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Active ATC vs Spendor / Pass Labs

I had a lovely demo. of a Pass INT 60/ Spendor D9.2.

Had all the musical flow, engagement at all volume levels that I could ever want. A truly impressive demo.

 

But……. I have always wanted an active ATC SCM50A is what I always dreamed of owning with say a Benchmark LA4 Pre. about the same $$$ where I am for either combo.

 

I have heard the ATC - different room and gear. But I didn’t do the all listening levels demo. like I did with the Pass / Spendor. Just at a medium / loud level and was so very impressed. I can’t demo the ATC again, my dealer only orders them as someone wants one from ATC direct due to the current economical environment.

So… will I be unimpressed ordering the ATC at all level listening levels or will it not have the Pass / Spendor engagement factor that we quite frankly very addictive ?

I am really at a crossroad as which way to go.

rfc
rfc OP
35 posts
 

Thanks for that.

The ATC was magnificent at loud volume levels, but who listens at that level all day every day ?

I think that I’ll take an amp/speaker set up that “can” wig out at high levels, but is just as good at low level background levels.

knotscott's avatar
knotscott
1,400 posts
 

I had a lovely demo. of a Pass INT 60/ Spendor D9.2.

Had all the musical flow, engagement at all volume levels that I could ever want. A truly impressive demo....

I think your statement says it all.  Bird in hand, and all that! 

milpai's avatar
milpai
2,670 posts
 

This is a tough one and Good Luck to you in advance.

I have not heard the Spendor 9.2. I have listen to (in detail) to a setup comprising of Spendor 7 with some expensive MBL gear. I really liked this demo and this speaker was one of my top 3-4 choices.

I then got a chance to listen to the ATC actives at AXPONA playing Daft Punk (Lose Yourself To Music). This combination was very musical and groovy. Unfortunately it was was out of my budget and I decided to not think about it. I will be honest and say - I did NOT get a chance to listen to those speakers at moderate volume. It was the fag end of the show and the music was loud - but super engaging.

If this speaker falls within your budget, try finding ATC owners on this and other forums and pose this question to them. BTW, the ATC and Spendors fall in completely different budgets.

erik_squires
17,563 posts
 

I like active speakers as well as passives.  I think if I were to go with active I'd want a really smooth or colorful preamp to go with it.  I've done direct from DAC to amps before and it left me feeling like it was all too analytical.

But then, I love Conrad Johnson PV preamps too, so my tastes may not be yours.

jjss49's avatar
jjss49
6,926 posts
 

I think if I were to go with active I’d want a really smooth or colorful preamp to go with it.

with the atc’s i have found this very much to be the case

i still have my beloved atc scm10 and 20 actives, and i have kept an audio research ref 3 linestage, to drive them -- solid state linestages were just too unforgiving of all but the highest quality recordings rendering 60-70% of the music out there unlistenable...  the tube magic of the ref 3 were the goldilocks mating

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