most accurate loudspeakers....

If you look at the history of ATC you realize why it is popular in studios. It has nothing to do with the way they sound.

Perhaps it is the way they look - such aesthetically elegant black boxes the likes of which few have ever seen!

Perhaps they are so heavy that they are harder to steal than the wonderful sounding Yamaha NS-10's ;-)

Perhaps, but it was mainly the fact that they can play loud and not break. You know, like typical PA speakers.

Perhaps, but it was mainly the fact that they can play loud and not break.

Agreed but isn't that what accurate reproduction is about? The 120 db dynamic range of our hearing! Many unamplified instruments have huge dynamic range, which means they can go very loud indeed - especially transients from percussion and from wind instruments, such as horns.

There is a plethora of good speakers that can perform extremely well up to about 100 db SPL (most with mass-produced Northern European drivers), you know, Typical Hi-Fi Speakers.

Well loud yes but at what distortion level? A car horn can produce a 120db tones anytime. That is why you do not use PA speakers in your home. There is a big difference between the need to simply amplified and the need to accurately amplified. And when I say accurate, I mean liner FR and low distortion. Two things that PA systems are not very good at.

Roypan -- the measured distortion levels produced by ATC at high spl are comparatively low (unlike many PA systems). That's actually a useful thing.