I had Active 10s for 2 and a half years and loved them. I bought them after demoing every decent standmount speaker I could find in Edinburgh and Glasgow over about two months. The only ones that came close were the Dynaudio Contour 1.3 Mk. IIs, but these were passive and more expensive at £1200 (the Active 10s were £995 back then!!) Unlike just about every other speaker I auditioned, the ATCs just had no "character" of their own. To my ears, it just sounded like they were playing exactly what was on the disc rather than some artificial creation loosely based on the original material, as just about every other speaker sounds after living with ATCs for a while.
They're not perfect, though Fireman Sam's criticisms are definitely not ones I would associate with the Active 10s - I'm putting my money on either a duff demo pair or just a duff demo.
Their realism and dynamics (both micro and macro) are what attracted me to them in the first place.
I would say their biggest problem is that they're small, and they can tend to sound it. With that wee 5" bass driver, even driven actively by a 200-watt amp, there's only so much SPL they're going to be able to put out, and only so much bass they're going to manage realistically. Unlike most small speaker designs, though, they're NOT designed to artificially enhance the midbass in an effort to sound big and impressive - just the contrary. As sealed box designs, they have a nice, smooth, gently rolled off response starting at around 70Hz (-2dB) and going down as was mentioned to 45Hz at -6dB.
However, even if you're a bass head you shouldn't discount them until you'v eheard them in your room! With a little wall reinforcement you'd be surprised at just how much and how deep the bass is that they can produce. The shallow roll-off means they really do delve deep if the room will give them a little boost. And, being ATC, this bass is always incredibly tight, tuneful, clean, and dynamic. Personally, I agree with Bob that they sounded better off well clear of the walls in my room (partly because the midrange became very muffled and nasty if I pushed them up close to the walls), but I suspect this is very much dependent on the room in which they are used and the listener's tastes.
And yes, for their size they go very loud with little trouble. They're intended as nearfield minimonitors, so don't expect them to fill a large room with bone-crunching sound. In a smaller room, however, they provide as much volume as you could possibly desire. And if coupled with a subwoofer they can handle considerably larger rooms with little difficulty. I did manage to push their bass drivers to their limits on a few occasions, though - though my room is a fairly good size (18' x 13' or thereabouts) and I can be a bit of a nutcase when it comes to loudness.....
I have heard complaints from some people that they can sound "thin" and another person phrased it as "glassy". In my experience, they could seem to err on the side of upper midrange forwardness, but it wasn't a huge problem, though this will be a matter of taste. In any case, they do seem to divide opinions quite sharply - a lot of people i know love them dearly, and a number of people didn't like them at all (even if they then went on to buy passive ATC speakers - so it's not a company-wide issue, whatever it is).
IME, if you use them as they are intended - as nearfield speakers in a small to medium-sized room, and give them a little wall reinforcement (though not too much!) they can sound absolutely stunning, with top notch imaging, dynamics, midrange-treble integration (that all ATC actives do
so well), and bass. You
do need to spend a bit of time finding the best position for them, and they
do like a good solid stand (the matching ATC ones are just rebadged Atacama Nexus 6s I believe, which aren't really worthy of a fine speaker such as these). They also will sound awful with a poor sorce, and thrive off a good preamp (I have the ATC CA-2, which is a stunning little pre at £750).
To conclude, I'd like to mention that after 2.5 years of owning the 10s, I've now upgraded to the Active 20s. The 20s are superior in just about every way, so don't make the mistake of thinking that the 10s are just as good as the bigger ATCs only in a smaller box (which is what I assumed until I heard the 20s...) The new tweeter in the range of ATCs from the 20s on up is a stunner, with fantastic resolution and a wonderful sweet sound (by comparison, the treble on the Active 10s was slightly grainy, and a bit "matter of fact", though not to distraction), and the larger midbass driver and greater cabinet volume go a long way to dispensing with the "small speaker" sound - the 20s certainly aren't "thin-sounding" by anyone's reckoning!
But then of course, the 20s are £2700 to the 10s' £1600, so by all rights they should be a lot better! I bought my 10s for £995 and at that price they were the bargain of the century, head and shoulders above all the passive standmounts I heard in that price bracket, and with a superb power amp and active crossover to boot! At £1600 they're obviously not as much of a bargain, but I would say the current price is what ATC probably should have priced them at in the first place.
In any case, you definitely need to audition them. As I said, they're not to everyone's taste. I fell in love with them the instant I heard them. Others needed a little time to get to know them before they really realised how great they are. Don't listen to what anybody says - give them a few days, or preferably a few weeks, in your home and make up your own mind. You may just end up keeping them.
Dunc
Wm
