ATC SCM50 measured performance vs. high quality studio monitors

Yes, but I find shop demos to be far more valuable than trying a speaker at home.

 

Shop demos are just a preselector bub. If the dealer cant make it sound good in the shop why should I take it home? Obviously I make the dems as rigourous as possible and look for relative changes not absolutes.

 

Absolutely right. Dealers are usually experts at getting a good sound, and if it sounds crap in a dealer, it can be safely dismissed (at length, years later).

 

It didnt sound "crap" bub - I identified an issue that I personally couldnt accept accross multiple setups and locations and the experiments I conducted indicated a high level of probability that it would be the same at home. In fact one of the dealers (Audio reflections) did sell from home at that time and it was a home setup. His own. Lifes too short to take everything home - you have to have a methodology.

 

Not "crap"?

You think that a distorted midrange & weak bass is acceptable?

 

A distortion in the midrange is not quite the same as saying the midrange is distorted. Weak compared with the PMC which was outstanding in that area. The PMC have Evil Kneival stunt bass.

 

Stunt bass is always a good thing to have.

I would have thought that a "distortion in the midrange" would be very bad thing indeed, particularly as this is the band where the human ear is most sensitive to distortion. Perhaps I'm too fussy?

 

Yes thats right - especially 3rd HD. It just adds an edge to the sound. Its not uncommon in hifi.

 

Re: stunt bass

My PMC's can clear 11 london buses using bass cone propulsion alone. It's well known that ATC300's can only manage half a bus on full whack.

 

Thanks, I thought I was right.

So, er, how has the ATC midrange dome driver come to be so widely revered in audio and studio applications, when in fact it is heavily-compromised sonically, with this distortion which you heard in a shop some years ago? This question troubles me greatly.

 

Perhaps as atc stretch its performance a bit far? From what Merlin was saying with less ambitious crossover points the distortion dissappears. So rather than being a fault it is just operating outside of its optimal range? Plus this distortion is probably not an issue for studio use. It might even make it easier. Plus some domestic users like extra edge - Naim sells very well by this means.

 

It does seem extraordinary that these award-winning speakers are so badly flawed, yet only BBZ can detect this flaw during a shop demo several years ago.

 

Not only me bub.

It seems extraordinary to me that two thirds of the british public consider award winning big brother to be the pinnacle of the artisitic endeavour of entertainment.

 

Sorry, I forgot about your trio of hi-fi friends who also detected the distortion.

It still doesn't explain the international acclaim which the ATCs have attracted. Is everybody else slightly hard of hearing, other than you and your three friends, several years ago, in a hi-fi shop?

 

Hi,

I notice you continue to insist on making the same illogical argument again and again and it greatly troubles me that a man who is reasonably well educated (eg has passed more than 5 OL's) would make such an argument at all:

You make a claim. This claim is:

"ATC midrange dome driver is widely revered in audio and studio applications"

You do not specify what you mean by "widely".

The impression an unaware, impressionalble may gain from this statement is that ATC's are generally revered and that any studio that has not got them (which is probably better than 99% of the studios in the world and at least 90% of the top commercial ones) would love to have them but is too cheap to get them.

That is simply not true. ATC's are "revered" by a few individuals, they are accepted as well performing studio monitor by even fewer sound professionals, the vast majority of sound professionals and studio's choose to do without ATC.

So, I think the best available translation from "hyperbolic supersonic labour style spin" to "plain english" is:

"Some studios and sound professionals use ATC, most don't. There is only a minor cult of the 'adoradation of the ATC Midrange Driver' while most sound professionals find other solutions, most of the time large to very large format compression drivers preferable".

And this brings me right back to the core of the argument.

You make many claims about ATC's speakers and their "popularity" and well as performance which show only the most tenuous grasp of reality and seem derived mainly from marketing spin produced by ATC. When that is not enough you drop the same two names again and again, as if they where in any particular relevance.

So, you like ATC speakers. Fine, be my guest. Just please stick to observable facts when making public statements. You will probably be taken much more serious by others if you actually simply stuck to your guns based on YOUR OWN PERSONAL experience and preference, instead of trying to "oneupman" others by parroting marketing spin.

Ciao T

PS, I have noticed that you have pointedly avoided to comment comparing the documented measured performance of the SCM50 with the others mentioned, you mearly posted more baseless hyperbole, how about it, do a formal comparison and for the record, ATC is a regular advertising with fairly large adverts in HFN.

 

10 print "statement"
20 print "argument"
30 goto 10
40 rem etc...

 

Mr Thorsten, the comments which you make about ATC usage in studios is also unsubstantiated. Where do your figures come from?

I think your case is wildly overstated, and it's true to say that ATC actives have won many awards.

The rest of your babbling is ignored, sorry.

 

Many awards from institutions that have something to gain i.e.e hifi mag awards or industry bodies where atc no doubt has their thumb in the pie

 

Ah, yes, it's all an evil conspiracy, cooked up between ATC and the magazines.

Does Billy Woodman have a white cat, underground lair, and say things like: "Goodbye, Mr Bond"?

 

No hes more like arthur daley and hes licking his lips as bub comes up to the car lot with a wad of fifties in his sweaty hands.

Nice one thorsten - I suspect ATCs pro heritage is largely over-egged bythe hifi mags.