Apologies for the divert but are these the AE1 Actives Simon? If so, what are you using to feed them and what do you think of them?
They are actives… I have used various sources such as my 552 with output Baluns and also a Chord TT2.
They are ok, but ultimately less detailed than the ATCs, and the treble upper mids are a little rough compared to the ATCs, and the lower mids slightly recessed…
But for the size they give a lot of welly and can fill a fair sized room, although when doing so they do run rather warm.
Correct Atabites. Heavy little buggers.
That’s very useful info thanks Simon.
My ATC Amps were running pretty warm yesterday too but it was 36 Degrees here …
Are you able to get a demo pair of Active 40’s ?
14’s?
I wasn’t convinced about spending all that extra dosh on “Atabites”. I used sand…
I will be listening to them shortly… but I doubt I will be lugging them home.
Sounds good , hope you enjoy them
Has anyone tried a 72/hicap or 32.5/hicap with 19a or 40a?
I’m a bit of an outlier here re the 19s.
Living in the States, I contacted the US Importer - Lone Mountain Audio - before I purchased a pair of used Active 10’s a number of years ago. Their advice was to use high mass stands, and specifically Sound Anchor was the recommendation. I had a pair of 3 post stands custom made for the 10a’s. (Note: even though I bought used 10a’s, I later had them serviced by LMA; OEM tweeter replacement and amp pack serviced).
The 10a’s saw through a few different components (Uniti, 172, 82, and 52) and some different IC cables (Cobra and Shawline) before I ultimately missed that Naim boogie that - IMO - can only be had through a Naim source, Naim pre, Naim amp, and NACA5.
So after moving house and obtaining a dedicated listening / theater room, I opted to sell the 10a’s and purchase an AV Options rebuilt 250 (HF Xformer) and NACA5 with a new pair of 19s.
At the same time I purchased a year old CDX2.2. The transformation of the system was enormous. I had far more of everything and I immediately noticed the 250/19 combo produced significantly more and better quality bass than the CD5XS/nDac/52/10a’s could muster. Initially I used Lavender as the primary IC. The key was that the Naim boogie was back. The 250 and NACA5 clearly help in this regard.The other obvious result was that the 19’s tweeter is light years better than the old 10a Vifas.
My room is approximately 13.5’ wide, by 17.5’ long, with 9’ ceilings. The door opens on the longer axis, but is cut at an angle, breaking up what would otherwise be a rectangle and ensuring a small triangle at the entry point. This has the nice effect of breaking up standing waves. Being in the basement, I have the 19 / Sound Anchor stands on carpet directly over the concrete slab. From what I’ve read and experienced to date, high mass stands work better directly coupled to a concrete floor than on a suspended wooden floor.
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Interesting… I have found the opposite… I use open frame stands for my 19s on a concrete floor and in my opinion that sounds better than using my high mass stands.
Not disputing your reoccurring finding Simon, but I will note that high mass stands have a lower resonance point, and - depending upon numerous others variables, some of which may have a more outsize impact - should be below the -6 dB roll off point of the 19’s SL main driver.
In my experience the bass this rigid coupling supports is blinding fast, clean, and articulate. I wonder how the 40’s bass compares. A demo would be fun! 
Is 250.2 non DR good enough to power these ATC SCM19 speakers ? How are they compared to Dynaudio C1 in terms of the bass department ? Anyone owned both can comment on that ?
many thanks.
BTW., I found that the 19’s and Atacamas worked best with the speakers placed directly on the stand. No Blutack, rubber grommets or other separators…
Indeed any stand works best in my experience with the 19s with direct coupling… definitely no BluTak.
I place the 19s directly on the Torlyte platform of my open frame stands for best sound… ie best transient response, fine details and fast bass.
I also use rigid stands with three spikes as opposed to four for best coupling to the floor.
Yes I use a 250.2 to drive 19s… it’s more than enough, it hardly gets warm.
The new ATCs are quite easy to drive, although being infinite baffle designs not overly sensitive.
The older ATCs with different tweeter and different cross over design were hard to drive and needed more power. It was those older designs that created the view the ATCs needed big amps to drive. However even the older 19 (non curved case) could be powered with the 250.2 but was marginal with the 200.
I can’t speak for those speakers you mention, but the 19s are fast and tunefully good for musical bass, but you won’t get slam or sub bass… they simply don’t go there… it’s not what they are about,
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ATC 19 vs. 20 only 20% price difference. My friend keeps telling me that I should get 20 instead. what do you think ?
Can 202/250.2/200/HC/NAPSC do a bi-amp setup ? ATC 20 seems very power demanding ?
thanks
I suspect for home use the 19 will be great.
The 20 is the professional model so designed for heavier use. It uses the pro version of the tweeter which keeps more consistent performance under heavy load… unlikely to be relevant for normal domestic use.
The crossover may be different … I don’t know, and clearly the cab is different.
The mid/bass driver is the same.
A matter of taste but SCM19 looks better than SCM20.