As I’ve said before great thread. I home demoed both the 20 and 40 actives, went with the 40’s due to dedicated mid range driver and better bass. It was a tough choice as the 20’s were a great speaker, did some things better. In terms of looks I much prefer the 40’s, I don’t find any of the classic towers appealing. The finish options are better on the 20’s and suspect the amp packs may just have the edge.
At the recent ATC 20 special edition demo I suggested to the ATC guy the merits of taking the good bits of the 20, the finish choice, amp packs and tweeter and putting them into the 3 way 40 cabinets, he wasn’t all that receptive to the idea.
1 Like
Okay sure
It’s all there, if you wish to go over the notes again, which is a record for others to read, study and hopefully find useful into the future.
As you are asking here, now…
Two points : pricing ; experience and findings
Pricing
Some numbers, £750 and 8.8%.
That’s now the difference in cost, uplift from 40A to active 20 towers.
Who knows how long that will last. But that’s now the current situation, (for maybe at least a year and another round of future price increases).
Experience and learnings
Having heard both - at length - and at that modest cost differential - I would stretch for the active 20 towers.
Similarly voiced, they both work slightly differently.
Think the 40A maybe reaches a bit lower in the bass department. As you know, this is as much experienced physically, as much as heard by our ears, per se. The active 20 towers don’t do exactly the same, maybe not far off, but have so much more control with the same bass notes. It’s beguiling, impressive and so attractive. The definition or control of notes is palpable. Which is preferred?
Also, not convinced the midrange arrangements were so significantly better, with the 40.
In the end, you have to take speakers as a whole. The sum of the individual parts making the whole, etc. It’s all interesting, isn’t it?
More significantly, for us, didn’t think the differences in SQ between active PMC 23i and ATC40A was maybe as big, obvious or attractive as to the active 20 towers. That’s why the the 20’s came home for home demo’ and not the 40A’s. (That, and the knowledge we could buy into 20’s as passive, as an interim budget friendly step).
Again, that’s all a personal opinion. We all hear things differently.
Others may come to different conclusions, which is fine.
As always - best advice - go listen and let your ears decide.
Lastly, part of the challenge - here - there isn’t much forum user experience on record with the active 20 towers. That’s partly why I’m highlighting the 20’s here. Maybe they deserve more attention?
Now listening to “Come Morning”, by Grover Washington Jr., (1980).
Having and easy listening , jazzy kinda morning
BW
R
4 Likes
Thanks for that. As I wondered, I had indeed missed something which was your original audition of the 40A, which was further back in the thread and I had realised. I don’t know why the 20A sounded better: I don’t think the combined mud-bass driver is likely to explain it, but if the cabinet is indeed more solid, perhaps through having smaller panel sizes, that might help. Re tweeter, if the terminology is the same as their mid driver, the difference is magnet size and hence higher sensitivity, giving greater maximum sound output, but said to be the same sound. And of course as you point out, with speakers preference is highly personal.
You’re very welcome 
Alway happy to help.
I’m glad these notes and ideas are useful to others, ( on the forum), which is a motivation to spend the time and give back. Seems only right, as I’ve enjoyed so much benefit using this forum as a resource over the years.
Me too.
Without spending too much time analysing the tech’ specs and understanding the physics or materials reason. In the end, just trust my ears.
Our ears are an amazing instrument. A biological transducer, of a kind.
It’s also worth acknowledging that listening to music is also an emotional experience too. At which point we get into the topic of “Psychoacoustics“.
Always go listen and decide.
Happy listening on a Sunday.
R
p.s. Maybe hearing might start to drop off, now just turned the wrong side of 60 
2 Likes
So you’re just 50?
1 Like
Lovely 
Exactly right
Thank you for being so kind
R
Just to throw into the mix, the fact that the passive version of the classic 20s (i.e. the same speaker but in a stand version) are only £4K.
2 Likes
Having recently renovated a room for music I wanted to explore the 50a’s again as in my previous room which was tricky they were too much….ergo I opted for the 40a’s - it was that mid range that sealed it!
My local dealer had some 20a’s on loan from ATC so he popped round with the 50a and 20a - both worked in my room although I only spent a little time with the 50a’s (will explore those later)
I kept the 20a’s for a week (my dealer was weighing up if he should buy a pair so the chance of a home demo may not come round again) and to my ears they were preferable to the excellent 40’s - just better at everything and more colour options if that’s important to people.
If I was in the market for 40a’s I would recommend listening to the 20a’s as they are pretty much the same price and in my room with my ears were better than the 40a.
My plan is to spend some time with the 50a’s at home and then make a choice and it will be between the 50a and the 20a but will do that later in the year.
Gary
3 Likes
I haven’t heard the passive 20, it was a little out of my price range in my second system (Atom ATC 11’s) and I’m committed to active these days.
Not sure if we have many passive 20 users in the forum, would be interesting to hear from them!
1 Like
I was in a friend’s studio a few weeks ago, he was using ATC pro active 25s. I was surprised the finish was better than I thought it would be, if you don’t mind black. The ATC20ASL stand mount pro are about £5.5k and have the same drivers as the 20 tower.
1 Like
I have SCM20 stand mounts on the end of a Rega Aethos and a Saturn CD player but occasionally stream a Bluesound Node via the DAC in the Cd player.
I have previously had Graham LS6F (still own), Proac DT8s and two pairs of SCM 11s.
The SCM11s are also a cracking speaker in my opinion.
The Proacs were great but sadly over drove the room so I reluctantly sold them to be replaced by the SCM 20s.
I was tempted to get the floor stander version of the 20s but was told that converting to active in the future would be an expensive way of achieving this.
I have been absolutely delighted with the 20s and they are without doubt the best speakers that I have owned by far. They are happy sited near to a wall without any bass boom but seem to benefit from room reinforcement.
I do not miss any low frequency extension as the bass can be superb and is so tight and responsive. I also auditioned the SCM 19s which were also excellent however on balance I thought the upper frequencies were subtly better on the 20s.
What swung it for me was the range of finishes on the 20s and I went for pippy oak which is superb.
My Nait XS2 also drives the 20s well which I did when my Aethos needed some TLC.
I also had a minor blemish on one of the speakers although tbh I am very picky! I took some photos of the cabinets and the supplying dealer sent them on to ATC who quickly agreed to replace them.
I asked to take the speakers to the factory for the swap and was treated to a two hour long factory tour by the technical director which was outstanding.
This is customer service of the very highest order from the dealer and ATC.
In summary I am absolutely delighted with my new speakers which work beautifully in my room with my electronics and my ears!
5 Likes
May I ask how big your room is to overload the Proac DT8?
Agree the 11’a are a cracking little speaker and work well with my Atom. Not sure if I will upgrade these as they sound so good but if I did the 19’s and 20’s would be on my list but the room they are in is quite unusual in being round!
Good to hear the 20’s working well and agree the finishes on the classic range are much better.
1 Like
I get the “over drive the room” comment. In my experience it’s size and room construction that can cause this. Brick walls in my last house and I had no issues, new house has plasterboard and it’s proven tricky to get the right sound.
Speakers = home demo, buying blind is a risk!
2 Likes
@Doyard - great to read of the excellent customer service you experienced from ATC.
That’s so good to hear. Speaking personally, it makes me more inclined to want to buy their products when I hear stories like this. 
3 Likes
It is 18’6" long and 13’6" wide for half the length of the other wall that narrows to 9’ at the smallest width. It is a standard UK room with ceilings about 7 feet high.
The walls are solid plaster over blocks and not plasterboard.
I was able to tame the issue to some extent by pulling the speakers about 1m into the room and placing them on Ikea bamboo chopping boards to which I attached (superglue) sorbothane hemispheres.
Other than the bass issues in my specific room I thought that the DT8s were a great speaker and aesthetically was my wife’s favourite in light oak veneer.
1 Like
Love this track.
OK, I recently had a conversation with a DT8 owner, with roughly the same room size, and everything works fine.
How does the Graham LS 6f work?
The Graham LS 6Fs are better with respect to the bass issue and have an amazing midrange with vocals in particular. It also has the best imaging I have ever encountered. The room mode isn’t as excited by the Grahams and I can only imagine that this has something to do with Proacs having two midrange/ bass drivers.
If you can get the Proacs to work then in your room you will be delighted but I have heard them described as “bass monsters” which imho is rather overblown hyperbole: lots to like about them though.
2 Likes
@ratrat does the ATC 20 (passive) come as a tower, I thought it was only available as a stand mount speaker? Maybe the upgrade to active was also to include transforming these to floor standing towers? Could you clarify please?