advertisement


ATC40 Actives on home dem

W

Woodface

pfm Member
After just over 15 years of enjoying NAP250 & SBLs I have arranged a home demo of the ATC40 actives. Just spinning a few tracks of Bob Marley through them currently. They really are very, very different.

First impressions are that they sound a little ponderous but they are starting to reveal themselves. The lower registers of the bass guitar has, perhaps, been muted to me in the past so this will take a little time. There is definitely more detail & clarity with vocals far better separated.

I am probably listening at relatively lower levels currently.

Will update as I get a better handle on them.
 
Don’t be frightened to pull them out from the wall and/or toe them in. ATC design their speakers to be listened to on axis - they may well sound dull if you have them facing straight ahead.
 
AndyU said:
Don’t be frightened to pull them out from the wall and/or toe them in. ATC design their speakers to be listened to on axis - they may well sound dull if you have them facing straight ahead.
Click to expand...
They are toed in, I will pull them out a bit more but I need to get a base idea of their performance. This is the first equipment change in over 15 years so it will take a bit of time to get an idea whether they're for me. Apparently they don't reverberate into the other room like the SBLs do so that is a good thing.

They are heavy so a bugger to move about.
 
I have always been a fan of actives having run them for over 40'years. Meridian M1's then M10's. The ATC's are excellent, but if you can afford a little more I would suggest at least a home demo of a pair of Dutch & Dutch 8c's or possibly Kii3's to compare. Eliminating a lot of the worst effects of the room from the equation has been a revaltion to me and my room while fairly small was generally quite good.
 
poco a poco said:
I have always been a fan of actives having run them for over 40'years. Meridian M1's then M10's. The ATC's are excellent, but if you can afford a little more I would suggest at least a home demo of a pair of Dutch & Dutch 8c's or possibly Kii3's to compare. Eliminating a lot of the worst effects of the room from the equation has been a revaltion to me and my room while fairly small was generally quite good.
Click to expand...
I’d second that, my Dutch and dutch 8c’s are The perfect speaker for me. Lee @ strictly stereo offers home demos and is very good at the room measurement stuff
 
I did think about them but I like the idea of ATCs as they have been around a long time & that is important. Just listening to Steely Dan at the moment & they are certainly revealing a few layers.

I am certainly going to take my time with the decision.
 
The detail these drag out of recordings is incredible. Listening to Karma Police, I can actually hear what he's singing! Should these be turned off when not in use, I'm a bit unclear re their class a bias.
 
Woodface said:
The detail these drag out of recordings is incredible. Listening to Karma Police, I can actually hear what he's singing! Should these be turned off when not in use, I'm a bit unclear re their class a bias.
Click to expand...

Class AB and ime after five years with the SCM40A's i would turn them off. They come back on song within a few minutes of switching back on.

Anyway good to hear :) ATC Soft Dome monitoring :cool:

ATC%20Drive%20Units%2004.jpg

ATC SM75-150 Soft Dome

ATC%20Drive%20Units%2003.jpg

ATC SM75-150S Super Soft Dome
 
One of the very few things I don’t like about my scm40a’s is the location of on/off switches. Down low & a bit inconveniently located.
I use 2 remote control power sockets for them. Others report they negatively effect the SQ but I can’t hear anything much to get upset by.
Leaving them on 24/7 the amps get a bit warm & so I guess they must be using a fair amount of juice even when idle.
Other than that , I think they are superb. Detailed but not harsh or overly forwards. Fantastic vocals & mids, great bass. The do thrive on a bit of volume, so do try them at a variety of volume levels during the home demo.
 
I was very tempted by some earlier ATC actives, as I've been a fan of active speakers for some years. I can't recall the model, but they were of similar size to the Isobariks I was using at the time, and felt they were better in some ways, however, at low levels the resolution fell away really badly, whereas the Isobariks maintained their clarity to low levels. Modern ATCs may be different.
 
Musicraft said:
Class AB and ime after five years with the SCM40A's i would turn them off. They come back on song within a few minutes of switching back on.

Anyway good to hear :) ATC Soft Dome monitoring :cool:

ATC%20Drive%20Units%2004.jpg

ATC SM75-150 Soft Dome

ATC%20Drive%20Units%2003.jpg

ATC SM75-150S Super Soft Dome
Click to expand...
Thanks for that. I am using them with naim at the moment seem to work well, not sure they are wired optimally at moment (rca to balanced) but will look further into that if I press the buy button. Not used to this much bass but they show amazing promise in my system
 
JemHayward said:
I was very tempted by some earlier ATC actives, as I've been a fan of active speakers for some years. I can't recall the model, but they were of similar size to the Isobariks I was using at the time, and felt they were better in some ways, however, at low levels the resolution fell away really badly, whereas the Isobariks maintained their clarity to low levels. Modern ATCs may be different.
Click to expand...
I have never heard briks so cannot comment but they seem to work really well at my normal listening levels.

My wife says they do not come through the wall in the same way the SBLs do, this is probably due to being a bit away from the wall. She said they sounded 'calmer'.
 
Woodface said:
Thanks for that. I am using them with naim at the moment seem to work well, not sure they are wired optimally at moment (rca to balanced) but will look further into that if I press the buy button. Not used to this much bass but they show amazing promise in my system
Click to expand...

You're welcome. Which Naim pre amp are you using please?
 
Obvious question perhaps, and you are clearly enjoying the change, which is great, but did you consider taking your SBLs active? Or moving to SL2s? Are you looking for something different or more of the same? Just interested as I took my SBLs active last year and appreciated the "more of the same" aspect.
 
nobeone said:
Obvious question perhaps, and you are clearly enjoying the change, which is great, but did you consider taking your SBLs active? Or moving to SL2s? Are you looking for something different or more of the same? Just interested as I took my SBLs active last year and appreciated the "more of the same" aspect.
Click to expand...
Good question. I like the idea of reducing the box count, going active with current speakers will require additional fraim shelves which are not cheap. I feel going to ATCs gives a potentially bigger bang per buck but I ha e a little time to make an informed decision.

I may look at other amp options in the future, potentially an ATC pre, but this is further down the line.

I have had naim only equipment for the last 20 years or so.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top