@shadorne Thanks for your additional thoughts. Appreciate it!
@jon_5912 Your in-depth discussion is very, very helpful. Thanks!!!
@jon_5912 Your in-depth discussion is very, very helpful. Thanks!!!
Your thoughts about ATC loudspeakers
I’m interested in the ATC SCM-40 from their HiFi series and would like to hear from people who have owned or spent a lot of time with ATC speakers. This is a fairly new model and may be a bit of a departure from their classic sound.
At the show in Newport last weekend, I was quite taken by these speakers. I went back the next day and heard the same things that I liked about them, but a couple of red flags also went up:
Microdynamics – not sure these speakers do them well and microdynamics are critical to communicating inflection and nuance and to making music sound alive
Imaging, specifically wrt depth. Nothing much outside of the plane of the speakers, so recording venue info is not there and even instrument and vocal body may suffer a bit.
Were these shortcomings of setup or associated gear, or is this what ATC does?
At the show in Newport last weekend, I was quite taken by these speakers. I went back the next day and heard the same things that I liked about them, but a couple of red flags also went up:
Microdynamics – not sure these speakers do them well and microdynamics are critical to communicating inflection and nuance and to making music sound alive
Imaging, specifically wrt depth. Nothing much outside of the plane of the speakers, so recording venue info is not there and even instrument and vocal body may suffer a bit.
Were these shortcomings of setup or associated gear, or is this what ATC does?
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Our SF Bay Area audio club had a tour recently at the Dolby HQ offices and sound and theater rooms. Dolby was running yuge studio monitor ATCs, powered by Bryston. So that matches what all are saying about the speakers needing lots of power to sound best. The dedicated critical listening room had the listening chair in the middle of the room, surrounded by a circle of 6 or 8 huge ATCs. It's nickname is "speakerhenge"! (Amazing equipment as you can imagine. very tightly controlled security and locked door entries throughout building. The big theater has active Meyer speakers doing surround sound, including from the ceiling) |
@1graber2 Large ATC are one of the few select speakers of choice for "shock and awe" in multi-million $ facilities. (Basically impress the hell out of the clients) Prism launched a new HiFi version of their DAC at British Grove last year...again large ATC are the choice for Mark Knopfler's studio. http://www.the-ear.net/features/prism-sound-british-grove |
Quested Speaker is another one which is underrated IMHO...... I find them Far more musical, easier to drive and far less fatiguing than the ATC. They cost much less. ATC Residential and Studio Speakers are the same, except the consumer level stuff is boxed with veneer and such to make them look pretty. Open the Studio and Residential system and you will find the same driver and crossovers. ATC are no doubt up with the best but i think Quested is far easier to listen too, just as transparent as ATC. The H108 are used by Hans Zimmer, these units can be driven by Tube Amplification with only 20 watts on hand. The crossover are lighter and the speakers generally to me anyways feels more like Music you can connect too. Quested has been around for years, Hans Zimmer, Michael Bay, Trever Horn are but a few who have stuck by Quested for years and with good reasons. Fatige is the word that comes to me every time Iv listen to ATC Speakers. If you are using your Audio room for mix and mastering than both ATC or Quested Speakers will work. However for Music so far nothing has pleased me enough than Quested out of the 3 iv tried many times and that's: Quested, ATC, PMC. |
@dragon_vibe +1 on Quested - great speakers and Trevor Horn is amazing so you can trust his ears! Quested uses ATC mid range on Hans Zimmers large soffit mounted monitors. PMC also used the ATC mid range (I think they have been using a cheaper clone from Volt since about 2000). So you are indeed looking at quite similar designs but likely voiced or crossed over a little differently so that you much prefer Quested over the others. |
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