ATC SM75-150S Dome Mid Measurement Data

All I know is, I've held the midrange driver from a PMC OB1 in my hand and the equivalent driver from an ATC SCM35. One felt like a platic piece of crap and the other felt like a carefully engineered work of art.

How PMC can charge nearly 50% more for the OB1 compared to the the SCM35 (or SCM40 now) is beyond me. I know PMC's gear really only gets going higher up the product line, but at the "entry" level, I wasn't that impressed.

Shame I don't really like the ATC sound at home (a personal opinion) but if I needed some cost efffective studio monitoring, I would look hard at ATC.

 

Meyer Sound X10's are $20K. ATC's are more. TAD 2402 are available used for £4K. Having said that, ATC are excellent value for money. The question is whether they can be bettered and IMHO they can.

 

A subtantial amount of the ATC measurement data posted upthread originated at http://www.aeronet.com.au/atc.htm I think a credit would have been reasonable.

FWIW the unit in those measurements is not the same spec as that used in the SCM actives, the former being 8 Ohms, the latter 16.

Paul

 

Sorry Markus you are quite right uncalled for. Keith.

 

Each.

Paul

 

They are worth it IMO. I've heard them (outside of their intended studio environment) and the experience ruined me for life

They show just how important the time response of a system is.

 

What are Meyer X10s and ATC's available for used?

This would paint a better comparison IMO, if they are pretty much 'equal format comparions' so to speak..

 

They look interesting, but not really for most domestic environments. Bub's excepted.

Paul

 

You don't see many (any) X10's used as they are still new enough for buyers to not be "turning them over"

It would be an interesting comparison as they use totally different designs. The X10's use a compression driver from about 800Hz and up (I think).

I just remember that it was very hard to tell exactly how loud they were playing. It's a trick that ATC's can do as well, but the Meyer's do it much, much better. It's the first time I have heard a snare drum sound "real" both in terms of attack and level.

 

The Meyer reminds me of the Altec Valencia's I used to have (with updated technology and an 18" driver instead of 15" of course).

http://www.meyersound.com/pdf/products/studio_series/x-10_ds.pdf
http://www.kogerer.ru/subj/pic/altecval.jpg

I would love to hear them one day.

 

I think Abbey Road and many other studios are using them now.

I heard them at a Meyer sound system conference that was held in the building where I used to work. Even in shitty office acoustics, they sounded great in the near field. I remember reading one user saying that it was the only monitor that they never felt they had to back away from as listening levels increased (to insane levels). I still think that the incredibly good transient response is a big part of that.

 

Yup good compression drivers have that effect, when you first get them you keep turning them up and up, there isn't the distortion, you just don't realise how loudly they are playing until ,well your wife bursts through the door, they also play extremely quietly without loosing anything.

 

We ought to be considering apples to apples. So the Meyer X-10 is broadly equivalent in cost, headline capability and size to the ATC SCM300ASL. Neither of these speakers are viable options in 99% of domestic environments. It would be interesting to hear them though.

Paul

 

Paul there are a number of large format two ways that perform superbly from Augsberger, Rey Audio, TAD and Quested.

There are three and four ways from Westlake and TAD. All of these are every bit as viable as ATC's in my opinion. One advantage of many of these is that they share their crossover point with the original Quad, 800hz and are phase linear in most cases beyond that. The ATC sadly has a fourth order right in thr middle of the presence zone, and very close to upper frequency break up modes.

 

I don't think it did, since I recall Ant saying exactly how he took the measurements in his garden in the head-unit of the Perceives. Also this thread was posted 2 months before that website page was published.

 

I doubt they, along with the bigger ATCs, are viable in most domestic environments. The discussion of suitable monitors to mount in the walls of a control room is somewhat independent of what might be appropriate in our living rooms.

Paul

 

Read it.

The FR, dispersion and impedance charts and the commentary thereon are sourced from 'ralph' and available in their original form on the aeronet web page.

Paul

 

Sorry your right its only the disto and CSD measurements he took himself.

 

In the first post of the thread he acknowledges where some of the measurements come from.

It seems Ralph is Aeronet. Could he not also be the Australian friend referred to in post 37?

This stuff appears to have been posted a couple of months before the Aeronet site even went up. I'm not sure I see what the problem is.

 

The source is of less interest to me than the results.

There are two things that stand out for me. The excellent off axis behavior, and the not so linear FR. Whilst it is easy to correct the latter, some acknowledgement of it's neccessity would have been good.

I also think, as do a number of speaker designers, that ATC insist on using the unit too close to those break up resonances. It's pretty easy to hear those and they will change the character of the loudspeaker