jaybe, I fully understand your frustration because I have been there and done that.
Few years back I was in a ATC showroom to buy the SCM19. The showroom had the SCM11 and SCM40 on demo and both of them were nicely run-in units. They also had a 19 which was only a week old and less than 50 hours of burn-in. They first played the 11 and 40, both of them sounded wonderful and I was now rest assured that my next speakers are going to be a ATC. Then they played the 19 clearly stating that it needs a lot of burn-in. I was taken aback by the way it sounded, it actually sounded brash, somewhat thin, irritating in someway or the other. Mind you that it was using all the same ancillaries as the 11 and 40 but the sound of the 11 and 40 were smooth and clean and very neutral. The 19 was neutral but not at all smooth and not at all pleasant. It was so dissappointing that I decided to go with the 11 or 40 even though my room size and my budget was exactly fitting the 19 and every specification and review said that 19 was the better speaker. I finally bought the 40. It was not over though.
After I setup the 40 at my home I noticed the sound to be not very clean on many recordings. Some would call it revealing but I just thought that it was getting relentless in throwing junk whenever there was any. Well, I slowly sorted it out because I knew this was one of THE most honest speakers I have heard by a long margin. Here are the things to do:
1. Biwire your speakers with solid core copper cables. It will take away a lot of grain and make the sound very relaxed.
2. Try to position them away from hard concrete walls or atleast place some soft cushionings at the nearest wall.
3. Even if you feel your AC is clean I would strongly suggest you try out some decent power cords. I found a lot of gains by sorting out the AC through this method. Dont have to spend thousands of dollars. Get something nice under $500, at least for your source and preamp.
4. I benefitted further by isolating my CDP and preamp with Symposium rollerblocks. A friend of mine also benefitted a lot by properly isolating his equipments. Big jump there.
5. Finally 500 hours of burn-in is the starting point for your ATC to show its potential.
I have not suggested anything for room acoustics though it helps. Only thing I did was put some nice cotton curtains around the bare walls in my room.
ATC speakers are one of those which when played well is better than 99% stuff out there but it is not plug n play.
Few years back I was in a ATC showroom to buy the SCM19. The showroom had the SCM11 and SCM40 on demo and both of them were nicely run-in units. They also had a 19 which was only a week old and less than 50 hours of burn-in. They first played the 11 and 40, both of them sounded wonderful and I was now rest assured that my next speakers are going to be a ATC. Then they played the 19 clearly stating that it needs a lot of burn-in. I was taken aback by the way it sounded, it actually sounded brash, somewhat thin, irritating in someway or the other. Mind you that it was using all the same ancillaries as the 11 and 40 but the sound of the 11 and 40 were smooth and clean and very neutral. The 19 was neutral but not at all smooth and not at all pleasant. It was so dissappointing that I decided to go with the 11 or 40 even though my room size and my budget was exactly fitting the 19 and every specification and review said that 19 was the better speaker. I finally bought the 40. It was not over though.
After I setup the 40 at my home I noticed the sound to be not very clean on many recordings. Some would call it revealing but I just thought that it was getting relentless in throwing junk whenever there was any. Well, I slowly sorted it out because I knew this was one of THE most honest speakers I have heard by a long margin. Here are the things to do:
1. Biwire your speakers with solid core copper cables. It will take away a lot of grain and make the sound very relaxed.
2. Try to position them away from hard concrete walls or atleast place some soft cushionings at the nearest wall.
3. Even if you feel your AC is clean I would strongly suggest you try out some decent power cords. I found a lot of gains by sorting out the AC through this method. Dont have to spend thousands of dollars. Get something nice under $500, at least for your source and preamp.
4. I benefitted further by isolating my CDP and preamp with Symposium rollerblocks. A friend of mine also benefitted a lot by properly isolating his equipments. Big jump there.
5. Finally 500 hours of burn-in is the starting point for your ATC to show its potential.
I have not suggested anything for room acoustics though it helps. Only thing I did was put some nice cotton curtains around the bare walls in my room.
ATC speakers are one of those which when played well is better than 99% stuff out there but it is not plug n play.