No, the price is more like £25500, I would easily go for at least two subwoofers for my setup.
-
WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!
ATC speakers / Monitors
- Thread starter Pearljam5000
- Start date
No, the price is more like £25500, I would easily go for at least two subwoofers for my setup.
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2020
- Messages
- 6,938
- Likes
- 17,102
So do I, but his makes the price even more insane.No, the price is more like £25500, I would easily go for at least two subwoofers for my setup.
OP
Pearljam5000
Master Contributor
- Joined
- Oct 12, 2020
- Messages
- 5,304
- Likes
- 5,550
- Thread Starter
- #4,363
Or just get the SCM150ASL instead and have some change leftNo, the price is more like £25500, I would easily go for at least two subwoofers for my setup.
Hell, for the same money you could get SCM50s (the best balanced of the bunch, IMO) and a pair of subs and still have money left over.
OP
Pearljam5000
Master Contributor
- Joined
- Oct 12, 2020
- Messages
- 5,304
- Likes
- 5,550
- Thread Starter
- #4,365
Yes but it would be a pain to integrate the subs
I believe one day ATC will have something similar to GLM
You don't get the slam factor and dynamic of the lower midrange/upper bass of a 15" woofer with the SCM50.
Last edited:
sleepy.sock
Member
I happily owned a pair of SCM50ASLs for 10 years and recently swapped them for a pair of Genelec 8361s. Same room, same source, etc. If you are interested in my subjective comparison happy to answer any questions.
Here is short summary of my experience: the Genelecs are better (no surprise!), but the SCM50ASLs were still pretty darn good monitors. I would be quite happy to keep using them if I did not have the Genelecs. They are really very, very good. They also blend into a living room fairly easily and are easy to live with.
Here is a summary of areas where I have noticed most improvement in swapping between them: (1) bass -- much clearer, more sharply defined and deeper on the Genelecs, with the freedom to position the monitors close to walls; (2) mid-range -- the ATCs certainly do this very well, but the Genelecs do it better; (3) transients -- the Genelecs are just astonishing for any time-aligned stuff, sharp transients are rendered razor sharp (to the extent that you hear every blip and pop in the recording); (4) power-handling and distortion -- the Genelecs, as well reported, go as loud as any sane person would ever want with no audible distortion; to my ears the ATCs noticeably compressed at high levels (this was most noticeable to me in big orchestral works, they never sounded quite right at proper orchestral volumes).
Anyway, yes, the ATCs are not as good as current designs. But they are still excellent monitors. There are just (even) better options out there today. I cannot comment on value for money. FYI when I bought my pair of SCM50ASLs their RRP was half their price today (and incidentally not far from what a pair of 8361s retails at today).
Here is short summary of my experience: the Genelecs are better (no surprise!), but the SCM50ASLs were still pretty darn good monitors. I would be quite happy to keep using them if I did not have the Genelecs. They are really very, very good. They also blend into a living room fairly easily and are easy to live with.
Here is a summary of areas where I have noticed most improvement in swapping between them: (1) bass -- much clearer, more sharply defined and deeper on the Genelecs, with the freedom to position the monitors close to walls; (2) mid-range -- the ATCs certainly do this very well, but the Genelecs do it better; (3) transients -- the Genelecs are just astonishing for any time-aligned stuff, sharp transients are rendered razor sharp (to the extent that you hear every blip and pop in the recording); (4) power-handling and distortion -- the Genelecs, as well reported, go as loud as any sane person would ever want with no audible distortion; to my ears the ATCs noticeably compressed at high levels (this was most noticeable to me in big orchestral works, they never sounded quite right at proper orchestral volumes).
Anyway, yes, the ATCs are not as good as current designs. But they are still excellent monitors. There are just (even) better options out there today. I cannot comment on value for money. FYI when I bought my pair of SCM50ASLs their RRP was half their price today (and incidentally not far from what a pair of 8361s retails at today).
OP
Pearljam5000
Master Contributor
- Joined
- Oct 12, 2020
- Messages
- 5,304
- Likes
- 5,550
- Thread Starter
- #4,368
How do their soundstage compare ?
Does the 8361 sound "smaller" in comparison ?thanks.
Does the 8361 sound "smaller" in comparison ?thanks.
sleepy.sock
Member
Judgements about soundstage and ‘size’ of sound are subject to lots of weird psychological distortions. So it’s hard to give a categorical answer.
I find that if I look at the Genelecs I have the sensation that the sound is coming directly ‘from’ inside them rather than set out in a soundstage in the room. This is doubtless because they are extremely visually striking objects and look like 2 massive targets in the living room. My brain is likely biased to locate the sound ‘in’ them.
If I close my eyes, or don’t look in their direction, this effect disappears and I hear the recording laid out as it should be in the space. (When I used Genelec in studios the setup was such that they were in the periphery of my field of view, or I was looking at a computer screen so this weird anchoring effect was not at all evident.)
The ATCs completely blended into the visual background of the living room so I never experienced this anchoring effect with them. They were effectively invisible. I imagine others might have experienced something like this effect with other visually striking speaker designs.
Anyway, *unsighted*, for me the Genelecs give the impression of a much larger soundstage than the ATCs. A pet gripe I had with my ATC SCM50ASLs was that big orchestral pieces always felt like the presentation of a scale model, eg at 70% size. I previously had a pair of SCM100As. They gave the feeling of the soundstage at 100% size but were unsuited to domestic life as they were physically huge. The Genelecs give me the feeling of a soundstage at 100% size - I have no complaints about them in my room size and listening distance.
I apologise that this is all very subjective. These are just descriptions of my own impressions. Lots of factors contribute to a perception of a soundstage. What I report may also be a result of some shortcoming in how the ATCs were utilised in my room.
I find that if I look at the Genelecs I have the sensation that the sound is coming directly ‘from’ inside them rather than set out in a soundstage in the room. This is doubtless because they are extremely visually striking objects and look like 2 massive targets in the living room. My brain is likely biased to locate the sound ‘in’ them.
If I close my eyes, or don’t look in their direction, this effect disappears and I hear the recording laid out as it should be in the space. (When I used Genelec in studios the setup was such that they were in the periphery of my field of view, or I was looking at a computer screen so this weird anchoring effect was not at all evident.)
The ATCs completely blended into the visual background of the living room so I never experienced this anchoring effect with them. They were effectively invisible. I imagine others might have experienced something like this effect with other visually striking speaker designs.
Anyway, *unsighted*, for me the Genelecs give the impression of a much larger soundstage than the ATCs. A pet gripe I had with my ATC SCM50ASLs was that big orchestral pieces always felt like the presentation of a scale model, eg at 70% size. I previously had a pair of SCM100As. They gave the feeling of the soundstage at 100% size but were unsuited to domestic life as they were physically huge. The Genelecs give me the feeling of a soundstage at 100% size - I have no complaints about them in my room size and listening distance.
I apologise that this is all very subjective. These are just descriptions of my own impressions. Lots of factors contribute to a perception of a soundstage. What I report may also be a result of some shortcoming in how the ATCs were utilised in my room.
Last edited:
Their speakers look very solidly built, but they really look like they are stuck in the past (class ab, afraid to use port cause that would require serious research, weak bass, old design)
Overrated brand like most British brands except Kef.
No hate to Brits just saying how it is.
Overrated brand like most British brands except Kef.
No hate to Brits just saying how it is.
It looks to be in a pretty good state to me. Workstations clean, highly skilled assembly workers, and I guess they test every single driver with a Klippel QC rig which is pretty neat.
Maybe it is my background in pharmaceutical industry but what I see are premises that show their age and are in need of maintenance. The work area does not meet my expectations of tidiness. Considering the price of the equipment, I wonder where all the money goes. At least the cars I saw in the parking lot were not cheap. Apparently ATC pays its employees a decent salary, which I would appreciate.
yeah, pharmaceuticals are held to an entirely different standard than stuff like loudspeakers tbh. And yes, I'd bet money a huge amount of cost is paying their (skilled) employees.
Unrelated: That tweeter waveguide/flange is much deeper than I thought - I had thought it was closer to some of the closer-to-flat-plate Peerless or SEAS designs.
The artists/producers/ facilities in that wall that use them seem to have a different opinion...
I don't see anything to complain about. It looks like real "no bullshit" engineering and professional workers making high-quality speakers that can handle some beating. And for the innovation, how many tweeters are made the way the ATC does with the dual suspension design?
Very few. What's confusing is that the dual suspension in theory would let them drop the crossover point substantially (which IMO would be preferable on the 3 way, LR4 at 3k instead of 3.5k would improve the response around there a lot).
And? Brits are known for their marketing so that is the biggest reason + many people are brand loyalists who are affraid to make changes.
Chord also have cult like following, but that is mostly for their marketing, measurements prove they are not special.
Kef on the other hand deserve all the praise since they use science and are not affraid to update design for more modern and sleeker look.
Still gotta give credit for Atc new model SCM20ASL, This one looks really stylish with great materials.
Last edited:
You could say that about the entire UK, we’ve been on an ever increasing speed of decline since brexit/leaving the eu
Last edited:
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2023
- Messages
- 686
- Likes
- 1,085
they're pretty dirty, including the rubber surround, hope that they at least assemble drivers in a cleaner room
