Active ATC vs Spendor / Pass Labs

I had a lovely demo. of a Pass INT 60/ Spendor D9.2.

Had all the musical flow, engagement at all volume levels that I could ever want. A truly impressive demo....

I think your statement says it all.  Bird in hand, and all that! 

This is a tough one and Good Luck to you in advance.

I have not heard the Spendor 9.2. I have listen to (in detail) to a setup comprising of Spendor 7 with some expensive MBL gear. I really liked this demo and this speaker was one of my top 3-4 choices.

I then got a chance to listen to the ATC actives at AXPONA playing Daft Punk (Lose Yourself To Music). This combination was very musical and groovy. Unfortunately it was was out of my budget and I decided to not think about it. I will be honest and say - I did NOT get a chance to listen to those speakers at moderate volume. It was the fag end of the show and the music was loud - but super engaging.

If this speaker falls within your budget, try finding ATC owners on this and other forums and pose this question to them. BTW, the ATC and Spendors fall in completely different budgets.

I like active speakers as well as passives.  I think if I were to go with active I'd want a really smooth or colorful preamp to go with it.  I've done direct from DAC to amps before and it left me feeling like it was all too analytical.

But then, I love Conrad Johnson PV preamps too, so my tastes may not be yours.

I think if I were to go with active I’d want a really smooth or colorful preamp to go with it.

with the atc’s i have found this very much to be the case

i still have my beloved atc scm10 and 20 actives, and i have kept an audio research ref 3 linestage, to drive them -- solid state linestages were just too unforgiving of all but the highest quality recordings rendering 60-70% of the music out there unlistenable...  the tube magic of the ref 3 were the goldilocks mating

@rfc --

Irrespective of the difference in volume levels (and room/gear) between the two setups, i.e.: the Spendor vs. ATC system, what was your main takeaway in terms of the core traits you heard from them? While not an optimal context of comparison it’d still give you an overall bearing on the fundamental sonic differences. The ATC speakers I’ve heard, all of them active iterations (that is, incl. one pair of passively driven ATC SCM100’s, fed by a Crown Studio Ref. II), to my ears are particularly well sounding at "normal" listening levels - say, 75-85dB’s and above. Maybe that’s indicative of both the way they’re balanced and how relatively unflappable they are at higher SPL’s due to their great, low distortion drivers and active config. Which is also saying that to some degree at least their pedigree at "normal" to higher levels isn’t due to them being lesser performers per se at lower levels, but because they’re somewhat more effortless at higher listening levels than most hifi speakers. For sure the brilliant 3" midrange dome of the active ATC SCM50’s will wring out more information, clarity, intricacies, composure and dynamics than the Spendor’s, by a mile - while being an extremely coherent sounding speaker package top to bottom - but that’s not necessarily to say you will like them more overall.

The advice given by Erik on a separate preamp vs. DAC-direct isn’t irrelevant. Personally I have a dedicated studio segment DAC/preamp (with a great analogue output stage, PSU and volume control) coupled directly to my power amps, i.e.: via a digital crossover, and the range of separate preamps I've tried haven't yielded a more "meat on the bones" imprinting nor other that would make them the more desirable option. It certainly depends.