ATC SCM19 Bookshelf Speaker Review

[Rockdog]

BatsEar, I don't know that damping product and probably shouldn't give advice as I only know enough to be dangerous. The product I used has a single heavy layer on the adhesive side, tar or rubber like, and about an inch of dense foam on top of that. It added a few pounds to an already heavy speaker. According to the website I bought it from, you don't want a suspended heavier layer above the cabinet mounting surface as it will "mass load" the woofer. I have no idea whether that's true or not or makes a sonic difference.

I also hesitated damping this cabinet for a long time as I was afraid of changing the sonic character significantly. I'm a lay person, but I understand that proper speaker design, aiming at as flat a response as possible, requires multiple factors in controlling and working with cabinet and driver rsonances. (It's possible I have tin ears and just screwed up the entire response curve and don't realize it!) I doubt that very much, but it would be interesting to know for sure. I will consider sending this to Amir but pretty hesitant as audio gear is one of my prized possessions. (Like all of us here)

I wouldn't say the change is transformational, but my impression is that taming the cabinet made for a flatter speaker, and it definitely improved its interaction with the room. But, that's just my humble opinion without empirical data.

I'd be curious from those better informed than I, that if by adding additional damping to a commercially designed cabinet, whether there's a chance you can alter the FR in a negative way? Is more damping usually better, or not necessarily?

Cheers

 

[outfaced]

ATC are good, or at least they try to make something better then many others ... but still a commercial company working for a profit and building to a price point.
Cabinet is really their weak point. those drivers deserve much better cabinets.

Dont understand me wrong, i enjoy my scm40s ... but still can imagine something better even with those drivers.

 

[Pharos]

That was what I said to them having rebuilt my SCM 100As in '97, reinforcing the boxes, and they agreed.

 

[Chrise36]

ATC are good, or at least they try to make something better then many others ... but still a commercial company working for a profit and building to a price point.
Cabinet is really their weak point. those drivers deserve much better cabinets.

Dont understand me wrong, i enjoy my scm40s ... but still can imagine something better even with those drivers.

My SCM20V1 is very heavy and very strong built.The newer models are cheaper made and pricier.

 

[AudioGod66]

New review of Atc Scm19 v2 Massive difference in power handling and distortion compared to measurements here https://www.lowbeats.de/test-atc-scm19-bestes-kompaktboxen-angebot-unter-3-000-euro/ . And I have no problem with the reviewer he knows his stuff

 

[thewas]

New review of Atc Scm19 v2 Massive difference in power handling and distortion compared to measurements here https://www.lowbeats.de/test-atc-scm19-bestes-kompaktboxen-angebot-unter-3-000-euro/ . And I have no problem with the reviewer he knows his stuff

The measurements are different so not really comparable. Not saying that the V2 might not be better, but with different things measured (HD here, IMD there) its not possible to compare them and state any objective conclusions.

 

[AudioGod66]

The measurements are different so not really comparable. Not saying that the V2 might not be better, but with different things measured (HD here, IMD there) its not possible to compare them and state any objective conclusions.

It can be clearly seen the speaker is clean way over 94 db . I have not heard these ATC but have heard the ATC50, ATC100 Passive and active versions and they are amazing speakers.
12
Forward Back
Even with the measurement @ 100dBspl the distortion values are extremely moderate (measurement: J. Schröder)
12
Forward Back
ATC itself specifies the maximum level of the SCM19 conservatively as 108 dB, LowBeats measurement director Jürgen Schröder came to about 112 dB. That is a lot and it certainly comes into the range of floor-standing speakers that are more than twice as large. You just have to pump enough power into it. And now we are back to the mid-bass driver with the highly resilient voice coil: You can pump a lot of power into it

 

[thewas]

Above plot you posted is a multi tone RTA measurement in room (with room gain in the bass) of a pair (plus almost 6dB) where the individual components are lower than 85dB and thus as said not directly comparable with a 96dB/1m sweep.

ATC itself specifies the maximum level of the SCM19 conservatively as 108 dB, LowBeats measurement director Jürgen Schröder came to about 112 dB.

See above, peas and apples measurement methods. ATC states also for the SCM40 112 dB and the magazine Stereoplay measured 101 dB:

Source: http://www.audiostereo.ro/ATC reviews/atc_scm40_rev-stereoplay.pdf

You always have to specify how max SPL is defined and measured, I am sure the SCM40 can reach 112 dB in the mids but not in the bass where the limits first occur with most music due to the tonal spectrum of music.

 

[welsh]

They are possibly contributing to the circle of confusion, but measurements of home models don't tell us much about how they perform in a studio.
I agree with your point about the tone of the criticism, it's not constructive.

‘Circle of confusion’ applies (precisely) to photography, not audio.

 

[welsh]

My dear fellow, why all this vitriol? What have ATC ever done to you all the way over in Singapore? You might not care for their products, but no one is forcing you to buy them, and there are plenty of other speakers on the market.
Amir has completed his review and many of us here have posted a comment or two as part of the discussion, but that's all that is required.

Let ATC muddle along in the English countryside if that's what they want. They're doing nobody any harm and appear to have plenty of satisfied customers.

I, for one, am finding your continued tirade quite tiresome. Please let it go, if only in the interests of the congenial atmosphere here at ASR.

Stroud is notoriously infested with Hippies.

 

[DSJR]

The floor standing 19A's I heard were certainly mid dominated - but to this ancient ATC fanboy, in a GOOD way!!! I still think for some smaller rooms (not sure of this speaker and its direct ancestors were ever far-field models) the perceived bass tautness and slightly forward mids are ideal.. I do like the slim domestic profile of the 40A's I must admit...

As for costs, my 20mk1's cost £1250 or so in standard veneers (mine were lacquered paint and dearer). Today, this equates to £2500 or so. I'm certain the 19 curvy-box shape may be cheaper and they obviously lack the very thick front baffle of the older 20 and 20SL design, but i wonder if the greater cabinet 'noise' really has a bearing on the sound produced (I'm minded of some research B&W did many decades ago under original management) as my 'buzzy' old Spendors still have a sublime midrange at least...

 

[Soniclife]

‘Circle of confusion’ applies (precisely) to photography, not audio.

It's a term used by Dr Floyd Tool, look it up, start here.
http://seanolive.blogspot.com/2009/10/audios-circle-of-confusion.html?m=1
It's nothing to do with the photography term.

 

[Pneumanous]

I would like to share my anecdotal experience with my SCM19 v2s:
I purchased them along with a pair of Sumiko S9 subs for my "budget" hi-fi system, powered by a modest Marantz PM8006 playing an ND8006 and AT LP-1240 through a loom of Chord Shawline cables.
At the outset I was stunned by the speed and detail of the ATC's and felt my system punched well above its weight.
Over time I've made upgrades, first adding Pangea power cables and some high fidelity magnetic gizmos, which noticeably improved sound quality and sound stage.
I decided to upgrade to an MC cart and use a SUT to feed the MM phono stage on the PM8006. I ordered two pair of Pangea phono cables for this and while waiting for the SUT tried one pair with the cart already on my LP1240 and was pleasantly surprised at the improvement over phono cable I was using. So I experimented with the Pangea cables in place of the interconnects from the ND8006 and was blown away by the improved detail and sound quality (I didn't expect the Pangea's to best the Chords.)
I was instantly convinced of the difference cables made, returned the Pangea phono cables and upgraded my entire loom of interconnects, phono cables and speaker cables to the top of the line from Audio Sensibility. And I was again blown away and thrilled by the improved detail and sound quality and delighted at the performance of my system.
Still, I suspected the ATC's had more to give than what the PM8006 was able to get out of them. So I got a pair of D-Sonic M3a-600M mono blocks to power the ATC's, using the PM8006 only as a preamp.
It's hard to describe how good the ATC's now sound, with this high quality audio signal being powerfully pumped into the ATC's by an amp as fast and clean as the ATC's themselves. The system now seems utterly transparent, and sounds perfectly balance playing through Source Direct whereas it previously sounded almost too bright (which I attributed to the silver cables.) So I wonder how many people judge these speakers while feeding them poor sound quality or not enough power. I for one couldn't be more happy at the end result of this journey.
Cheers!

 

[YSC]

I would like to share my anecdotal experience with my SCM19 v2s:
I purchased them along with a pair of Sumiko S9 subs for my "budget" hi-fi system, powered by a modest Marantz PM8006 playing an ND8006 and AT LP-1240 through a loom of Chord Shawline cables.
At the outset I was stunned by the speed and detail of the ATC's and felt my system punched well above its weight.
Over time I've made upgrades, first adding Pangea power cables and some high fidelity magnetic gizmos, which noticeably improved sound quality and sound stage.
I decided to upgrade to an MC cart and use a SUT to feed the MM phono stage on the PM8006. I ordered two pair of Pangea phono cables for this and while waiting for the SUT tried one pair with the cart already on my LP1240 and was pleasantly surprised at the improvement over phono cable I was using. So I experimented with the Pangea cables in place of the interconnects from the ND8006 and was blown away by the improved detail and sound quality (I didn't expect the Pangea's to best the Chords.)
I was instantly convinced of the difference cables made, returned the Pangea phono cables and upgraded my entire loom of interconnects, phono cables and speaker cables to the top of the line from Audio Sensibility. And I was again blown away and thrilled by the improved detail and sound quality and delighted at the performance of my system.
Still, I suspected the ATC's had more to give than what the PM8006 was able to get out of them. So I got a pair of D-Sonic M3a-600M mono blocks to power the ATC's, using the PM8006 only as a preamp.
It's hard to describe how good the ATC's now sound, with this high quality audio signal being powerfully pumped into the ATC's by an amp as fast and clean as the ATC's themselves. The system now seems utterly transparent, and sounds perfectly balance playing through Source Direct whereas it previously sounded almost too bright (which I attributed to the silver cables.) So I wonder how many people judge these speakers while feeding them poor sound quality or not enough power. I for one couldn't be more happy at the end result of this journey.
Cheers!

I suspect your amp will likely be less capable than the ML amp amirm is using for this review test, and for cables I believe as long as their spec is right to e night and day are either they added distortion in their design or psychological, amirm have proved that for measurement the expensive cables didn’t make a difference.

Even if I don’t argue with cable differences, when others can let amirm’s “cheap” cables and measure better, atc have no excuse to not perform better from their cost and required a ton of other expensive stuffs to make them shine and not even mentioning you are required to use this grade of cables in manual!

even Ferrari and Porsche do specify if you want to race in tracks what grade oil you are suggested to use

 

[Frank Dernie]

I would like to share my anecdotal experience with my SCM19 v2s:
I purchased them along with a pair of Sumiko S9 subs for my "budget" hi-fi system, powered by a modest Marantz PM8006 playing an ND8006 and AT LP-1240 through a loom of Chord Shawline cables.
At the outset I was stunned by the speed and detail of the ATC's and felt my system punched well above its weight.
Over time I've made upgrades, first adding Pangea power cables and some high fidelity magnetic gizmos, which noticeably improved sound quality and sound stage.
I decided to upgrade to an MC cart and use a SUT to feed the MM phono stage on the PM8006. I ordered two pair of Pangea phono cables for this and while waiting for the SUT tried one pair with the cart already on my LP1240 and was pleasantly surprised at the improvement over phono cable I was using. So I experimented with the Pangea cables in place of the interconnects from the ND8006 and was blown away by the improved detail and sound quality (I didn't expect the Pangea's to best the Chords.)
I was instantly convinced of the difference cables made, returned the Pangea phono cables and upgraded my entire loom of interconnects, phono cables and speaker cables to the top of the line from Audio Sensibility. And I was again blown away and thrilled by the improved detail and sound quality and delighted at the performance of my system.
Still, I suspected the ATC's had more to give than what the PM8006 was able to get out of them. So I got a pair of D-Sonic M3a-600M mono blocks to power the ATC's, using the PM8006 only as a preamp.
It's hard to describe how good the ATC's now sound, with this high quality audio signal being powerfully pumped into the ATC's by an amp as fast and clean as the ATC's themselves. The system now seems utterly transparent, and sounds perfectly balance playing through Source Direct whereas it previously sounded almost too bright (which I attributed to the silver cables.) So I wonder how many people judge these speakers while feeding them poor sound quality or not enough power. I for one couldn't be more happy at the end result of this journey.
Cheers!

Amusing little April Fool's joke well done

 

[q3cpma]

I would like to share my anecdotal experience with my SCM19 v2s:
I purchased them along with a pair of Sumiko S9 subs for my "budget" hi-fi system, powered by a modest Marantz PM8006 playing an ND8006 and AT LP-1240 through a loom of Chord Shawline cables.
At the outset I was stunned by the speed and detail of the ATC's and felt my system punched well above its weight.
Over time I've made upgrades, first adding Pangea power cables and some high fidelity magnetic gizmos, which noticeably improved sound quality and sound stage.
I decided to upgrade to an MC cart and use a SUT to feed the MM phono stage on the PM8006. I ordered two pair of Pangea phono cables for this and while waiting for the SUT tried one pair with the cart already on my LP1240 and was pleasantly surprised at the improvement over phono cable I was using. So I experimented with the Pangea cables in place of the interconnects from the ND8006 and was blown away by the improved detail and sound quality (I didn't expect the Pangea's to best the Chords.)
I was instantly convinced of the difference cables made, returned the Pangea phono cables and upgraded my entire loom of interconnects, phono cables and speaker cables to the top of the line from Audio Sensibility. And I was again blown away and thrilled by the improved detail and sound quality and delighted at the performance of my system.
Still, I suspected the ATC's had more to give than what the PM8006 was able to get out of them. So I got a pair of D-Sonic M3a-600M mono blocks to power the ATC's, using the PM8006 only as a preamp.
It's hard to describe how good the ATC's now sound, with this high quality audio signal being powerfully pumped into the ATC's by an amp as fast and clean as the ATC's themselves. The system now seems utterly transparent, and sounds perfectly balance playing through Source Direct whereas it previously sounded almost too bright (which I attributed to the silver cables.) So I wonder how many people judge these speakers while feeding them poor sound quality or not enough power. I for one couldn't be more happy at the end result of this journey.
Cheers!

1/10, learn to troll.

 

[TheBatsEar]

Over time I've made upgrades, first adding Pangea power cables and some high fidelity magnetic gizmos, which noticeably improved sound quality and sound stage.

How did you verify that the sound stage is improved by those cables? What magnetic gizmos are we talking about.

this high quality audio signal

Sadly, in my experience, records can't deliver high fidelity. CDs is where it's at. I still buy records, but it's not for the fidelity. I listen to Aphex Twin on record right now. Guess i'm a sucker ;-)

It's hard to describe how good the ATC's now sound

I own a pair. Without proper measurement, there is nothing verifiable to say about their qualities (or lack of). They look nice however:


Welcome to the board

 

[TheBatsEar]

Amusing little April Fool's joke well done

If true, i fell into the trap.

 

[Frank Dernie]

If true, i fell into the trap.

Could it be anything else?
On the What's Daft forum maybe not, here people are less easily duped by the death of expertise.

 

[TheBatsEar]

Anyway, here is a pic of the v2 in the wild: