One of the problems of audio blogs is, the same set of adjectives are used to describe the sound of an entry level Marantz, an Arcam and an entry level Pass labs. What is not explicit most of the time is, someone talking about Marantz is coming from his old mini-compo while someone talking about Arcam is coming from a Marantz and the Pass Labs guy is most probably coming from a Krell! A reader who does not have experience with some of these products may end up thinking that a high end Arcam is better than an entry level pass labs !! This is just one example. What inference one will draw in such a situation can be a crazy list. No one can be blamed for this, but it is definitely a problem.
Ajay, I have already written a lot of things about ATC on this forum. I am wondering what else to write to help you further demystify ATCs. The thing I would like you to assimilate is, ATC is not like most other speakers...period. I am now going to write some extreme things, so even after all the unavoidable losses of this blogging medium you do get some essence of ATC. Here you go!
First thing, they have a very very strong philosophy and they try their best to implement it in every speaker they make, even their sub-woofer!! Obviously every speaker is built to a certain price point so they would have some compromises somewhere in the materials used but not in the DESIGN! Very important point. They design all their products to sound like no-compromise, even the SCM7. It is a fact that a 5" driver in a small bookshelf cannot produce 30hz bass, that is a physical limitation, not by design. In the midrange, the SCM7 sounds just like a SCM20 and if you do not like the midrange of an SCM7 then you will not like the midrange of an SCM100 as well, they are so similar. Same goes for the entire presentation. This happens because:
1. They develop everything from scratch in-house, especially drivers and cabinets.
2. They do not design their drivers keeping in mind a certain price point (unlike B&W, Dynaudio and the likes). They just try to develop whatever best they can and then price it. That is why you never see them coming out with a new driver which is inferior to a previous driver, again very important and a very rare thing. That is also why all their drivers which were developed even decades back are still in production, after all they are the best at their price points.
3. They do not have many ranges of drivers. They just have a couple of them. One is bested by the other by a certain margin but not by much because even the older version had been perfected with years of R&D with no stones left unturned, so how much can they better it, considering that their philosophy remains rock solid ? And whatever improvement they manage to bring in is mostly appreciated (a lot) by existing ATC users because ATC users are not used to seeing improvements
.
arj
I have also come across opinions that essentially the house sound of the ATC's speakers remains the same. The dynamics and frequency range gets better with the bigger and better models. But if I had to upgrade I would only consider the cheaper options from the monitor and tower series. I do not feel that a shift to the entry series would be an upgrade over my present speakers.
You see Ajay, I am not boasting, I am trying to tell you the truth (that I know) so that you get it really straight in your face and that will help you in your quest. An ATC
SCM11 with proper amplification will beat your current VA significantly, especially on western classical. You do not know what an ATC does to western classical
hyeah:. No, No, no boasting here, I am no more an ATC user and do not plan to use ATC speakers for another 5 years. As I am writing this I am laughing my heart out
. I know the VA are good speakers, I have heard it a few times and had myself recommended to you. They may/would beat the 11 on bass extension but you may actually end up liking the bass of the 11. I know you will not buy an 11 but a bigger ATC (if at all), this is just an extreme example I wanted to present which is true to my knowledge so that you get over the usual way of evaluating and comparing speakers (by weight, height, no of drivers etc). I have already mentioned but I will repeat to end this section You may not like the 11, in that case dont look at 50 or 100 as well. Basically you can forget ATC.
Secondly the mid range driver is different from the one used in their higher series. ATC made its name with the SM75-150 3" mid range soft dome driver. The Tower/Monitor series use the driver SM75-150S which is the real McCoy, while the entry series uses the comparatively inferior SM75-150. This is just something I have read. Please correct me if I am mistaken.
You are right in general. ATC is extremely well known for their dome midrange. I have heard their models with and without the dome midrange and IMO the best ATC speakers for domestic use are the ones with the dedicate soft dome midrange driver. What that midrange driver adds to the whole mid band is difficult to explain because they all sound so similar yet the midrange driver makes its presence felt. There is a certain warmth, sweetness and three dimensionality added which makes it feel like a real thing. SCM 50 and above have 150S driver which is better, but to be frank I do not know in which way because I have heard it in an active speaker so the equation is totally different. BUT, what comes with the SCM40 is seriously close. It was their and still is their standard studio midrange driver, it is THE driver that the world recognizes their midrange for. Unless a direct A/B is done it is very difficult to make out a difference between them 150 and 150S. So, I would say what you get with the SCM40 is super value for money. BTW, the next ATC product is going to be a SCM40
active. I do not have the idea about the pricing though.
Demystification continues:
The general consensus seems to veer towards the active speakers. Buying active ATC's would be a difficult decision to make for me as it would mean saying goodbye to both amplifiers and passive speakers. I would have to part not only with the VA's but also with the Bryston pre/power amps.
I never heard a ATC active until recently, but my fan-ship started with a passive and al throughout have been passive (various models). So, on one hand you could stop bothering about active vs passive thing, I will tell you why. As long as you are ready to provide the amplification the passive ATC requires, demands and deserve, you are not just good, you are doing great. I would always recommend you start with a passive ATC, not because it is better but because it is a lot cheaper way of understanding their philosophy, learning how to handle it, knowing your room, knowing if you are ready to give it what it takes in terms of time, effort and money to set it up well. After all this, if you want ATC to remain, your natural goal will be to go active and once you listen to a well setup active, you will know how big a bottleneck is your Bryston
. Really, you will not want the Bryston for a minute after that. Basically all these questions that you have today will be self-answered.
Last section:
If you do not like the way an ATC is sounding, in all probability there is something wrong else where
. An ATC speaker is super revealing of anything and everything: the recording, your electronics, cables, isolation, power, placement, room, furnitures, curtains, carpets, you name it. It is not harsh but it is strict, like a Father. He will always remind you that something needs to be corrected with a certain degree of strictness which if you do not have the time/resources you could skip and still enjoy music but if you do have the resources then you will want to fix it sooner than later. And again like a Father, if you rectify something you will be rewarded handsomely asap:lol:.
One last thing, ATC is the only speaker I have come across till date that I think can become the last speaker in someone's system.
P.S: I know I have written some very bold statements which I should not have, but I thought this may help the interested readers to understand a little more about ATC than what is normally written in reviews and blogs. It is all my own opinion so you are free to add as much salt as you want. All this is okay but please try to listen to an ATC to really understand this legend. Even after living with this speaker for 3 years I still dont know a lot of things about it, so an audition may not demystify much but will be a good beginning.
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