ATC active vs. passive

As stated often here, it's best to audition, both if possible. I understand that can be difficult to do but we all perceive things differently. My experience as an active speaker designer / manufacturer is that, all else being equal, an active version and a passive version of the same speaker can sound very different. Even when using the same amps. I won't go into the many benefits of active speakers here (there are volumes written about the subject by people much smarter than me) but my experiences strongly suggest that active systems usually perform better if properly designed.

I understand your concern about the amplification used. Like yourself, I prefer tube gear and use tube amps and preamp in my personal systems. Our active speaker systems are different than the ATC active systems in that you can use any amplification you choose, be it solid state or tube gear. Some of our customers use 300B SET tube amps and other use 200 watt solid state amps. They both sound different and both can sound great. The customer makes the choice.

I have not heard active ATCs only passive so my comments speak only to active vs passive system. 

At the shows I have heard both the active and passive ATCs. The passive speakers were being driven by a S.S. amp. I thought the actives sounded much better. In fact, I really liked the actives and thought the passives were pedestrian sounding. Could have been any number of factors.

we have both the 40 actives and passives on display

so if you want to demo both we can do it for you.

Dave and Troy

audio intellect NJ

Atc dealers

I'm interested in 50 and above. Where can I demo those in NY/NJ/MA/CT area? 

Brad gave a great description of the ATC 50. I'll add a big reason why active is better. Amplifier tests are done with resistors of a given value. Real speakers are not resistors to the amp, the are also capacitors and inductors and their affects vary with frequency. Amps like resistors, not capacitors and inductors. That's why great amps spec often like ordinary amps but sound better. They are built(big part is the power supply which is costly) to handle capacitive and inductive loads. Active speakers are much less reactive. The crossover comes before the amps. And that is a big deal.

I'll ad one historical note. My friend, Gordon Holt, the founder of Stereophile purchased a set of active ATC 50 speakers. Gordon had a great ear. And he did a lot of live recordings. He told me the ATC 50 active speaker was one of a very few speakers that made his recordings sound real like they sounded when he was recording.