ryder
I'm convinced this "don't sound good at low level" is a some myth started by someone who doesn't understand what they are doing. This myth is in direct opposition to what the entire professional community already know about ATC: its sounds the same at every level, unlike many others, with the caveat of Fletcher Munson effects.
Given the fundamental truth that all our demos everywhere are heavily affected by Fletcher Munson effects, this means even a small difference in level will be perceived as more bass or less bass in the speaker when it's no such thing- its our perception of bass causing this effect. So given that people just hook a pair of speakers and then hook up another pair right after, or hook up two pairs to an amp with a speaker selector switch, whichever pair of speaker is more efficient will win the demo because its louder and sounds "better" (more bass/more treble). I see this all the time here, where people extoll how much better one is vs another and efficiency is not even considered. Ignore such comparisons unless its matched levels precisely. These demos completely mislead the listener when using a switcher - switching instantly from one speaker to the other will favor whichever one has greater efficiency (over Fletcher Munson effects). A 1/2 dB increase/decrease in amp gain will completely alter the outcome of such A/B comparisons.
Given the very deliberate engineering choice by ATC (and other manufacturers as well) to choose more bass extension instead of efficiency in designing the speaker system, the lower efficiency makes it vulnerable to uniformed listeners who directly A/B two speakers, picking the more efficient one as "better" every time - solely because its louder and sounds like more bass (and more treble). It in fact does NOT have more bass, it just sounds like it because of Fletcher Munson. A speaker that is 89dB SPL 1w/1m vs a speaker that is 89.5 dB SPL 1w/1m - the 89dB one will lose every time in a switched demo. The public will not hear this 1/2dB difference in level, they will just hear more or less bass. Engineers and marketers know this and work it big time. Tricks like this, higher efficiency, port boosting, are exactly how speaker companies sell more to the public.
So it is not true that ATC has less bass at lower level. It is engineered to have MORE bass but efficiency comparisons will make it appear the opposite.
Brad
Lone Mountain/ATC USA
