I love ATC.
Great sounding speakers, but their range of cabinet finishes and styling are a weak point.
I would have thought that in the “entry level” range (7, 11, 19, 40) they would have at least offered natural oak and a contemporary looking walnut finish (with the strong grain look), alongside cherry as the real wood options.
There’s slightly more choice since they introduced the satin White and Black options, but there are no high gloss finishes, or even colour options.
I also agree with others about the black ash. Practical, but a very dated late 70’s and early 80’s contemporary budget furniture look. MFI even. Certainly not becoming of a speaker range that goes up to just shy of £7k.
KEF, B&W, Focal and Dynaudio are way ahead in the styling departments, particularly with the front baffles and driver surrounds, but then they’re bigger companies with greater resources to play with.
Incidentally, I have a vague recollection that someone was going to offer retrofit acoustic foam inlays for the SCM metal grills. Did that ever happen?
I do remember in the past, there was some forum discussion (elsewhere) about DIY covering the grills with acoustic cloth material.
Lots of colours to choose from and it can be easily removed if necessary, for resale.