Which ATC Loudspeakers are good for you!

[MAD]

Hello,

I was just reading your ATC thread in the trade section.... Very nice.

You don't get much ATC chat on this forum, so I thought I'd bend your ear if you don’t mind.

What are your thoughts on the active 20's? I'd love to get the 50's, but I think my room just isn't big enough for them and they would be jammed in the corner and with them being ported I think this could be an issue.....

The 20's would be perfect, but I don't like the fact that they're 2 way!!

I've currently got the SCM 40's but I'm driving them with a Yamaha 3900, which isn't helping them sing.

What are your thoughts on the 20's or the 50 in a corner?

Thanks

Darran.

The 20 is actually very similar to the 19, when compare with the 10, it sounded a bit warmer but not as clean and crispy as the 10. The overall balance of the 10 is better than the 20.

If you are cornering them, you have answered you own question and just wanting some reassurance. I think the 10 or 11 of the current fleet would give you the best result, to me a wide soundstage and hearing the music breathing with a good overall tonal balance and coherent is more important than anything. But the 11 is a passive, so 10 may be your best bet. They 10's needed the wall to pump up LF, so as the 20!

Back to your last question, don't let the dome lure you, less is more if the speaker is carefully design! 40 is good and very good for people who cannot afford for 50. If you want 50 you must go for Active 50, you can hardly drive the speaker right because of it's difficult load (Former MD of ATC Ashley James said that!!!) The crossover is well designed but there are too many component and impedence EQ circuits on them! A lot of energy are wasted at the Crossover.

Let me conclude what I said: 50 Active SL version is your best bet if you can keep them 1m away from wall, if you want to cornering the speakers, 10Active is your best bet!








The 20 is actually very similar to the 19, when compare with the 10, it sounded a bit warmer but not as clean and crispy as the 10. The overall balance of the 10 is better than the 20.

If you are cornering them, you have answered you own question and just wanting some reassurance. I think the 10 or 11 of the current fleet would give you the best result, to me a wide soundstage and hearing the music breathing with a good overall tonal balance and coherent is more important than anything. But the 11 is a passive, so 10 may be your best bet. They 10's needed the wall to pump up LF, so as the 20!

Back to your last question, don't let the dome lure you, less is more if the speaker is carefully design! 40 is good and very good for people who cannot afford for 50. If you want 50 you must go for Active 50, you can hardly drive the speaker right because of it's difficult load (Former MD of ATC Ashley James said that!!!) The crossover is well designed but there are too many component and impedence EQ circuits on them! A lot of energy are wasted at the Crossover.

Let me conclude what I said: 50 Active SL version is your best bet if you can keep them 1m away from wall, if you want to cornering the speakers, 10Active is your best bet!

[DSJR]

The little active 10's are fun as I remember and used to be inexpensive too...

Passive 50's and 100's are a disaster waiting to happen in my view, as the midrange dome is run to it's maximum bandwidth in these models and the passive crossover can't compensate for the phase problems this can cause and also variations in the dome, which hopefully are long sorted by now..

I have to agree with Ashley now and suggest that while the bigger active ATC's were fantastic ten to twenty years ago, the rest of the industry has caught up a bit and the overkill drive unit construction is totally un-necessary today, especially on the domestic market, adding cost that isn't needed to be spent...

Many people have commented that the 50ASL's now sound a bit relentless in the upper mid to treble regions and the resonance of the mid dome has been blamed for this, despite a high-order crossover slope on the actives. VERY careful choice of anciliaries is essential for these, and not just because of their resolution either..

[MAD]

The little active 10's are fun as I remember and used to be inexpensive too...

Passive 50's and 100's are a disaster waiting to happen in my view, as the midrange dome is run to it's maximum bandwidth in these models and the passive crossover can't compensate for the phase problems this can cause and also variations in the dome, which hopefully are long sorted by now..

I have to agree with Ashley now and suggest that while the bigger active ATC's were fantastic ten to twenty years ago, the rest of the industry has caught up a bit and the overkill drive unit construction is totally un-necessary today, especially on the domestic market, adding cost that isn't needed to be spent...

Many people have commented that the 50ASL's now sound a bit relentless in the upper mid to treble regions and the resonance of the mid dome has been blamed for this, despite a high-order crossover slope on the actives. VERY careful choice of anciliaries is essential for these, and not just because of their resolution either..

I think the 50asl is still very good value for it's price, it is serious engineering except the cab looks a bit boring. The six amplifier already worth 5-6k. At the 7-8k price point, there're not many speakers as good as this. When Ashley rubbish the ATC he was trying to sell me his Trio speakers, which were very dry and lean, you can call it fast and clean but you know what am I talking about.

[jandl100]

I must admit that ATC speakers are one brand I cannot quite get my head around. I've heard quite a few, mainly the bigger ones at Shows, but also including owning some small actives (SCM10-2) for a very short while.

When Ashley rubbish the ATC he was trying to sell me his Trio speakers, which were very dry and lean, you can call it fast and clean but you know what am I talking about.

... that's what I would have said about ATC!

Maybe it comes down to synergy with partnering equipment?

EDIT: Woo - it looks like DSJR knows his ATCs!! Have a look at MarkB's thread here http://theartofsound.net/forum/showt...010#post105010.

Seems that you can tune the ATC sound by buying speakers from the appropriate era - mayhap I have mainly heard ATCs from the Shriekey Period!

[DSJR]

I loved my 100A's, which I sold purely because we had to combine two small houses into one. These are the ONLY audio products that I actually shed tears over when I sold them, so great was my attachment to them. They had problems for domestic use, which the SL drivers/ports and revisions to the active crossovers may have mostly sorted, but unlike the 50's, the 12" bass unit did allow something of the scale that Marco loves so much from his big Tannoys...

[freem]

I find it curious that some people love to hate ATC's.

After 20 years of 100asl ownership ( new ones 4 years ago ), maybe I can shed some light.
Firstly they will be critical of partnering equipment and after much trial and error I find valve preamps suit them well- as long as they are capable of driving longer cable lengths. I use a McIntosh c2300 which works brilliantly and has a tone control to deal with harsh recordings.

Secondly I think people assume that because they are studio monitors you can stick them anywhere and it wont make a difference.
My advice would be fire them straight ahead and spend time to position -an inch can make a big difference, and I found the XLO test and burn in cd invaluable.

Thirdly cables. When I first got mine ATC's philosophy seemed to be that cables didn't matter. They certainly do.
Strangely I find that mains cables have more impact on sound than interconnects.

Well that's my two penneth as a happy user. In 20 years they are the only constant in my system. That doesn't mean I wouldn't like to hear a pair of big Ushers though.

[DSJR]

Yep. I used mine in Luton with home made 16A three core mains cables. Adding ferrites at both ends *seemed* to make a positive difference I found..

I wish I still had mine so I could try out what I know now regarding wires and setup (I had to angle mine in a touch and keep the mid/tweeter on the inside of each).. Still, these tweaks have transformed the Spendors so much I'm staggered.....

[MAD]

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