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ATC SCM11?

JTC

JTC

PFM Villager...
Just curious, anyone here got a pair of the later, curved cab type? How do they sound, and what are their strengths and weaknesses?

I had ATC 100 actives for a bit and really liked them, but most of the time they never really got out of first gear and so now that I’m considering smaller speakers I wonder if these might fit the bill. My current speakers are ESLs so what I’m hoping for is sonething close to that kind of sound but in a more ‘domestically acceptable’ package...
 
Hi.Had a pair for just under a year.My findings were .Rega elex r amp with them .Not very good fow a low volume listen.Mre volume they came to life.For me they are sterile sounding.Added a Primare a34.2 150 wpc power amp to the Elex r.Still for a late night listen not very involving,kinda flat,.with a big handfull of volume and the extra power they rocked my front room with a powerfull bass,good highs,but maybe too much trebble.They are great speakers for louder plays.Not for the quite times.That was how i felt about them .They look and feel so nice.Was gutted i had to sell them .My lady realy liked them aswell,and always thought they sounded great.Now have a Croft amp with harbeth p3esr and a Telefunken ecc83 tube .Better for my room and ears.mat
 
Interesting. I want something engaging and good at low-to-moderate volumes in a medium-sized room. The ESLs excel at this, but they dominate...
 
Same experience for me. I love ATCs at moderate to loud volumes, but they just don't work at lower volumes so well. They end up just sounding flat and lifeless. At louder volumes they are some of the best speakers out there.
 
I own SCM19 and feel the same. They come alive at above moderate levels.

I don't know the technicalities but would think that high efficiency speakers (with benign load) would be better at reacting and sound lively at lower listening level. But often these kind of designs take up a lot of space - especially if you want some bass output.
 
Try WB Arcs at similar price for a good s/h pair. Very neutral, detailed and reasonably efficient. They’re really good at any volume.
 
If SCM11s (or 19s) don’t suit, have a listen to similarly sized PMCs, Spendors or Harbeth. All good, uncoloured speakers.
 
I’ve had SCM11s. Accomplished in many ways, but they do need power and aren’t great at low volume. Not really what I’d look at if wanting to achieve ‘stat type results.

I’d take a close look at Ref 3a Da Capo. Tony @CoherentSystems has a couple of pairs in at present.
 
krenzler said:
Or if you have a loudness button on your amp or tone controls..

http://www.schiit.com/products/loki …
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Yes. AFAICS you can't cheat the Fletcher–Munson curves / equal loudness contours.

If mixing / mastering is done at high-ish level from the studio's loudspeakers (which is typical, I think) then the basic way to hear exactly what was produced seems to be to use loudspeakers of the same frequency response and play at the same level.

If you want to listen at a lower level but perceive the same frequency balance I think you need to either use a (rare these days) loudness control or use loudspeakers that inherently compensate in the same way as the loudness control by boosting the bass (and the treble to a smaller extent) to compensate for how humans perceive loudness at different frequencies.

Sealed box loudspeakers (e.g. the SCM11) seem typically to roll off slowly in the bass over an extended bass frequency range. That's probably not ideal for uncompensated listening at low levels where the Fletcher–Munson curves tell you to boost the bass.
 
I had the older versions (square boxes). I liked their neutrality and found them fine at all volumes - but really needed some power.... very inefficient to drive
 
I agree with a lot of what has been written, but I had (still have) a pair of the previous SCM11 which worked really, really well with the little Rega Brio R. By all accounts, they shouldn't have, but in our smallish front room the combination was great and gave the main system in the loft with ESL63s / 606 II a run for it's money. We've now got active SCM20 towers in the front room, which look better, probably are better, but really need to be turned up to come alive.
(Must bump the for sale listing for the SCM11s!)
 
ex brickie said:
I had the older versions (square boxes). I liked their neutrality and found them fine at all volumes - but really needed some power.... very inefficient to drive
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The ATC loudspeakers I have heard (not the SCM11's though) sound fine to me at all volume levels. I have heard it said often about ATC loudspeakers that they don't work their best at low levels, or that they come alive at high levels. This puzzles me.

The human perception of loudness vs frequency possibly explains it. But I think there's also a matter of experience and expectation.

Most of my live music listening has been in the concert hall. I do not expect to hear the same frequency balance sitting at the rear of the hall that I would hear sitting much closer to the performers. So I don't seem to perceive the problem. At home, if I want to hear music as though I were close to the performers I raise the volume to bring the performers closer (I'm lucky that's domestically not a problem).

On the other hand I am sure there are people do like to perceive frequency balance as the music producer intended, but at lower levels. And that may require different choices than mine.
 
I have SCM11's and 50A's. ATC have an unusually flat frequency response - why I like them. However at low volumes human hearing degrades more rapidly at frequency extremes. Therefore at low levels we perceive less high and low frequencies. This is the natural way of things but I guess using speakers with a boosted response at high and low frequency would (unnaturally) mitigate against this. Problem then is they sound unnatural at higher volume. As a previous post mentioned the (out of fashion) loudness button produces similar results.
 
That's one of the things I've noticed when listening to Radio Paradise (via my Bluesound Node app) - it sounds quite pleasing at lower volumes and I'm sure they're boosting the bass a little to achieve this affect. Same goes for songs in movies - they tend to sound fuller than when you later find them on Tidal or similar. Tampered with.
 
Maybe worth remembering that ATC now use their own tweeters which, imo, are rather better than their bought in predecessors. and this may affect the perceived balance at low listening levels.
 
Another thing about ATCs is that they will go VERY loud without distorting - so there's more temptation to turn them up :)

I also agree that they are not at their best at lower volumes.
 
After swapping and testing numerous integrated tube amps (the list is long...), I finally settled for a beautiful Fisher 400. The question is now, which speakers???
LS3/5a, JR149, KEF LS50 and ATC SCM11s are receiving rave reviews but these like to be paired with powerful amps.
I was wondering if one you guys are running one of this configuration. I am specially interested in the ATC SCM11s. I am also open to any other bookshelf speakers recommendations. Thank you for any feedback !
 
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