Show us your ATCs

I had this combination and was extremely pleased, changed the 11’s for 40’s to get more bass and better mids.

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I was wondering about the ATC HTS7 for the bedroom system. Good to know they work well.

They are now at my friends house run by a Unitilite , that’s a really fun little system . My mum who is very very particular didn’t like the silhouette behind the grills on the HTS … so they bought some Neat Iotas instead which work much better aesthetically for them .

I bet. My SN3 will stay with the Kantas. So it’s definitely a match for the Nova I’m looking for…. for now….

I have not heard the 40a as yet as I changed my amp from 250 to an accuphase amp which made my 40s sing I do agree you need at least a 300 to control the bass and power them properly! I may well have gone down the active route otherwise! But my system works so well I couldn’t imagine changing it. I think the amp is all important to match correctly if you don’t go active!

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I’ve just demoed the ATC SCM 11 with my Nova. I also listened to ProAc Tab 10, Proac D2R, B&W 706, Dynaudio Emit 20 and… the real surprise, the Neat Iota Alphas.

I’m in a bit of a spin. I really liked the ProAc Tabs, lovely sound, soft but present, precise but very easy to listen to. The speakers are for the lounge so low level listening is an important attribute. D2Rs definitely needed more power, the Nova couldn’t cope, the sound was good but the the Tabs were a better match.

B&W706, within 3-4 seconds it was a no. Just not what I’m looking for. Lacking the cohesion of the Tabs, too bright for me and bass, whilst pretty decent, just not fast and tight enough.

Dynaudio Emit 20 were also a pleasant surprise. Good bass for the price but I think too much bass for my polite, chilled-evening-with-a-glass-of-red-type-purposes. If I was in the market for a good all-rounder at a reasonable price, I’d consider these.

Then the ATC 11. Exactly what I had read (a lot) about. Clear but not shrieking, precise but not closed, fast and pretty deep. No need for the sub then. Played well with all the music I threw at it from Melody Gardot to Chemical Brothers to Sault to Dire Straits to (my favorite current test track) Fishies by Cat Empire. Nova was in control but of course an SN3 would be better.

There was a slight issue though and I’d value some feedback. Towards the end of the session (about 40 mins) I got a bit of listening fatigue. I asked the dealer and he said they had about 40 hours on them. Have others experienced this and does it settle after more hours?

Then, the pleasant but problematic surprise- the Neat Iota Alphas. Within seconds I could picture them playing away and accompanying that glass of red perfectly. The ribbon tweeter is very impressive and the Nova controlled these little beauties very very well. Bizarrely, for such a small speaker, I wondered whether there may be a tad too much bass for my purposes. But low level listening proved to be very enjoyable.

So… a real headache. I need to listen to the Proac Tab 10 Signature version and then perhaps revisit the ATC SCM 11 and the Neats.

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Those Neats are wonderful and work in many systems/ rooms. IME, they do want 20cm+ behind them and a bit more to the sides, and do want a bit of toe-in. Because of firing downward, they could also be carpet/ floor-dependent, though I have heard them with a range of things underneath them and always been impressed.

The ATCs and Tabs may well beat both them for tonal neutrality and stereo image a bit, but I’d be surprised if the Neats were not ahead on involvement and fun. Let us know what you pick!

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There’s a tendency with sealed box designs to think ‘just plonk them down almost anywhere, they are gonna be great.’ Not so simple in my experience. Experimentation with positioning is worthwhile. I have found that my SCM7s benefited from moving them closer to the back wall. Subjectively, this made the bass and mids fuller. I had previously thought they could be a bit tiring and toppy. Hope that helps with the SCM11s you are considering.

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@JamesBKK So I would say, whatever distance your dealer has behind the SCM11s, next time you hear them, halve it and see what you think…

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Of course, you might find that everything changes when you get the speakers home and set them up in a different room. Good advice from Chris above about positioning, and especially distance from the wall behind, but ask your dealer if you can try at least one or two pairs at home before you commit.

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Thanks all. Very helpful as usual. Will try and get a home demo.

ATC state that their speakers do not need running in, though some buyers have claimed they do. Mine have never given me listening fatigue, but then they’re 40s not 11s. What ATCs are though, is very revealing of source quality, in part as a result of their monitoring heritage. So, for example, edgy recordings perhaps monitored mainly for use on portable hardware, can be harder to listen to with such revealing speakers.

As for ATCs vs Neats, I have both in different systems and enjoy both but they do have very different sound signatures. My little Iotas are great for background listening whilst I am in my office. My only complaint is that the music is often so enjoyable it can easily distract me from whatever I’m doing. But if I want to concentrate on listening into a complex orchestral piece or jazz group, the ATCs in the main system take preference. I absolutely love my ATC setup for serious listening, but if you’re after “chilled-evening-with-a-glass-of-red-type-purposes” I’d be inclined towards the Neats.

Roger

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Beautifully put!

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The ATC’s are a very “honest” loudspeaker, but, as you suggest, not a particularly relaxing listen. Not “euphonic” as the hifi mags used to say.

My room is quite small, and causes quite a bit of boom on certain tracks at certain frequencies which can put me on edge when I am listening to music.I have a potential solution to this in mind, but this will have to wait a while.

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Agree with Roger….

My ATC’s (40A) took a good while to really break in and improvements in source and / or network made a difference…I have a tricky room and getting any speaker to sound cohesive was a challenge - a sub did the trick really bringing it all together.

Room plays a big part in how speakers sound so hard to guide other than get a home demo if you can as some report their ATC’s are at their best with a bit of volume.

I also have Neat Iota alphas on the end of a Nova - not the last word in detail but they sound great but a different experience to ATC.

Gary

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I prefer to have as honest speakers as possible. If and when I want to tune the sound towards that slight euphonic feeling, I have endless possibilities to do it with dac’s, pre-amps, cables etc. Wrong electronics can make ATC’s sound too high resolution/analytical/tiring since they won’t mask the shortcomings. But succesfull matching of electronics and cabling can make ATC’s a relaxing listen.

For booming bass and room modes I recommend that you buy/borrow an UMIK-1 measuring microphone and use it with REW to measure your setup. After you find the problematic peaking frequency/frequencies you can take them down few dB’s with DSP and you’re done. In my room I have huge peak around 36-37hz. I’ve done a convolution filter with REW to use in Roon DSP to solve this one problematic frequency. Works like a charm. Only touch frequencies below 100-200hz where room acoustics dictate what you hear.

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The atc tweeter will get a bit sweeter and it’s worth ditching the brass links and using cable jumpers and plug into the bottom (bass) . Mine sit 1.8m apart , 160 mm from wall to back of cabinet and toed in so I can just see the inside of the cabs.

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Can @BigAl use DSP on an LP12?

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Sure, if you convert the signal to digital. Probably not worth the hassle with vinyl though. One more reason why I prefer streaming and having my music on HDD. Obviously treating the room modes can be done with traditional acoustic solutions but it can be challenging.

That sounds fair. I wasn’t sure how relevant the advice to use DSP would be to someone with his system, and I think you have cleared that up.

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