly what I wanted.  I'm just saying that I think most people like a system that isn't completely accurate.  Whether it's boom and sizzle or the tube midrange, color is popular.  I think a boosted treble and low end will sound better than flat to a lot of people who listen at low volume. 

I’ve happily lived with a pair of ATC scm300A towers for the last 12 years. There really is nothing like a pair of large active speakers in a large room, able to crank up the volume to over 110db at the listening position 20ft from the speakers. They don’t just produce music, they create a complete musical event, whether at rock stadium levels or at more modest levels. Given room to breathe, they image surprisingly well for such a wide baffled speaker, giving a spectacularly realistic central image with sound emanating well past the speaker boundaries. Depth is very good, but not outstanding. Musicality is stunning providing they are fed by quality sources, I use an EmmLabs transport/dac feeding an Ayre KXR 20 preamp. But after 12 years with these babies, I feel the urge to try something else. I tried a pair of passive Vivid g2’s, but they surprisingly sounded totally underwhelming in my room, perhaps the Spirits would do the job, but they actually sounded rather clinical and fatiguing even with Ayre MXR20 or Bryston 28b3 monoblocks. So where next, well, in a few weeks I’ve got a pair of the ATC’s direct competitors in for a home dem, a pair of PMC MB2 XBD actives, they’ve only got twin 12” bass drivers vs the ATC’s twin 15” units, but I’ll be interested in whether the transmission line bass loading of the PMCs vs ported for the ATC’s competes. I’ve never heard a TL speaker, so this is gonna be interesting. Similar tweeters, similar mid units, but totally different bass loading. I’ll keep you posted