It's a shame people don't use valve pre's with the atc's before jumping to a conclusion about their 'sound'. IME your only hearing the front end electronics through the ATC's. Some have great trouble understanding this. A valve pre sounds energetic & live with double the bass output of a ca2. In certain situations, yes, it IS possible to make the ATC's sound unispiring. However, it is also possible to make them sound truly awesome.

Unless you've heard the ATC 50's or larger with a valve pre your opinion isn't worth the reading time. However, we all have differing opinions as already made abundantly clear. Just listen and experiment. Forget graphs, numbers and bs. Make up your own minds and ignore the internet experts.