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What hifi system would you choose up to 25k

Hi,
So many replys I can't reply to all, thanks for everyone's input.

So today I had a trip to ATC and listened to the 25 actives and the 150 actives.
First impression when we walked into the demo room was holly shit these speakers are huge. I knew the dimensions of the 150's but seeing them in person is shocking. The b&w 802 would look small compared to these.
I did see some 300 pros later on and there about the same size as my two seater soda at home.
The 150's aren't far of the size of my one seater :)

The speakers were set up with a ATC integrated pre/cd player. One box :)

Anyway we started with the 25's and the guy there put a song on for us first, I don't know what it was and we didn't like the song much but it sounded very impressive on these speakers.
We then started playing our CDs mostly rock music and instantly we were won over , it's the best sound I have heard to date, very clear very detailed, un fatiguing , natural, very nice bass , tight but still warm enough and a good bottom end, we could feel the bass through the floor on some songs.
The vocals were very impressive they were so clear , we had eminem on later and you could here his voice and lyrics so clearly.

My girlfriend kept saying buy these buy these, I said do you mind if I listen to these huge things first and pointed to the 150's.
So we put the 150 active on next , eminem was still on the cd player , it sounded very nice and very similar, the bass was deeper and more present in parts, overall clearer sound also.
We put some rock music on a live cd which we heard on the 25's before which sounded very good, but on the 150's in parts it was a little harsh in places for my tastes. We put another cd on and something sounded a little odd.

I talked to the man about this and he did say the tweeters are set at the same frequency so he wasn't sure why this was happening, he then said that the speakers are very revealing and bad recordings do sound bad on these speakers but good recordings sound great.

He put a song on for us to listen to and I have to say the sound was very very good,
After that I put some other songs from my CDs and started to get into the speakers a bit more. We couldn't decide which speaker we preferred.

I did ask the man to switch back to the 25's for a bit, and we listened to a few songs on them again, I then realised that the 25's are a warmer speaker , more upper bass , they are very easy to listen to.
We switched back to the 150's after and I could hear the difference in detail and how clear they sound. The 25's are clear but the 150's are very clear sounding,
Everything stands out, so anything wrong with the recording comes through the speaker and don't sound good.

By the end I was warming to the 150's more and more, there very interesting to listen to. And I wanted to keep listening. There quite addictive.

I'm arranging to go back again to listen to the 110 actives and also the 150's and 25's again, I'll take more CDs and a more varied selection next time.
I'm very impressed with ATC speakers and I'll more than likely be buying these, I don't think anything else can compete with these for my tastes.
There the best I have heard so far.

I'll make my mind up on next listen.
 
pauliegb - I have the 25s and think they're absolutely wonderful. I used to have the 100s, which were also magnificent, but needed to downsize. Don't forget to try the 50s too - it's just a matter of finding the ones that suit your room IMO. Be aware that the tweeter on the 25s is different to the rest of the range, but also that a new tweeter is coming out shortly. It has already been launched on the 20s - I would guess that the 50s, 100s, 110s etc will get it later this year - checkout ATCs Facebook page for some pics and more info.
 
pauliegb - I have the 25s and think they're absolutely wonderful. I used to have the 100s, which were also magnificent, but needed to downsize. Don't forget to try the 50s too - it's just a matter of finding the ones that suit your room IMO. Be aware that the tweeter on the 25s is different to the rest of the range, but also that a new tweeter is coming out shortly. It has already been launched on the 20s - I would guess that the 50s, 100s, 110s etc will get it later this year - checkout ATCs Facebook page for some pics and more info.

Ok thanks I'll check that out.

Have you listened to the 150's , I'm wondering how different the 50,100,150 sound because the engineer told me they all sound the same but the larger speakers give more bass. I wouldn't want a thinner sound.

Can I ask what your impressions are of the 100's vs 25's
Also what size is your room now ?
Have you thought about getting a sub or listened to one with the smaller atc's ?

Thanks Andy.
 
Remember that you must hear the speakers in your own room. They can sound so much different.

You may also want to audition Shahinian Hawks with a pair of HX100 amplifiers fed with a top end DAC. I have a Weiss 202 but there are now others in the same price area. The Shahinians are totally different and are psuedo omni-directional. That means no 'sweet spot' and can be enjoyed anywhere in the room and even outside it!

Cheers,

DV
 
Ok thanks I'll check that out.

Have you listened to the 150's , I'm wondering how different the 50,100,150 sound because the engineer told me they all sound the same but the larger speakers give more bass. I wouldn't want a thinner sound.

Can I ask what your impressions are of the 100's vs 25's
Also what size is your room now ?
Have you thought about getting a sub or listened to one with the smaller atc's ?

Thanks Andy.

Hi Paul. I had my 100s in a big room - 9m x 5m x 4m, big bay window. Fantastic. Decided I wanted to sell up and travel, so I needed speakers I could lift and transport, hence I bought the 25s. Right now I'm using them in a fairly large room - 7m x 5m x 3m and they're splendid. If I was here permanently I'd want to try 50s or 110s because I miss the sheer bottom end weight of the 100s sometimes. But if I move to a smaller room, the 100s could possibly be overpowering. I don't really understand the sub thing but that could be another possibility. Don't listen to movies, so don't need earthquakes. All the ATCs I've heard have a similarity; incredibly detailed, natural midrange, unhyped bass, excellent dispersion, easy top end, rock sold stereo image, work on all kings of music. Speakers to last you decades (my 100s did). All the pro 3 ways (except the 25s) share the same amps, midrange and tweeter. Just the cabinet and size of the bass unit change. You won't know which ones you want till you get them in your room. Thats why I suggested starting with a loan of a pair of 50s ( or even 25s) - you'll soon know if you want more bass or not and can take it from there - either with a bigger speaker, or a sub. Definitely worth listening to them on stands that put the midrange unit at about ear height - they get Atacama to make stands for their shows.

P.S. a girlfriend who tells you to buy ATC speakers is worth hanging on to!
 
I tried returning to the Mana thing but its a pig to set up when you cannot actually lift the speaker. I am never sure I have set it up right, I no longer have the touch that the mana gang all discussed, my glass clanks and the things sink and shift over time, I know I'm doing It. Wrong..., I damn near herniated myself with the subwoofers which are 65kg and that took two of us. almost crushed a toe on lifting the tower 100s.

Basically if you use Mana you have to be stone cold seriously into using the stuff and all it takes, you are more dedicated to whatever the hell it is than I am. Its more than I can manage.

I really do see the advantages of a nicely made soundbar. I must be mad, I'm 50 tomorrow and I'm dragging things that are exactly the weight of me onto antediluvian steel and Spikey-glass things.
 
110s look tres nice. The ones I saw anyway, I seem to recall dimly seeing tower versions of them somewhere... On a Korean website?
 
PaulieGB,


As many others here have suggested, I would go for active speakers as you can avoid a lot of headache chasing the perfect matching power amplifier (whatever that means) and speaker cables - when you buy an active speaker, you get a perfectly tuned all in one setup with the inherent superiority of an active XO. I would spend the majority of your money on the speakers.

As for the rest, I'd really just buy a competent pre amp that has the features you need and move on. If you only use digital sources, then obviously a PreDAC like the Benchmark DAC2 might appeal, or a Linn DSM, or any preamplifier with a digital input - your actual digital source can then be something quite cheap like a Sonos or a squeeze box.

You seem to have set your mind on ATCs and owning some myself, I am not going to argue with you. Two things:

1.) you seem to have had a demo at ATC themselves? It is unfortunate that they only had the 25 and the 150 on display, and nothing in between - choosing between the 50, 100 and 150 is dependent on your room size and how loud you listen; I have 100s in a 22.5m2 room, but I rarely listen very loud so I get away with it

2.) the 50/100/150 all have a slightly better mid range driver and (I think) a slightly better tweeter than the 25; also ask about the forthcoming tweeter which is designed by ATC themselves and should be retrofittable to the 50/100/150, but not to the 25s, due to space issues

Best of luck with your quest!


Cheers,
Samuel.
 
Hi Paul. I had my 100s in a big room - 9m x 5m x 4m, big bay window. Fantastic. Decided I wanted to sell up and travel, so I needed speakers I could lift and transport, hence I bought the 25s. Right now I'm using them in a fairly large room - 7m x 5m x 3m and they're splendid. If I was here permanently I'd want to try 50s or 110s because I miss the sheer bottom end weight of the 100s sometimes. But if I move to a smaller room, the 100s could possibly be overpowering. I don't really understand the sub thing but that could be another possibility. Don't listen to movies, so don't need earthquakes. All the ATCs I've heard have a similarity; incredibly detailed, natural midrange, unhyped bass, excellent dispersion, easy top end, rock sold stereo image, work on all kings of music. Speakers to last you decades (my 100s did). All the pro 3 ways (except the 25s) share the same amps, midrange and tweeter. Just the cabinet and size of the bass unit change. You won't know which ones you want till you get them in your room. Thats why I suggested starting with a loan of a pair of 50s ( or even 25s) - you'll soon know if you want more bass or not and can take it from there - either with a bigger speaker, or a sub. Definitely worth listening to them on stands that put the midrange unit at about ear height - they get Atacama to make stands for their shows.

P.S. a girlfriend who tells you to buy ATC speakers is worth hanging on to!


Thanks Andy,
I'll look into getting home demos, that does sound like a sensible idea.
I'm really looking forward to listening to these speakers again.
They were on stands in the demo and the mid was ear height.
I'm not interested in using these for movies either, I'm just a little cautious as to buying the 25's and later getting the itch to get the larger speakers, so a sub has been an idea of mine.

Definitely a girlfriend who doesn't think the 150's are to big, I was quite surprised when I saw them, there Huge.
I said to Jo ' look at the size of those thing' , she said ' there alright aren't they ' :) .
 
Definitely a girlfriend who doesn't think the 150's are to big, I was quite surprised when I saw them, there Huge.
I said to Jo ' look at the size of those thing' , she said ' there alright aren't they ' :) .

Marry her. Has she got any sisters?
 
Just to add some more options, have you considered ATC subs? You could try the 25s/50s/100s with a sub (or subs)... This may give you the acreage of driver without the wider 150 baffle which might be more to your taste, or better in your room.

Fox, you mentioned newer Questeds as being not as good as the old. I think i've only heard their current V3310 ones (assuming they haven't changed in 5-10 years or whenever I heard them), and thought they were absolutely spiffing.
 
I'll cop out of that. I've never heard 150s, for once, and there was more than a year between the 110s and the 25s. Completely different systems and rooms as well. My impression was that the 110s sound a bit more agile than my memory of the 100s, but take that with a truckload of salt.
 


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