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Your thoughts about ATC loudspeakers

I’m interested in the ATC SCM-40 from their HiFi series and would like to hear from people who have owned or spent a lot of time with ATC speakers. This is a fairly new model and may be a bit of a departure from their classic sound.

At the show in Newport last weekend, I was quite taken by these speakers. I went back the next day and heard the same things that I liked about them, but a couple of red flags also went up:

Microdynamics – not sure these speakers do them well and microdynamics are critical to communicating inflection and nuance and to making music sound alive

Imaging, specifically wrt depth. Nothing much outside of the plane of the speakers, so recording venue info is not there and even instrument and vocal body may suffer a bit.

Were these shortcomings of setup or associated gear, or is this what ATC does?
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Showing 3 responses by david_ten

david_ten
5,480 posts
 
IMO depth is nearly entirely a psychoacoustic construct that depends on how far away from the front wall the speakers are. Further you put them, more perception of depth you have.

Thank you! I have long believed this to be true. If your brain (via your eyes) doesn't perceive space for the musicians to occupy behind the speakers, your ears will not perceive soundstage depth through your audio system. At least that's what I believe. Unless you've pulled your speakers out into the middle of the room (even as an experiment), I don't believe you've experienced the depth your speakers are capable of.

@acousticfrontiers  @hesson11  +1 +1

Any feedback on the active version?
david_ten
5,480 posts
 
@shadorne  Thank you very much for your response to my inquiry on the active versions.

You wrote: " As you go larger and go active the clarity and distortion drops..."  

Did you mean to say that clarity drops?  Clarity increases and distortion drops...perhaps???

ATC has been on my short list for some time now...but if I go forward, I would only do so with an active version.

Anyone else with first hand experience with their active line?
david_ten
5,480 posts
 
@shadorne   Thanks for your additional thoughts. Appreciate it!

@jon_5912  Your in-depth discussion is very, very helpful. Thanks!!!
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