ATC active vs. passive

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.

@arion wrote:

... my experiences strongly suggest that active systems usually perform better if properly designed.

+1

Our active speaker systems are different than the ATC active systems in that you can use any amplification you choose ...

Which simply implies that your speaker systems are outboard actively configured, whereas the ATC’s are bundled active speakers (with the exception of the SCM300’s). I find it’s commendable that you’re working from an outboard active platform (like I do myself, and which any DIY’er/audio entrepreneur can pursue) that grants the user the freedom of choice with regard to amplification, and essentially any other aspect (and I’m aware much more than outboard active config. alone is part of your product concept).

Moreover: this way the dichotomy between active and passively configured speakers systems can be diminished, as most see it as - in effect - a bundled vs. separate component distinction and solution, and not as something that per definition comes down to where and how the crossover function is applied, and that both of these approaches can be attempted as separate component solutions.