ATC or Audio Note (2-way)

jjss49 is right. As an Irishman might say, thery're as different as chalk and cheese.

Sorry, no experience with Audio Note. I’ve owned two different models of ATC’s, including the ATC SCM 19’s. Maybe they are not the VERY best in resolution available, but I can assure you that there is no way that they could be modified to be "much higher" in resolution. There simply isn’t enough room in the scale of resolution above the ATC’s for there to be enough of a delta to be called "much".

~Oran

Very different? I've heard ATC but not AN. (I've used a lot of AN components in various DIY, though).

Thought both were very mid-centric?

I’ve heard both. It doesn’t seem likely you’ll get much more resolution by tinkering with the ATC and you’ll possibly compromise its sonic balance (btw most ATCs bar the big ones are bass-shy). Modding the AN will probably modify its sound -- but do you really want that? These are not exactly cheapo speakers.

I would suggest another diy challenge: purchase vintage japanese speakers and mod them to approach contemporary performance standards!

I've owned both

ATC SCM11v2s

Audio Note AN-K SPx/SPe

Two very different price points.  The ATCs are very resolving, fast transient response, can play really loud and still maintain tonal balance and soundstage w/o compression.  They do need power to wake them up - so low level listening was their weak point, imo.

GR Research did a video on these for mods - their freq response is down a bit on top (I would agree), the mod evens this out.

AN-K's are much more efficient - best way to describe the sound is natural, relaxed and tonally 'right'.  Just as resolving as the ATCs, but they play better at low to mid-high volumes.  They don't do as well loud, imo.  I've not seen any measurements on the AN-Ks, so can't comment on mods.

ymmv