ATC Speakers...Do you use them with Grill On/Off

I concur with Gregm. In order for the speaker to disappear(which is one of the more important aspects in any system), speaker placement is usually crucial. Since speaker placement is governed by the room in most cases, the size of the room will play a part. You have mentioned in another thread that the size of your room is 13.5' x 13.5' and mentioned here your listening distance is 8' away. With the size of your SCM40 I presume the speakers are close to wall boundaries especially the front wall, and your chair is close to the rear wall. Did you try pushing the speakers further away from the front wall and your listening chair further into the room so as the listening distance to the speakers is reduced to 6' or 7'? Speakers often disappear easier if they are placed further away from room boundaries ie. in a large room. If limited by the size of the room, some room treatments will help. Setting up considerably huge speakers in a relatively small to mid-sized room is often trickier and needs careful planning and attention.

Cables will help *only slightly* in reducing shrill or sharp sound from high-frequencies(electronics to a larger degree) but will not make the speakers disappear. Speaker placement and room treatments will.

I am not sure whether ATC speakers are best set up with little or no toe-in, and perhaps current ATC owners can advise. If sound is little direct, you may want to try as little toe-in as possible.

Happy listening.

I use the silver Chord cables.

I am not sure whether ATC speakers are best set up with little or no toe-in, and perhaps current ATC owners can advise. If sound is little direct, you may want to try as little toe-in as possible.

In a large space you will not notice much effect from toe-in (as they have wide even dispersion) - so just point the straight out and you'll generally get the widest sweetspot and smoothest in room response (think of your speakers as two floodlights and you want to evenly light up your room). I would suggest experimenting with toe-in if they are placed close to side walls (3 feet or less) - to reduce the amplitude of early reflections (best to keep near reflections at least 3 feet from a speaker).

Ryder has some excellent points - where you sit and how close the speakers are to the side walls is very important for the soundstage and image. A really small space suggests using a diagonal configuration with listening chair roughly 6 feet back from the plane of the speakers (avoiding the middle of the room - don't sit in the exact middle). I can't emphasize enough the importance of space around the listener.

I use them with no toe in and grills on. It seems though as with the grill on, the sound is a bit natural and more controlled, though i do think at times i am missing some details. *this might be all in my head btw* haha

as for toe in, it makes the sound stage a bit small and narrow, and the high frequency seems to beam at you more. Therefore, I have absolutely no toe in at all.

I have them in a 14x18 room. 2.5-3 feet from the side wall,6feet from the back wall, and about 7-8 feet apart. I sit about 8 feet away from them.

Okay, out of no where I tried something and it worked big time for me. Kinn, you should try this too....I just tilted the speaker backward by few degrees using a single spike on the front black platform to lift it a bit and WOW...it took the stage back, warmed up the mids and highs...made everything so much more listenable...this one tweak is easily worth $500 for the improvement it brings at least with ATC 40.

Try it out.