Hi

I could go into detail about the several passive XO and analogue active XO I've tried with these. Each to his own, but the DEQX and PCXO setups I've been using in the later stages of development were revelatory SQ wise compared to the rest. I guess some like spice with their chips, I prefer a sharp, distinct and flawless presentation rather than anything that's been glossed over. I agree musicality does suffer with naff recording because you get out what you put in. Its a different kind of presentation, closer to the source and whatever the partenering equipment is putting out for some this isn't a good thing. Everything else I've heard recently sounds boxy, bloated and disproportionate to a greater or lesser extent.

There's a fair amount of history to these designs and they've been completely redesigned twice, a few driver changes, 5 different partenering models of amps to run active and a general evolutionary process spreading out since March last year and they've only recently been completed to a state that I'm really happy with and redefines what I think a highend speaker should be.

In comparison to ATC's own implementation, I've only heard the SCM50ASL 30th Anniversary and these are certainly my preference, I built them exactly for what I wanted, if I didn't like how it sounded it got changed until I was happy, hence why they've taken well over a year to build. Not bad considering ATC is asking £13k for a pair.

I've also had both the standard and super version of the ATC mid in these speakers. Super is definitely the better performer, the standard is slightly muted in comparison, more muddy on the lower end of its passband and measured THD is higher but strangly enough it doesn't have the 4.5Khz problem.