At one time ATC used tweeters from other manufacturers and there was some criticism suggesting harshness in the treble, but the company set about designing their own tweeter (all other drivers are built in house) and it finally appeared just over a decade ago. The new version is said to have eliminated this problem and certainly I can listed to my 40As which, I think, has the same tweeter as the 11s, for extended periods without any listening fatigue. There’s an SL version used in the pro series now.
I’d agree, my 11’s are nicely detailed and done over hype the treble like Pmc 25.21’s I demoed, but then I’m using Lumin streamer which is considered to be analogue sounding and atc amp which is not pushy either.
You can buy the active ATC 40 and 50, 100, 150 from Akkelis. And I guess they could arrange for buying other active versions with Scanaudio. But unfortunatly I don’t think Akkelis have active versions up for demo. But some of the passives are.
No active for demo and buying them new and blind is not my thing Used would be a different thing. They seem to sound pretty different from the passive ones. In a good way.
Yes, it would be nice if one could hear at least one model as active, to compare. A bit strange this isn’t the case (unless changed) when the active is an option for buying, and a big part of what ATC offer.
There were a pair of second hand active 50 for sale in Stockholm not that long ago. Nice looking, but with the older tweeter. I have seen the active pro or studio model for sale as well. But that is about all in Sweden, so second hand opportunities are few.
Is there a consensus on jumpers between LF and HF connections on the speakers? I think generally its better to replace them with the same brand and type of cable as the main speaker cable.
However I see now that its possible to get speaker cable that are bi wire at the speaker end only - this seems to be a neater solution with 4 spade connections than making multiple connections with jumpers with spades and banana plugs, especially in my case where i might also want to connect I high level sub connection to the speakers.
I’m constantly amazed at how balanced my 100 actives are.
Balanced delivery of the music and balanced with all music types that I have played on them.
Sure, they shine with better everything - source, DAC, preamp, room & cables.
But they won’t pull apart a recording with lesser gear either. I’ve had some really iffy 80’s rock music they will sound crap with every system, but it’s at least listenable with the ATC.
Excellent recordings - Dire Straights Brothers in Arms CD for example, is simply sublime.
Examples with an off balanced speaker design
I’ve had at home either demo or owned are:
Spendor D9 (original version) bright, almost unlistenable upper mid/ treble
ProAc D48 / R
The most boomy unnatural bass that I’ve had in my house.
PMC 25/26 (original, not the upgraded versions) unlistenable treble sibilance, like scratching bad.
Examples of speakers that I have demoed in store:
Dutch&Dutch - true monitor speakers, pulls apart a recording almost to the atom level. No soul or musical engagement for me.
KEF Ref. 3 - so flat a freq. response as to be totally boring and dull and unengaging.
Wilson Audio Sabrina X - needs a top level room and set up to really shine. Had a really odd bass/mid/treble design to me. Not balanced at all for my taste.
To me ATC come as close as I’ve personally listened to the perfectly balanced speaker design for my musical taste/room/equipment.
Above the Entry Series it gets expensive for sure. But not hideously expensive as some speakers have become these days.
Active ATC’s are to me, THE value for money speakers in the high end speaker range today.
What you get for the outlay in funds spent is crazy good.
ATC is one of the few brands to meet the Harman target curve… Many brands raise the high frequencies have a balance amount and cheat to have a pseudo transparency of the sound…
The only speaker brand that I have heard that treads the very fine line of musical coherence and engagement factor AND still has all the detail & transparency in the original recording.
Well, to my taste anyway, we all hear different and all that.
Yes, replacing the jumper plates even with a very basic copper cable will give benefits. I did this with my passive 40’s back in the day. I used them with Naim gear and obviously used Naim NACA5 cabling from the amp to the speakers so I asked my dealer to cut me short jumper cables from NACA5 and I just screwed them in place. Bi-wiring, like you described, is the most optimal way and recommended.
EDIT: Found an old picture. Not that pretty but did the job.
Used would be a different thing. They seem to sound pretty different from the passive ones. In a good way.
stunning
