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ATC SCM19 Bookshelf Speaker Review

MZKM

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So did I, my (wealthy kid brother) had the biggest Wilson’s ( 200K USD) at the time, we both agreed on their SQ quality. Brother sold them off and bought a new boat.
I helped two separate people on forums looking at high end speakers and they told me they had demoed and were eyeing Wilson’s. I suggested demoing speakers such as the KEF Blade (the Salon2 isn’t an impressive visual design), and they both agreed the speakers I suggested sounded much better than the Wilsons. So, I think most of their customers likely don’t demo a bunch of options, they just get told by salesman and the like that they are the best and just go with it.
 

617

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Christ two national apologies in a week , seems these British speaker companies are doing all they can to take the ' Great ' out of Great Britain.

I'm going into hiding until this all blows over.
If it makes you feel better, KEF is doing quite well and Tannoy is technically Scottish.
 
D

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I helped two separate people on forums looking at high end speakers and they told me they had demoed and were eyeing Wilson’s. I suggested demoing speakers such as the KEF Blade (the Salon2 isn’t an impressive visual design), and they both agreed the speakers I suggested sounded much better than the Wilsons. So, I think most of their customers likely don’t demo a bunch of options, they just get told by salesman and the like that they are the best and just go with it.

Exactly, my brother used I think a Netherland firm specializing in selling expensive HiFi gear to be able to get rid of them.
 

Frank Dernie

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Also a thing in Scotland. This place has both. Not tried those, but their fish and chips are possibly the best I've ever had (Cromer #1 possibly beats it):
https://www.anstrutherfishbar.co.uk/
I lived near a fishing port as a child. Fish and chips there were fantastic and fried in beef dripping, hard to find nowadays but worth it for taste if not, maybe, health.
When I was first going out with my , now, wife I visited her parents, she was brought up in a small fishing village on the Moray Firth in Scotland, there was a fish and chip shop in the harbour with the best F&C I have ever eaten, and quite a few of the customers were fishermen who brought their own fish to be cooked.
It is just holiday cottages now, no fishing left.
 

Archsam

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INCORRECT. The LS3/5A was never anything more than a minor player in the pantheon of BBC speakers. Its role was mainly office listening (for which purpose hundreds were installed – in this respect it is, possibly, the most numerous of all BBC speaker types). The closest it ever got to being a programme monitor was on small-scale speech-only radio outside broadcasts or possibly as the secondary or tertiary speaker in bigger studios. It was also installed as primary monitor in some radio editing suites but it was never a major player where serious quality judgements were made.

I think you guys are missing the point I'm making here - I am aware of the history lessons you are citing here, but that was the past, not the present.

Today the LS3/5A variants are a popular speaker in Asia, they are regularly featured in hifi magazines in Japan and Hong Knog (where I was born), their smaller size is attractive because they suit the smaller apartments there. The larger LS5 variants are less popular due to their size and price, so naturally the LS3/5A are more relevant to more people.

When it comes to oversea popularity in these BBC monitor variants, there really is a big element of prestige associated with owning something with such revered history as the BBC research. You hear the same old story cited in every presenter's description. So whatever the original intent of the LS3/5A was, it is not so relevant anymore, as it has taken a new life in the audiophile circle around the world, for better or worse

See below a shootout video from Hong Kong published just 2 weeks ago (sorry the video is in cantonese):
 

MZKM

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Inner Space

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I lived near a fishing port as a child. Fish and chips there were fantastic and fried in beef dripping, hard to find nowadays but worth it for taste if not, maybe, health.
When I was first going out with my , now, wife I visited her parents, she was brought up in a small fishing village on the Moray Firth in Scotland, there was a fish and chip shop in the harbour with the best F&C I have ever eaten, and quite a few of the customers were fishermen who brought their own fish to be cooked.
It is just holiday cottages now, no fishing left.

My grandma lived in Yorkshire, near the original Harry Ramsden's fish and chip restaurant. On VE night in 1945 they gave it away free. After that she ate there once a week for the next 39 years. Best marketing initiative I ever saw.
 

DualTriode

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Ouch. ATC provides a long list of artists whose recording studios use their speakers for mastering..Assuming the pro line is similar, our circles of confusion must be well, really confusing if you are listening to those artists through well-measuring speakers.

I've owned the SCM19s for many years and always used them with subwoofers. They sounded good to me until I heard the Revels.

Thank you, @amirm for the review. This is so revealing, it makes me question what I thought was good HiFi.

Once again the terminology, “circles of confusion”, stolen from photography, completely used inappropriately leading to no understanding at all.
 

temps

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P.S.: if someone could send a BareFoot or an Amphion to Amir that would be great. The BareFoot are very expensive, don't have a lot of measurement around and have a good reputation.

soundandrecording.de has had an Amphion in. I found the set of measurements very... unfortunate, let's say... https://www.soundandrecording.de/eq...2-wege-monitor-mit-externer-endstufe-im-test/ Good in some respects but overall, not at all what I would expect for my money considering what Genelec and Neumann offer at the same (or cheaper) prices. For instance, an pair of One18s plus an amplifier costs more than a pair of 310s, and they aren't even in the same realm of performance.

I really want to see a Barefoot Footprint measured. I don't know why Barefoot doesn't put out their measurements, because they surely have them. I don't want to gamble a 20% restocking fee on them just yet.
 

tecnogadget

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Ha
I helped two separate people on forums looking at high end speakers and they told me they had demoed and were eyeing Wilson’s. I suggested demoing speakers such as the KEF Blade (the Salon2 isn’t an impressive visual design), and they both agreed the speakers I suggested sounded much better than the Wilsons. So, I think most of their customers likely don’t demo a bunch of options, they just get told by salesman and the like that they are the best and just go with it.
That reminds me of a B&O dealer at the “El Corte Ingles” store in Madrid...they had this Beovision Harmony television and I asked if he would demo and he pleased did. The sound was just ok, powerful and thounderous, not your regular TV sound Nor accurate as a good bookshelf and a proper subwoofer. As if it couldn’t be other way, the guy was pushing the system to impress me with higher SPL than I would need to enjoy music (IMO detrimental).
I gave him a few good words about the sound to not make him feel bad because he was really friendly and polite, even though I thought the set was a steal ($20k) and not worthy at all from pure performance standpoint.

In the talk I really wanted to laugh my ass off when the salesman said B&O makes THE BEST SPEAKERS in the world...uhh uhh ! I mean he literally believed it, but I’m sure if I made him name other brands key players he would not go past 3 or even have a clue about what is cooked inside this circles like ASR.

And that’s how you get salesman getting people to spend hundred of thousands of $ with a little demo and cero interest in real high performance.
 

Xyrium

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I'd imagine people expect a little more from $4000 speakers with a five-star rating from "What Hi-fi?" The woofer is actually the best part.
Actually...this is exactly what I would expect from a speaker with a 5 star whathifi rating.
 

Purité Audio

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Ha

That reminds me of a B&O dealer at the “El Corte Ingles” store in Madrid...they had this Beovision Harmony television and I asked if he would demo and he pleased did. The sound was just ok, powerful and thounderous, not your regular TV sound Nor accurate as a good bookshelf and a proper subwoofer. As if it couldn’t be other way, the guy was pushing the system to impress me with higher SPL than I would need to enjoy music (IMO detrimental).
I gave him a few good words about the sound to not make him feel bad because he was really friendly and polite, even though I thought the set was a steal ($20k) and not worthy at all from pure performance standpoint.

In the talk I really wanted to laugh my ass off when the salesman said B&O makes THE BEST SPEAKERS in the world...uhh uhh ! I mean he literally believed it, but I’m sure if I made him name other brands key players he would not go past 3 or even have a clue about what is cooked inside this circles like ASR.

And that’s how you get salesman getting people to spend hundred of thousands of $ with a little demo and cero interest in real high performance.
The Beolab 90’s ‘could’ be the best speakers in the world, they are certainly amongst the best.
Keith
 

tecnogadget

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The Beolab 90’s ‘could’ be the best speakers in the world, they are certainly amongst the best.
Keith

I won’t disagree the Beolab 90’ is a quite remarkable speaker and could be among the best ones. But I was demoeing a TV and then some other smaller standmount many times cheaper than the 90’s. HIS claims were like referring to the whole line, as if any speaker from the product line is the best possible audio, and we all pretty know their entry and mid level are 50% all about industrial design and style.
 

Purité Audio

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Agree, I was disappointed their 50 wasn’t a scaled down 90.
Keith
 

Soniclife

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As an ignorant American, I had to do a search on deep-fried Mars bars. I had no idea this was a thing. I've always enjoyed Scotland, and some of my favorite colleagues over the years have been Scots, but now that I'm educated I have to say that Scotland just moved down a notch or two on my intelligence scale. A deep-fried Mars bar just might be the unhealthiest food ever conceived.

Only kidding. A little...
America says hold my beer...
 
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