ATC scm 19 vs ATC scm 20SL?

There are revealing speakers and there are revealing speakers. I find ATC to belong to the second category, wherein they not only reveal the weaknesses of a system or recording but also equally honestly reveal the strengths/goodness of the whole chain + recording. Hence to me it sounds like a very straightforward honest guy who is always willing to entertain with the right mixture of good and evil. If a tube preamp is required in a chain it is simply because

1. The tube preamp is adding more honesty to the system than the SS preamp in contention.

2. The rest of the chain is not honest enough in bringing out the beauty of the music hence needs help.

3. The system might be great but the room may not be good so instead of treating the room one opts for a softer sounding preamp.

Since a truly neutral system will do justice to all kinds of recording I would rather believe most SS preamps are on the drier side of the neutral.

Will reflect the sonic signature, so it will color your music with a warm tubey glow. I can recommend their pre-amp or a Benchmark DAC1.

OK, thanks. What about the sonics of the SCM16A in general (especially vocals)? I am thinking of moving (up?) from a pair of Quad 12L actives.

I have seen no info in the forums on these here in Audiogon or some other popular sites. (I'm kind of surprised at that.)

There are few choices in high-end small/medium active speakers it seems to me.

The Quads are nice and listenable, but they don't really have a sense of palpable images that I usually look for in high end speakers (thought they are new & not really run in yet...)

Thank you.

I've never heard an ATC (but would love to someday).

Bob it is true that diminishing returns are reached quickly in small active monitors (much quicker than passives). Veneer and good looks do add significantly to the cost and these are real cost factors not markup - although they do nothing to improve the sound. Provided one accepts a near field position and does not demand realistic live SPL then the choices multiply.

The big ATC's are kind of mind blowing but they also suffer from diminishing returns because the SCM20 is already very good (even the passive version). It is a matter of degree - the smaller speakers simply cannot do large orchestra or big band with quote the same aplomb - so they are not quite "you are there" - the dynamics from percussion is not quite what you get from a real drum set. The larger ATC speakers get you all the way there (a point where you simply cannot imagine better other than a live band or just a slightly different but equally good presentation) - but the extra cost is almost certainly into diminishing returns.