ATC SCM-35

your SCM20s are passive and SCM100s are active.
so theres some reasons for differences in performance in addition to their different sizes i think.
as far as i gather, we can easily talk about two worlds or sides of ATC designs. passive and active.
passive designs tend to be warmer, their bass is rounder, not quite as fast as from active, but still quite lively and not sloppy at all. on the other hand - active speakers tend to be less forgiving for the source material, they are much faster (especially as far as bass goes), someone once told me that his active scm50s, when first arrived, fired away like a machine gun (describing the speed of their bass).
and the small monitors - well, the're meant to play in small rooms, the bass response is not artificially extended to give impression (cheat if you will) of a bigger speaker. im fine with that approach.

i wish in a year or two i myself will be able to enjoy my own active scm50s or even scm100s :). in the meantime, scm35s will do just fine. great speakers considering their price.

btw how does a double bass or bass guitar sound on the active 100? i suppose quite nicely. not to mention percussion...

how does a double bass or bass guitar sound on the active 100? i suppose quite nicely. not to mention percussion...

Pitdog75,

On the 100's, double bass guitar is very distinct and clear. Bob Dylan's album "Oh Mercy", and particularly the track "Man in the Long Black Cold" comes across distinctly better than on my smaller SCM 20's. And on double base, Dave Grusin's Album "Hommage to Duke" has more detail at the lower end - it was already one of the best jazz studio recordings I have found and it got better - it will knock your socks off even if you don't care for jazz.

Furthermore, the tighter base reponse appears to impact the detail that can be heard in the lower mid range too...or, possibly, it is the physical separation of the mid range and woofer that helps (they are combined in the SCM 20's where the mid range is gratfed onto the woofer). Whatever the cause, the male vocals on 100's are noticably more distinct, clear and articulate. Female vocals remain very similar to the SCM 20's, and so does the high end.

Sorry to go off topic here but I just had to ask.

I have active 20 tower at the moment and have been offered some active 100's at a very good price.
Shadorne by what you say, I know you only have passive 20's, would this be a worthy upgrade. Problem is my room is only approx 12' x 10'. Is my room too small??
Your thoughts would be grately appreciated,

Mooner.

SCM 100's, Is my 12' by 10' room too small??

Jrmanders,
The 100's are a big speaker that was engineered for music playback for professionals; they are about as far from esthetically pleasing as you might get (WAF rating of -1 from 0 to 10 and nearly caused me a divorce). Unlike the book shelf 20's, the narrow tall esthetic designs of your towers, or the tall SCM 35's, the 100's will dominate and be intrusive visually in any room, let alone a 10' by 12' room. These heavy box speakers require a very robust stand and are even deeper than they are wide with the amp pack heat sink sticking out the back, which will necessarily make the speaker sit quite far off the back wall.

My guess is that the SCM 20 towers already do a great job in your 10' by 12' room, in '96 I originally auditioned the SCM 20's in a similar size of room and ended up impulsively buying them (my first pair of ATC's and I have never tired of them and still use them as surrounds). The SCM 20's are used professionally for near field monitoring and I think they are idealy suited to a 10' by 12' room. Have you considered the SCM 35's or a more poweful amplifier? Both would be less dominating for your size room and still likley to give you an audible improvement, particularly at higher listening levels?