A few years ago, I persuaded my long suffering wife, or to be honest bamboozled her into tollerating? Me, seriously upgrading my hifi. I’m blessed with a liberal sprinkling of local ‘bricks & mortar’ hifi dealers. I auditioned the ATC SCM 40 speakers along with multiple others across 7 dealers. My findings pretty much concur with yours. They are power hungry.my Rega Elicit British integrated amp which I had at the time, struggled to keep a tight grip on the bass. The next amp up in the Rega range, the Aethos, overcame that difficulty. I also found them very fussy about positioning. But once that was achieved, they were punchy, snappy, smooth from the mid range down, but overall, a little dull, lacking top end presence! They would have been extremely difficult to accommodate in my family lounge. One particular dealer though did try too hard to persuade me to choose them above all others in that general price bracket. I didn’t, and have absolutely no purchase regret with my final choice. A couple of months ago, one of the local dealers closed down. They contacted me advising they had a pair of ex demo ATC SCM50 speakers which they could let me have at a heavily discounted price. I may have been tempted if Ihad a larger lounge, or dedicated listening room.
I'm most interested in the active 40s. I own the 19's due in part to your review of them. I do ponder if the 19s + a good sub as I'm using, is the better option for the $ then the passive 40s. What you get is a greater full range sound, but perhaps with sacrificing some mid range. By most accounts, the 40s are great, the active 40s even better. Finally, some do consider the 19s the sweet spot in the line up, but they must have a good sub or two if one wants full range audio.
I have the actives and it was the midrange that first got my attention when listening to female vocalists. They really open up and excel when played loud and only complete bass heads would need a sub. Having built in amps saves you the headache of finding matching external amps and you save on interconnect cables. I’m really glad I went down the active route so give them an audition you won’t be disappointed.
atc's shine at high volumes. Active versions are actually the first choice. To match actives you need to have a lot of power in the amp. Get the SCM50 or 100 active for next test. The midrange looks the same but it is much higher quality grade. (I don't know about tweeter if there is any difference). Nice review. I confirm, the first thing you notice is the rich texture of the midrange. As if you could touch it. I have fallen in love with it and had to get a pair
I checked the tweeter. There are two different grades too. Both tweeter and midrange for classic and pro series (SCM50/100/110/150/200/300) are double the price vs entry series (SCM7/11/19/40/19A/ 40A)
HI I really appreciated the thorough review of the ATC 40s and I need to demo them for sure. You asked about tester tracks, and I have a few that I go with: Massive Attack's album Heligoland, track 7 Paradise Circus (listen for the vocal as it competes with the ever-increasing bass lines and then strings - great for depth and soundstage) ; Melanie Doane's album Shakespearean Fish, Track 6 Til I start to Believe (listen how well her vocal is double-tracked and separated in in the second half); Bozzio Levin Stevens - Black Light Syndrome - track 3 Duende (this pure recording of Flamenco guitar, drums and bass is a master class in sound engineering and tests your system for pure audio); Darkside - Psychic - track 8 - Metatron (listen for the small electronic bits and pieces that appear during the quiet pauses between insane bass lines); and finally Angele Dubeau and La Pieta - Portrait Alex Baranowski - Track 1 - Wiosna (the violins are amazing - played in the highest registers, they will really test the tweeters and general authority for the soundstage.
Showroom Dollies by Claude Challe on his Nirvana Lounge album is a brilliant track for separation, soundstage width and depth...If a hi-fi can cope with it, it can cope with anything!
I'm a Canadian Hegel dealer, Everest Audio, and used to be a dealer for ATC. I've lived with both the SCM19 and SCM40 for extended periods. I think you nailed the sonic attributes of the SCM40 very well. While the top end is decent, it isn't up to the level of the midrange. It does lack the air and extension I'd prefer. But, a great speaker regardless. One good friend purchased the active SCM40A from me, so I still get to hear these and thoroughly enjoy them every time. The H190 will "adequately" drive the SCM40, but if you have the SCM40, you definitely want to go for the H390 or higher. There's a very substantial difference in the performance between the two when it comes to the SCM40. For a demo track, definitely check the the song "Liberty" by Anette Askvik. I had demoed it in one Hegel based system when Anders from Hegel was visiting us and he was very familiar with sonic qualities of this superb song and had an interesting story about it and Anette.
@@thebiglamb1 the short story is that she changed who she used for recording her latest album and had no idea that it sounded considerably inferior to her audiophile loved "Liberty". Hegel demoed both to her on one of their systems and she didn't know the gap in sound quality between the two until she heard it herself.
I have a Hegel H360 with PMC twenty5.23. You think this could be a forward step? Im all happy with my system, just a question. Also what speakers do you recommend going with big Hegel amps? Greet.
@@schlomo7637 I wouldn’t swop the PMC Twenty5.23i for the ATC SCM40. Different strengths and weaknesses. The great thing with Hegel amps is that they work will a very wide range of speakers. You should be looking at something at the level as of the ATC SCM50 as the next upgrade 😊
My speakers on Tarun’s Tube! Can’t stop smiling 😊. I did positioned them as you described. 💯 agree on everything you specified, the tweeter is the thing that holds them back. With so much punch energy at the bottom, huge, meaty, glorious midrange that you can get lost in for years and amazing imaging depth and scale, great neutral to warm tone, what else can one ask… my ATC SCM 11 were more neutral, but the experience that the 40s offer is something special. Thank you Tarun!
Hi, Very interested in the feet you have chosen to place on the 40’s, Are they homemade? Or bought? I’ve never felt the treble lacked but after emailing ATC the s version of the tweeter isn’t available for these! Would be good if this was an option, But like you said probably left for higher price speakers. Regards speed
I had a pair of the MK1 SCM 40's a few years back. Had them around 2.5m apart, The soundstage was incredible. They were that good I upgraded to some SCM100's. Monster midrange driver.
My favorite demo track right now is Signed Sealed Delivered performed by Steve Gadd/Eddie Gomez/Ronnie Cuber/WDR Big Band Koln on the Center Stage album on Tidal. It is such a tight performance with pretty good dynamic range and the various solo breaks give you a taste of how different instruments sound on your system and the drum solo is also a great test. Thanks for another awesome review Tarun.
Brilliant stuff. Yes, Gadd, Gomez and Cuber are a hell of a team as evidenced on the 2 Gadd Gang albums. Both superb recordings and big favourites of mine.
A fantastic expert and long awaited review of this engimatic speaker. Well done Tarun! Now just waiting on Muscian Knight 1's, preferably driven by a Keces S300 power amp. :)
Thanks for the review Tarun as these are on my short list for speaker upgrade. Would love to hear the PMC Twenty5 24i to compare and maybe the Spendor D7.2s similar price range. My current favourite test track is from Yello and the incredibly talented Dorothee Oberlinger called Takla Makan.
Three of my favorites are - Dominique Fils Aime: Birds for female vocal, Tord Gustavsen Trio: Karmosin for details and quite listening and Horgas Eszter, Al Di Meola Libertango for high and mid details and soundstage.
Hi Tarun, Another excellent piece, so full of interesting insights into an extremely good loudspeaker from ATC. I agree that the sound stage and dynamics of this speaker are quite exceptional, and that the positioning of these cabinets in the listening room is of great importance. As is often the case, the choice of partnering equipment is so crucial to extract the maximum of this speakers potential. In addition, one of your earlier videos underlined the effects of cables on sound quality, and I think that with this speaker the choice of interconnects is especially important. I have a pair of active 40’s and have never personally felt that the tweeter was lacking in performance compared to the mid and bass units. Maybe having a dedicated amplifier for each driver helps to provide a more unified result across the full frequency range that our hearing capacity affords us. Finally, a good demo piece to put the forties to work; Mahler Symphony No.8 , third movement with the wick turned up ! Thank you once again for such interesting material.
Thank you for sharing Roger. I bet the active crossover as well as a dedicated amplifier for each driver makes quite the difference with active 40s. I hope to find out myself sometime 😊👍
Great video again , thanks Tarun .. I have a question as I learnt my lesson in Various chip based dacs and chord dacs are better for provides 3D soundstage with great soundstage depth which I love in sound now please let me know what are those good speakers that have good soundstage depth do I need to go beyond £2000 or second hand market .. I m using 2 Arcam amps , 1 marantz amp , and after your review I bought Audiolab 6000a Amp I like it, it has great wide soundstage but unfortunately no depth I have to add Mojo to get that depth than it’s amazing.by the way I m using Focal Chorus 706 not the 706v and I bought Celestion Ditton 22 which I love it’s 51 year old speaker.I have Arcam Alto speakers again good soundstage but not much of a depth.
I've had my SCM40's for about a year. They work superbly with my Hegel H360/ Aurender N10, Matrix X Sabre MQA DAC, Marantz Ruby SACD and Clearaudio Performance DC/ Satisfy Kardan Carbon/ Essence for vinyl through a Tom Evans Groove Anniversary. All in a 17x17 foot room. Over the years before downsizing house and kit I've had many more costly speakers ranging from Tannoy Kensingtons, various Sonus Fabers, Harbeth, Avalon, Maganaplanar and so on. The ATC's are at least as satisfying as many of those pricier options. Demo tracks I enjoy include: David Crosby: The Things We Do For Love (Lighthouse), Fiona Apple: Extraordinary Machine, Elvis Costello: God's Comic (Spike), Fleetwood Mac: Oh Daddy (Rumours, US double 45rpm), Janis Ian: Raising Silence, Steely Dan: Things I Miss The Most (Everything Must Go AP 45 rpm), Sarah Jane Morris/ Marc Ribot: Sugar In My Bowl (Migratory Birds), Alice Coltrane: Turia and Ramakrishna (Ptah, The El Daoud), Miles Davis: My Funny Valentine (Cookin' AP SACD), Cecile McLorin Salvant: anything from Dreams and Daggers, Ella Fitzgerald: Fine and Mellow (Pablo/AP LP), The George and Ira Gershwin Songbook (SC LP set), and many more Jazz tracks, Eric Bibb: In My Father's House (Spirit and the Blues, Opus 3 LP), David Rawlings: Guitar Man (Poor David's Alamanack), Richard Thompson: I Misunderstood (Rumor and Sigh, MoFi LP), Waldemar Bastos: N'Gana (Afropea 3 - Telling Stories to the Sea), Davy Sicard: Zwazo La Kol (Kabar), Lou Reed: Walk on the Wild Side (Transformer SC LP), Bela Fleck: Flight of the Cosmic Hippo. And many more. No time to get into classical but apologies for the length of this.
Great review of a great speaker! As I own them, powered by a Creek power amp, I would like to give you my favourite demo track, with which I have infected all HiFi dealers around me. It's swiss pianist NIK BÄRTSCH MOBILE's album "Ritual Groove Music" and the track to listen to is track 6 "Modul 2". Enjoy!
$9,000 CAD plus taxes so ~ £ 6,000 all in. I think I'll pass at that markup thank you. British made products already sell at a premium as it is. Shame as I'm in the market for something along this line.
Love your reviews! This one is to large and needs too much space for my humble abode.😢 Play list: The HiFi Collective -> Slow Reduction Dominique Fils-Aimé -> Nameless Etta Cameron -> Motherless Child Gorillaz -> Baby Queen
I own the 40s since 1 1/2 years. Demoed them with this Hegel H190. They cannot be driven loud with the Hegel without losing nearly all control and a lot of transparency. Now partnered with my Naim NAP250 (non DR) feeded by a NAC282 they are in really good companion in all regards including playing loud and are now light years ahead of this Hegel.
Tracks : Mere Gurudev by Deva Primal & Humankind by Dhafer Youssef & Sin Escaparme by Luis Paniagua Than a request. can you please maybe one day review the Spendor A7. I run it with the Hegel h390 and would love to know how it compares for you with things like the ATC.
Nice review. My suggestion for demo tracks: - Pat Metheny Group - American Garage - John Coltrane - Blue Train - Lalo Schifrin - Jazz meets the Symphony6 and all others Sym... - Blanco Y Negro - Bebo Valdes & Diego El Cigala - En Vivo - The Very Best of Enya
I recently upgraded my system and for demo listening sessions to compare male vocals I used bothers in arms covered by club for five a Capella group from Finland
The 19a got outstanding, but 40 just a highly recommended. I suspect the partnering amps are perhaps the bigger culprit here in not showing the true capability of the speakers. A hegel h390 would have made the review more balanced.
@@abritishaudiophile7314- Hi Taran, I DID run the 40s with the (Hegel 390) vs (WiFi-HD-Deezer/BlueOS/VenusIIDAC/Schiit Freya tube preamp/2 Vidar bridged monoblocks) using all the different combos through the Hegel bipass options. All good but I prefered the latter build. Probably the R2R DAC and some tube second harmonics. Every build was great at high SPL, like the Ophidions I bought at your reco. But what does all the things you and others ask for is to run any build into SCM 20DSL PROs which upgrades the tweeter from the 19s and has the very fast/cleaner midrange upgrade driver from the 50s; cleanest highs, fastest most powerful mids, more refined sound stage and imaging over the 19s or 11s. Better yet, I use both the 20s with short jumpers to just the woofers in the 40s. Wow! The Hegel requires long power cables but the monoblocks get long XLR signal cables and have short jumper power cables from the monoblocks to the 20s&40s. The black two way SCM 20DSL PROs are not beautiful but I'm told they are the ones at at Abby Road (?4U!LOL); brilliant next level up tweeter AND even better midrange. My plan is to eventually do each of the six driver cross overs digitally with a miniDSL processor and then provide seperate A/D & amps for each driver. I want to see what happins with NO analoge elements (well..except of course in the amplifiers.LOL) in the signal path. And added benefits might be to have the room correction taken care of at the miniDSL and no amps in speaker boxes! Cheers and all best from California. red
I once heard these play in my hifi shop powered by a Moon 340 amp and it was superb. My preferred testtracks are Where Breathing Starts by Tord Gustavsen Trio (that bass solo
Late one: I have mine 40's for 1,5 years now use them 5 - 10 hours a week. I can say yes to Tarun's findings about the tweeter level. But I have noticed a very long burn-in-time of it. And I think it have to do with the double suspension of it. It takes a long time to settle in. The highs and mids opened a considerable amount the last month or so. I needed to post this.... Great review by the way keep up to good work best wishes.
A great review as ever Tarun. I really enjoy this channel. Demo tracks: Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd Pretty Good Year - Tori Amos Miles Davis - Flamenco Sketches Mahler - Symphony #5 Massive Attack - Teardrop Jackson Browne - The Pretender Ann Sofie Van Otter & Elvis Costello - Baby Plays Around Bruce Springsteen - Human Touch
The first thing that came across my mind after listen to this great presentation is, the Dynaudio Contour 30i! I think you should consider compare these 2 speakers, last one would for sure match most of your lacking findings here.
Great video, really well done, with regards to music, try Ronny Jordan the antidote album, dynamic, bouncy and dark, great for testing bass weight and stability with speakers and power amps
My demo tracks 2049 - Hans Zimmer Back To Black - Amy Whinehouse Before Today - Everything But The Girl Don't Know Why - Norah Jones Graceland - Paul Simon Invisible Sun - The Police Kashmir - Led Zepplin Mosaic - Art Blakey Optimistic - Radiohead Too Broke To Spend The Night - Buddy Guy
As far as demo tracks are concerned, I have been obsessed with Hozier’s album, “Wasteland, Baby”, in particular the tracks, “Movement”, and “Shrike”. “Movement” emphasizes, especially at the start, bass fullness and punctuation, while simultaneously highlighting treble shimmer. “Shrike” Also digs into the bass, while highlighting vocal dynamics and finer detail. A good system will express the whisper in his voice nicely. I love this mode tracks.
Here's the ideal recording to test your system on: Dylan Thomas reading 'And Death Shall Have No Dominion'. No really. According the guys over at Harbeth the human voice will give you everything you need to judge the quality of speakers.
Hi, thanks for your review and this nice channel. Having lived 2 years with the passive 40's, I could experience some harshness in the upper medium sometimes too. My guess is that my amplifier (Nap 300dr) was not enough for them. I made the change to the active 40's, never experienced harshness again, a far better speaker then the passive version, a real bargain in fact.
I have heard these in a dealer's room. I still have ATC amplification in my 2nd system. Short point is that they are really good. You have to go high end (and that typically means high money) to do better. If I did not have my Magicos I could happily live with these.
Are the Magicos worth the cost. I just got rid if my QLN's and now weighing in a the Devor's super nines. Which I may get. Just saw this and though I'd ask. I have not heard the Magicos but the super nines are on another level.
@@jasonme3557 Hard to say Jason. I bought the Magico A3s when they were new but the price has gone up. I have not heard Devores but they have quite a reputation.
Thanks for another wonderful review Tarun. These are my end game speakers and are on the vision board! Along with ATC amp and CD/DAC. Demo tracks: Billie Eilish - You should see me in a crown, Two Feet - Love is a bitch, Muse - Madness, Dire straights - Once upon a time in the west & Yello - Point album. You know you’ve ruined me with this review. I’ve only just got the Buchardt S400 mk2 and Rel T7. ;)
Thank you Stuart. Much appreciated. I would love to check out the active version. Should move things up a notch or two. Thank you for the music suggestions too 😊👍
My favorite demo tracks are November 99 by Manu Katche, from his Neighbourhood album on the ECM label and A Little Warm Death by Cassandra Wilson, from her New Moon Daughter album. Both master recordings are available on Tidal. Great drum kit work by Manu and the Cassandra Wilson track captures the warm glow of her vocals and the sweet groove of her exceptional bandmates. Enjoy!
Favorite demo tracks in times past; Jazz - O-Zone Percussion Group - Jazz Variants. Electronic - Depeche Mode - Fly On The Windscreen. Male vocal Billy MacKenzie - Wild Is The Wind. Female vocal Agnes Obel - Run Cried The Calling. Group Dead Can Dance - Rakim (Live). Classical Chase The Dragon pressing of Vivaldi Four Seasons
Thanks for this Tarun. I've been looking forward to this. I lust after these beauties like you can't believe! Glad to hear that they're up to scratch. I too have a deep fondness for the dome midrange. I experienced their qualities in a pair of Pentagram P10s (5 sided 4 way Pyramid-shaped floorstanders) I owned when I lived in South Africa - a similar front array to the SCM 40s but with an 8" SEAS woofer, a ribbon tweeter and a passive 15" floor firing sub suspended from an internal brace by means of a heavy duty rubber band! - I kid you not. When those muthas were at full chat they were not measured in decibels but rather on The Richter scale - driven by a pair of bridged Alesis studio amps (500w a side) that dimmed rhe neighbourhood's lights when cranked up. Ridiculous (but great fun!). Demo Cds I can recommend - Patricia Barber - "Modern Cool" (Premonition/EMI) / two from the redoubtable team of Producer John Snyder and Engineer Jay Newland - James Cotton "Deep In The Blues" (Verve) and Jeanie Bryson "Some Cats Know" (Telarc) / Charlie Haden and Pat Metheny "Beyond The Missouri Sky" again Jay Newland engineering, (Universal).
@@abritishaudiophile7314 Let us know Tarun what you think. If your Exposure amps and speakers can convey the incredible talent of Gurtu. He plays drums, sometimes, with his fingers, he plays with his voice, a song with lots of impact, dynamics, fun, rythme.
The question why choose the passive version when they also build an Active Version :-). Heard only Pro Arguments for the Active Version, that theyre ,,better,, - but as always - subjective. Here is my ,,Best Of,, List what i collected over the years. Carefully long list :-D with various Genres
I would also like to hear this speaker with the more expensive tweeter. For me this tweeter fails to deliver the fine detail and airiness even in the smaller stand mounts. I have the mid in another “kit” speaker and as you say It really does mid range wonderfully well. In the kit the mid is paired with a scanspeak revelator tweeter which reveals considerably more detail. However, the ribbon tweeter in my Raidho’s are in a completely different class in both sound and price.
For power in the music, the closing 12 minutes of Mahler's 8th symphony conducted by Pierre Boulez on DGG, - that tuba blasting the low Ab plagal cadence. For clarity, the opening bars leading to the fist climax of Mahler's 9th symphony, listening to the rising chromatic lines in the celli and viola (they can't be heard with a lousy system, well with my system anyway) because it's a very crowded sprawling texture in the orchestration. I'm curious if they can be heard at all. Thanks for caring about the sound, and not being a salesman like the rest.
I'll recommend the following (and why) - no particular order: ~ The Very End by Blank & Jones on Chilltronic No. 6 (listen for random water drops [like raining on the mic - not your imagination!] amongst a sea of bass and other interesting percussion) ~ Make You Feel by Alina Baraz & Galimatias on Urban Flora (female vocal tone, piano, beep bass, listen for left-right & front-back instrument soundstage changes) ~ Alaska by Maggie Rogers on Heard It In A Past Life (fun song and check for bass modes of the room) ~ Yui by Ampyx on Yui (electronica, full of different sounds/samples) ~ Only Children by Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit on Reunions (male vocals, stereo separation, authentic guitar chord change string sounds) ~ Weather by Jackopierce on Bringing On The Weather (stereo separation [one guitar on left, one on right], listen for male vocal plosives - sounds like singing into your ear). ~ Better To Be Lonely (feat. Makk Mikkael) by Alex Lustig on Better To Be Lonely (simultaneous crazy bass and tweeter sibilance test, warning this song is addictive) ~ Jammin by Til Von Sein on Jammin (instrument separation, listen for the bells to move around the room and maracas move forward/backward) ~ Birds by Dominique Fils-Aimé on Nameless (female vocal tone+, bassy, simple, exquisite and repetitive to the extent you have time to soak in the subtleties) All available in HD or UltraHD on AmazonMusic or likely SD on RUclipsMusic - enjoy! You might see a tendancy toward bass in my recommendations. Open-baffle bass-head here - my experience nothing else comes close to the precision and texture of OB-subs.
My short list: Steely Dan's "Aja", Ai Kuwabara "Live at the Blue Note Tokyo", Duke Ellington "Blues in Orbit", Radiohead "Kid A", Jeff Golub "Soul Sessions", Sir Adrian Boult & the LPO "Vaughan Williams: The Nine Symphonies." Sorry for the long list. Great video as always. Thank you.
I like to mention something about the need for power. Yes, ATC's are powerhungry speakers, also like Dynaudio's for example. I have great experience with amps below 50 Watts per side, IF the power supply is robust and healthy. They say, it's all about the first Watts?! And not all Watts are equal. Currently I have mine 40's fed by Pass Labs pre and power amps. The poweramp is the highly regarded XA.30.8 (class A, 30 Watts per side) with a massive and robust powersupply. (The amp weighs 44 Kg.....). Class A is a whole different things. If you play at normal levels and sometimes a bit louder you will be fine, you don't need 300 Watts. But the ATC's can handle it if you want to max them out at crazy listeninglevels.
Go to track “Plains of Waterloo” by Martin Simpson ( Bootleg USA ) Its an excellent track both in pleasure & production. If you don’t know it check it out 😊
Hi Tarun, thank for the great review. I just saw it lately, although it's been posted for quite a while now. Since two years, I am a happy owner of a pair of SCM40's myself, and am very satisfied with their sound. Electronics is Cyrus pre-power amp. Your question regarding test track: my favorite in this respect would be The Curse from Agnes Obel. The ATC's bring the piano and violins to life. I have a question myself though. In the video the speakers are not mounted on spikes, but on some other feet? Could you please tell me which ones that are? Thank you.
I use Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On (Live (2004/Wiltern Theatre, Los Angeles)) By Willie Nelson and Friends feat. Jerry Lee Lewis, Kid Rock, Keith Richards & Merle Haggard. Lots going on in that track.
I've had MK1 40s & MK2 40s running off ATC CA2 and a pair of P1 amps. Both sounded superb. I prefered the more layed back warmer sound of the MK2. I then got some MK2 40A and wow the dynamics both loud and micro were superb, more air around the treble and vocals with tighter more controlled bass. I now have SCM50 ASLT and again things have got better but the SCM40A is possibly the best value speaker out there all things considered.
Martin Logan’s recent Motion 100 towers are receiving high praise. I wonder how these towers would compare price/performance wise with the Martin Logans. (The downside is ATC is double the price in the USA.)
over a year late, but my main reference track to test gear on is Pan by Plini. It is complex music, a lot of different passages, variation of instruments is solid, and then there's the sax solo. with that song, I can decide how I like or dislike gear pretty quickly.
For demo track, you can't beat Bonobo reacurring! Tbf, they are out of my price range. For the same cash as them new, I can get B&W Nautilus 803 AND still have cash to pick up something from Classé to power them from the fleabay! Good vid though.
A good and very fair review. I also have these speakers, fed by the Hegel H390, and the wonderful Duelund DCA16GA hookup wire. They are undoubtably brilliant speakers. I must however differ a little with the review. Being unported, they can be placed relatively close to the back wall without the bass booming. In fact, there aren't that many unported speakers available nowadays, so those with limited space have a restricted choice. Unless I win the lottery I will have these speakers forever. And if I do, I'll just get one of ATC's bigger offerings.
A demo track I use a lot is David Elias Vision Of Her, from "Acoustic Trio - DSD Session" ... oh the upright double bass , will sort out a lot of speakers, the acoustic guitar being plucked is he not sitting in my lounge somewhere.
Another wonderful review of such a great speaker. Thank you ATC for providing these speakers for review. Tarun, did you ever try removing that thick carpet In front of your listening position to see if it would provide better high frequency definition that you reported lacking in this review? From experience think carpets and lots of furnishings tend to zap the high frequencies in my listening space. Favourite listening tracks: Men I Trust, Album: Men I Trust, Track: System. Men I Trust, Album: Headroom, Track: Again. Harmonium, Album: Harmonium, Track: Harmonium. Kevin Paren, Album: Miguasha, Track: Provocateur. Au Pairs, Album: The Anthology, Track: Headache for Michelle. Michel Petrucciani, Album: Michel Petrucciani, Track: Gattito. David Crosby, Album: If I can Only Remember my Name, Track: Laughing Brian
Female vocals - Emmy Lou Harris. “Sweet Dreams” from Elite Hotel (1975) or (2003 remaster). Vocals can be eerie and enchanting or a bit harsh depending on the speakers
Thank you for the review Tarun. ATC speakers are high on my short list. But, any plans to review the Mission 770 any time soon? And demo track: anything by Tracy Chapman, especially Talkin' Bout A Revolution.
Could you do a review of Canton Vento 30, because they are basically at the same price as the highly acclaimed Kef Ls50, but in my opinion the Kef's sound is much more undetailed, especially in the lower frequency department.
The key to some manufacturer’s decision making can be questionable. The reason for this may be obscure to some. There are other tiers of speakers. Do you really expect this or any manufacturer to put all their best in a base level speaker? It isn’t happening. What you get is a compromise that gets you into their brand and drives you to seek their best whether you can afford it or not. Is it wrong? Depends on what your idea of wrong is. I am not kicking this or any other manufacturer for their choices. Only the purchaser needs to have realistic expectations for any given speaker at any price point they happen to be. You won’t get the best on the first tier and no one who has any common sense is expecting that given what that would mean. There are compromises in all speakers and each one must choose what is important and focus on that based on their need and budget. No one can achieve an absolute level without finding it through a journey that involves finding what is important to them and what manufacturers give them that given their price point at the time. As your budget increases, so must your expectations. Find your best choices by finding those brands that deliver for your budget and never give up on finding the best that your budget will allow! Your review is spot on Tarun! It proves that you can get close given a price point. It also lets people know there isn’t any easy decision that doesn’t involve compromise.
Many thanks for your particular review of the ATC SCM40 speakers. In your opinion are these speakers harder to drive than the ATC SCM19 or the opposite? As a demo track to test the system on speed or is it tempo/rhythm would be Pink Floyd's Money because when the saxophone solo ends and the guitar solo follows on, the drum beat markedly picks up pace, and a good system would instantly reflect that change of pace.
Thank you my friend. They both require a bit of current to wake them up and control the low frequencies but I found the 40s a little more satisfying to listen to at low volume due to a fuller sound 😊
Recommended demo track. Uncertain Smile from the album "Soul Mining" by The The. Jools Holland on Piano and Zeke Manyika on drums make for a stunning listening experience. Highly highly highly recommended.
Thanks for the review. Very informative as always. Demo top picks, DIGITAL 1. Angel (Sarah McLachlan) female vocal/piano. 2. Fever (Malia/Boris Blank) female vocal/deep bass. 3. Firestarter (Prodigy) Its never too loud. 4. Dreamer (Prince) male vocal/guitar. VINYL 5. Time (Pink Floyd) It has everything. Sorry no jazz, not my thing. Eclectic mix to test your system.
Hi Tarun I'm looking at both the ATC 50 actives and the Dynaudio Focus 50s. My listening room isn't ideal as it very large with lots of reflective surfaces. So the Dirac room optimisation is edging it for me at the moment. Hope you're keeping well. Just found your chanel and it has been a mine of information - so thanks for that. Hope you and M are keeping well. Will pop over next time I'm in the area. PS I have two pairs of Edifier 3000 Pros active bookshelf speakers and they have blown my mind for quality at the price point. Happy to bring you a pair for review. Cheers Lee
I Own a MkI version of those SCM40's, which uses a VIFA/Peerless Ferrofluid tweeter, which is brand new because when I bought them, the original ones were dead (I knew it). Even with those brand new tweeters, they tend to distort, and they're way below their two Middome and Bass inhouse drivers in terms of quality, which is a shame. I'm pretty sure they're much much worse than their inhouse silkdome tweeters that are fitted in MkII's and MkIII's that you tend to say they're ok but not as astonishing as the other two. So yeah, I tend to have the same thoughts than you, stunning speaker (and I got them for 1 500€, put 200€ for those crappy tweeters), and they bury every signle speaker I've ever tried, but, as you said in the beginning, a DIY enhancement needs to be done, a big tweeter Upgrade is needed, as for me (I use them in my HiFi and Home Recording Studio). (PS : I used them with various sources, a 1U 19" Racked Studio Converter from my PC - for recording and Digital playback, an 80's Technics SL-P550 CD Player, a 1970's heavily upgraded Thorens TD-160 with Nagaoka MP-110 cartridge, all that into a 1988 Accuphase E-305).
Hi Tarun. Some more for demo purposes, with specific regard to bass reproduction - 1) John Martyn "The Church With One Bell" (a superb piece of recording) / 2) Bill La Bounty "Into Something Blue" (particularly 'Ax To Grind' and 'You Can't Break My Heart') / 3) Lee Ritenour "Rhythm Sessions" (try 'LA By Bike').
Tarun, regarding the tweeter discussion, have you considered reviewing the passive or active 20s? They're not the most visible of the ATC range, not many reviews around of them, but they do have the super linear tweeter. There is an ATC forum, and the few that have the 20s love them.
Ooh so many tracks to recommend so I'm gonna go with a couple of left field suggestions ; The Royal Airforce Squadronaires - In The Mood and Dead Can Dance Live American dreaming - A test of midrange and ambience.
Any review with Keith Moon will put a smile on my face. With that in mind, how about Dreaming From The Waist (Live At Swansea Football Ground, 1976). Keep up the good work. All the best, Paul
Fascinating speakers. I didn't know there are ATC floorstanders at this price point. Two of my favourite demo tracks: Icicle by Tori Amos (piano and female voice) and Hey Now by London Grammar (a difficult one on purpose to get the bass right)
The London Grammar song Hey Now, likes to incite resonances in a lot of my speakers. It makes internal wiring rattle against crossbraces, lol. Such a resonant bass.
Thank you Tarun for the excelent review. Tracks: High Water Everywhere (Live) - Joe Bonamassa / Paloma Negra - Lila Downs / It Makes Me Scream (Live) - Meena Cryle / Kingdom of One - Maren Morris / Keith Don't Go (Live) - Nils Lofgren / Tulipani - Fausto Mesolella / Whithout You - Teeks / Arthur's Theme (Live) - Monty Alexander / Angel Eyes - markusphilippe / Mi Corazon - Brandt Brauer Frick / Seven Blues - Nenad Vasilic / Berimbass - Renaud Garcia-Fons / Laytana - Le Trio Joubran / Black Shoes - Felix Laband.
It would be great to see how these ATCs would pair with Rotel amps. Rotel is supposed to be affordable versions of Hegel amps. Could be interesting to hear ATCs with Rotel a11 paired with a Rotel power amp.
Another great review Tarun,from the description of the midrange you gave can I suggest Stevie Ray Vaughan's "Couldnt Stand The Weather"album and in particular the track "Tin Pan Alley"/Roughest Place In Town......If you have never heard it through a great system you wont be disappointed.
Love a review when it involves your speakers. I absolutely love them and very much enjoy the amazing tweeter performance thank you very much. Driven by Michi P5/S5 combo (800w+). Songs getting a good go at the moment: Tin Pan Alley (AKA the roughest place in town) Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double trouble Don't Explain - Chantal Chamberland I want a little sugar in my bowl - Chantal Chamberland
You said you would do floorstanding reviews. And you are delivering!! Much more relevant to me, I have the Elac Unifi FS U5 Slim floorstanders, they are the single best hifi component I have ever purchased! Hope you will do speakers in the $1000 range later.
On the tweeter, I'll bet that an upgrade of the capacitor (and possibly the resistor, as well?) that are on the tweeter, would open the soundstage up, and improve the treble in general. And possibly a high quality bypass cap, would max out the tweeter's quality?
@@abritishaudiophile7314 You foreshadowed this in earlier in your video. Even very good caps, like ClarityCap CSA can be improved with an even better bypass cap. I like the 0.1uF Audyn Plus Cap (which are a bargain at about $9US) as bypass caps. These effectively drop the ESR by nearly half, and the effect is not subtle.
I use the Townshend supertweeter on top. Tarun is right about this ATC tweeter and told it fare and square. By the way, not spoken of the integration of the 3 drivers, in a 3-way very hard to get right. The 40's seems liquid in this regard very well done.
I recommend just about anything by the band Fourplay as a demo disc they are all great recordings with superb musicianship by Bob James ,Larry Carlton ,Nathan East and Harvey Mason my highlights are the albums" Heartfelt" , "yes please" and " X " Also anything by Dave Grusin especially the album "Migration" ..I had ATC active 100 towers some time ago which i liked at first especially the mid range but i found the cabinets could have been better damped , but the drive units and amp packs were great .I changed them for a pair of Meridian dsp 8000 actives speakers which i had for 10 years and loved them . Moving house meant downsizing and i chose the Q audio concept 500s driven by a Michi X5 a very nice combination and great value for money If anyone has these I recommend a set of Iso acoustics gaii2 under the C500s and orea Bordeax under the Michi they aren`t cheap but i think they are worth the expense ,they really open out the soundstage tighten and extend the bass along with a REL sub woofer parked in a corner . Keep up the good work Tarun .
Another nice review, Tweeters make you say hhhmmm... are they or aren't good enough and would a front end tweak help. Seems to be a well thought out speaker.
Childrens Chambers by Girls In Airports is one of my favourite demo tracks. More than anything, I love this song and know it well enough to get an idea about of the demo equipment 😊 - cheers from Melbourne
A few years ago, I persuaded my long suffering wife, or to be honest bamboozled her into tollerating? Me, seriously upgrading my hifi. I’m blessed with a liberal sprinkling of local ‘bricks & mortar’ hifi dealers. I auditioned the ATC SCM 40 speakers along with multiple others across 7 dealers. My findings pretty much concur with yours. They are power hungry.my Rega Elicit British integrated amp which I had at the time, struggled to keep a tight grip on the bass. The next amp up in the Rega range, the Aethos, overcame that difficulty. I also found them very fussy about positioning. But once that was achieved, they were punchy, snappy, smooth from the mid range down, but overall, a little dull, lacking top end presence! They would have been extremely difficult to accommodate in my family lounge. One particular dealer though did try too hard to persuade me to choose them above all others in that general price bracket. I didn’t, and have absolutely no purchase regret with my final choice. A couple of months ago, one of the local dealers closed down. They contacted me advising they had a pair of ex demo ATC SCM50 speakers which they could let me have at a heavily discounted price. I may have been tempted if Ihad a larger lounge, or dedicated listening room.
Great to learn about your experiences Howard. I would have to move house to accommodate the ATC SCM 50 Actives but it may be worth it 😂👍
I'm most interested in the active 40s. I own the 19's due in part to your review of them. I do ponder if the 19s + a good sub as I'm using, is the better option for the $ then the passive 40s. What you get is a greater full range sound, but perhaps with sacrificing some mid range. By most accounts, the 40s are great, the active 40s even better. Finally, some do consider the 19s the sweet spot in the line up, but they must have a good sub or two if one wants full range audio.
I couldn’t agree more. It would like to check out the SCM40 Actives. For now I will be glad to get those flight cases out of the house 👍
I have the actives and it was the midrange that first got my attention when listening to female vocalists. They really open up and excel when played loud and only complete bass heads would need a sub. Having built in amps saves you the headache of finding matching external amps and you save on interconnect cables. I’m really glad I went down the active route so give them an audition you won’t be disappointed.
atc's shine at high volumes. Active versions are actually the first choice. To match actives you need to have a lot of power in the amp. Get the SCM50 or 100 active for next test. The midrange looks the same but it is much higher quality grade. (I don't know about tweeter if there is any difference). Nice review. I confirm, the first thing you notice is the rich texture of the midrange. As if you could touch it. I have fallen in love with it and had to get a pair
@@wojciechczupta thx for sharing your experiences 😊
I checked the tweeter. There are two different grades too. Both tweeter and midrange for classic and pro series (SCM50/100/110/150/200/300) are double the price vs entry series (SCM7/11/19/40/19A/ 40A)
Great review as always! A demo track i often use is 'Yulunga' from Dead Can Dance album 'Into the Labyrinth'.
Thank you. I will check it out over this weekend 😊
My favourite demo track these days: Schuberts octet with Wigmore Soloist.
Cool 😎
HI
I really appreciated the thorough review of the ATC 40s and I need to demo them for sure. You asked about tester tracks, and I have a few that I go with: Massive Attack's album Heligoland, track 7 Paradise Circus (listen for the vocal as it competes with the ever-increasing bass lines and then strings - great for depth and soundstage) ; Melanie Doane's album Shakespearean Fish, Track 6 Til I start to Believe (listen how well her vocal is double-tracked and separated in in the second half); Bozzio Levin Stevens - Black Light Syndrome - track 3 Duende (this pure recording of Flamenco guitar, drums and bass is a master class in sound engineering and tests your system for pure audio); Darkside - Psychic - track 8 - Metatron (listen for the small electronic bits and pieces that appear during the quiet pauses between insane bass lines); and finally Angele Dubeau and La Pieta - Portrait Alex Baranowski - Track 1 - Wiosna (the violins are amazing - played in the highest registers, they will really test the tweeters and general authority for the soundstage.
Thank you Bob 😊
Showroom Dollies by Claude Challe on his Nirvana Lounge album is a brilliant track for separation, soundstage width and depth...If a hi-fi can cope with it, it can cope with anything!
Thank you Coral 👍
I'm a Canadian Hegel dealer, Everest Audio, and used to be a dealer for ATC. I've lived with both the SCM19 and SCM40 for extended periods. I think you nailed the sonic attributes of the SCM40 very well. While the top end is decent, it isn't up to the level of the midrange. It does lack the air and extension I'd prefer. But, a great speaker regardless. One good friend purchased the active SCM40A from me, so I still get to hear these and thoroughly enjoy them every time. The H190 will "adequately" drive the SCM40, but if you have the SCM40, you definitely want to go for the H390 or higher. There's a very substantial difference in the performance between the two when it comes to the SCM40. For a demo track, definitely check the the song "Liberty" by Anette Askvik. I had demoed it in one Hegel based system when Anders from Hegel was visiting us and he was very familiar with sonic qualities of this superb song and had an interesting story about it and Anette.
Thank you Neil. Great to have you perspective as someone very familiar with these products 👍
I listen to both of Anette's albums regularly, I am intrigued about the story.
@@thebiglamb1 the short story is that she changed who she used for recording her latest album and had no idea that it sounded considerably inferior to her audiophile loved "Liberty". Hegel demoed both to her on one of their systems and she didn't know the gap in sound quality between the two until she heard it herself.
I have a Hegel H360 with PMC twenty5.23.
You think this could be a forward step?
Im all happy with my system, just a question.
Also what speakers do you recommend going with big Hegel amps?
Greet.
@@schlomo7637 I wouldn’t swop the PMC Twenty5.23i for the ATC SCM40. Different strengths and weaknesses. The great thing with Hegel amps is that they work will a very wide range of speakers. You should be looking at something at the level as of the ATC SCM50 as the next upgrade 😊
My speakers on Tarun’s Tube! Can’t stop smiling 😊. I did positioned them as you described. 💯 agree on everything you specified, the tweeter is the thing that holds them back. With so much punch energy at the bottom, huge, meaty, glorious midrange that you can get lost in for years and amazing imaging depth and scale, great neutral to warm tone, what else can one ask… my ATC SCM 11 were more neutral, but the experience that the 40s offer is something special.
Thank you Tarun!
Thank you my friend. Glad to know my experiences match yours 👍
@@abritishaudiophile7314do you measure the distance apart from tweeter to tweeter?
@@mayssebmasenya9132 yes, that is right 😊
Hi, Very interested in the feet you have chosen to place on the 40’s, Are they homemade? Or bought? I’ve never felt the treble lacked but after emailing ATC the s version of the tweeter isn’t available for these! Would be good if this was an option, But like you said probably left for higher price speakers. Regards speed
Nothing fancy, I just use washing machine anti-vibration feet 🙂
Thanks, They look good.
I had a pair of the MK1 SCM 40's a few years back. Had them around 2.5m apart, The soundstage was incredible. They were that good I upgraded to some SCM100's. Monster midrange driver.
Wow. Very envious 👍
My favorite demo track right now is Signed Sealed Delivered performed by Steve Gadd/Eddie Gomez/Ronnie Cuber/WDR Big Band Koln on the Center Stage album on Tidal. It is such a tight performance with pretty good dynamic range and the various solo breaks give you a taste of how different instruments sound on your system and the drum solo is also a great test. Thanks for another awesome review Tarun.
Thank you Bryan. I will check it out 👍
Brilliant stuff. Yes, Gadd, Gomez and Cuber are a hell of a team as evidenced on the 2 Gadd Gang albums. Both superb recordings and big favourites of mine.
A fantastic expert and long awaited review of this engimatic speaker. Well done Tarun!
Now just waiting on Muscian Knight 1's, preferably driven by a Keces S300 power amp. :)
Thank you Connor. Much appreciated 😊👍
I use the ATC 45a pro in my studio and they do have the better tweeter and what a tweeter it is you will love it
Cool 😎
Thanks for the review Tarun as these are on my short list for speaker upgrade. Would love to hear the PMC Twenty5 24i to compare and maybe the Spendor D7.2s similar price range. My current favourite test track is from Yello and the incredibly talented Dorothee Oberlinger called Takla Makan.
Thank you. I hope to get to them in time 👍
Three of my favorites are - Dominique Fils Aime: Birds for female vocal, Tord Gustavsen Trio: Karmosin for details and quite listening and Horgas Eszter, Al Di Meola Libertango for high and mid details and soundstage.
Thank you Julien 😊
Hi Tarun,
Another excellent piece, so full of interesting insights into an extremely good loudspeaker from ATC. I agree that the sound stage and dynamics of this speaker are quite exceptional, and that the positioning of these cabinets in the listening room is of great importance.
As is often the case, the choice of partnering equipment is so crucial to extract the maximum of this speakers potential. In addition, one of your earlier videos underlined the effects of cables on sound quality, and I think that with this speaker the choice of interconnects is especially important. I have a pair of active 40’s and have never personally felt that the tweeter was lacking in performance compared to the mid and bass units. Maybe having a dedicated amplifier for each driver helps to provide a more unified result across the full frequency range that our hearing capacity affords us.
Finally, a good demo piece to put the forties to work; Mahler Symphony No.8 , third movement with the wick turned up !
Thank you once again for such interesting material.
Thank you for sharing Roger. I bet the active crossover as well as a dedicated amplifier for each driver makes quite the difference with active 40s. I hope to find out myself sometime 😊👍
Great video again , thanks Tarun .. I have a question as I learnt my lesson in Various chip based dacs and chord dacs are better for provides 3D soundstage with great soundstage depth which I love in sound now please let me know what are those good speakers that have good soundstage depth do I need to go beyond £2000 or second hand market .. I m using 2 Arcam amps , 1 marantz amp , and after your review I bought Audiolab 6000a Amp I like it, it has great wide soundstage but unfortunately no depth I have to add Mojo to get that depth than it’s amazing.by the way I m using Focal Chorus 706 not the 706v and I bought Celestion Ditton 22 which I love it’s 51 year old speaker.I have Arcam Alto speakers again good soundstage but not much of a depth.
Thank you Atri. Chord FAC have great depth. The rest of the system and placement also need to preserve it. That is the challenge 😊
I've had my SCM40's for about a year. They work superbly with my Hegel H360/ Aurender N10, Matrix X Sabre MQA DAC, Marantz Ruby SACD and Clearaudio Performance DC/ Satisfy Kardan Carbon/ Essence for vinyl through a Tom Evans Groove Anniversary. All in a 17x17 foot room. Over the years before downsizing house and kit I've had many more costly speakers ranging from Tannoy Kensingtons, various Sonus Fabers, Harbeth, Avalon, Maganaplanar and so on. The ATC's are at least as satisfying as many of those pricier options. Demo tracks I enjoy include: David Crosby: The Things We Do For Love (Lighthouse), Fiona Apple: Extraordinary Machine, Elvis Costello: God's Comic (Spike), Fleetwood Mac: Oh Daddy (Rumours, US double 45rpm), Janis Ian: Raising Silence, Steely Dan: Things I Miss The Most (Everything Must Go AP 45 rpm), Sarah Jane Morris/ Marc Ribot: Sugar In My Bowl (Migratory Birds), Alice Coltrane: Turia and Ramakrishna (Ptah, The El Daoud), Miles Davis: My Funny Valentine (Cookin' AP SACD), Cecile McLorin Salvant: anything from Dreams and Daggers, Ella Fitzgerald: Fine and Mellow (Pablo/AP LP), The George and Ira Gershwin Songbook (SC LP set), and many more Jazz tracks, Eric Bibb: In My Father's House (Spirit and the Blues, Opus 3 LP), David Rawlings: Guitar Man (Poor David's Alamanack), Richard Thompson: I Misunderstood (Rumor and Sigh, MoFi LP), Waldemar Bastos: N'Gana (Afropea 3 - Telling Stories to the Sea), Davy Sicard: Zwazo La Kol (Kabar), Lou Reed: Walk on the Wild Side (Transformer SC LP), Bela Fleck: Flight of the Cosmic Hippo. And many more. No time to get into classical but apologies for the length of this.
Thank you David for sharing your experiences and demo list 👍
Great review of a great speaker! As I own them, powered by a Creek power amp, I would like to give you my favourite demo track, with which I have infected all HiFi dealers around me. It's swiss pianist NIK BÄRTSCH MOBILE's album "Ritual Groove Music" and the track to listen to is track 6 "Modul 2". Enjoy!
Thank you Robertus 😊
Toadies - The Appeal, from the album Heretics
Thank you 😊
$9,000 CAD plus taxes so ~ £ 6,000 all in. I think I'll pass at that markup thank you. British made products already sell at a premium as it is. Shame as I'm in the market for something along this line.
Yeh, it was always going to be more expensive over there 😊
Love your reviews! This one is to large and needs too much space for my humble abode.😢
Play list:
The HiFi Collective -> Slow Reduction
Dominique Fils-Aimé -> Nameless
Etta Cameron -> Motherless Child
Gorillaz -> Baby Queen
Thank you Bob 👍
I own the 40s since 1 1/2 years. Demoed them with this Hegel H190. They cannot be driven loud with the Hegel without losing nearly all control and a lot of transparency. Now partnered with my Naim NAP250 (non DR) feeded by a NAC282 they are in really good companion in all regards including playing loud and are now light years ahead of this Hegel.
Thank you for sharing 😊
Tracks : Mere Gurudev by Deva Primal & Humankind by Dhafer Youssef & Sin Escaparme by Luis Paniagua
Than a request. can you please maybe one day review the Spendor A7. I run it with the Hegel h390 and would love to know how it compares for you with things like the ATC.
Thank you. I appreciate the suggestion 😊
Nice review.
My suggestion for demo tracks:
- Pat Metheny Group - American Garage
- John Coltrane - Blue Train
- Lalo Schifrin - Jazz meets the Symphony6 and all others Sym...
- Blanco Y Negro - Bebo Valdes & Diego El Cigala - En Vivo
- The Very Best of Enya
Caribbean Blue by Enya is an excellent demo track . I’ve heard a lot speakers that distort the bass line at 7 seconds at high volume
Thank you. Some new ones for me to check out there 👍
As for bass music, one of my favorites is…TURNING THE BEAT AROUND by Gloria Estefan…I STILL LOVE PERCUSSION (remastered )🤗😁💚💚💚
Cool 😎 thank you 😊
I recently upgraded my system and for demo listening sessions to compare male vocals I used bothers in arms covered by club for five a Capella group from Finland
Thank you John 😊
The 19a got outstanding, but 40 just a highly recommended. I suspect the partnering amps are perhaps the bigger culprit here in not showing the true capability of the speakers. A hegel h390 would have made the review more balanced.
The active crossover makes a lot of difference. Don’t take just my word for it, ask ATC 😊
@@abritishaudiophile7314- Hi Taran, I DID run the 40s with the (Hegel 390) vs (WiFi-HD-Deezer/BlueOS/VenusIIDAC/Schiit Freya tube preamp/2 Vidar bridged monoblocks) using all the different combos through the Hegel bipass options. All good but I prefered the latter build. Probably the R2R DAC and some tube second harmonics. Every build was great at high SPL, like the Ophidions I bought at your reco.
But what does all the things you and others ask for is to run any build into SCM 20DSL PROs which upgrades the tweeter from the 19s and has the very fast/cleaner midrange upgrade driver from the 50s; cleanest highs, fastest most powerful mids, more refined sound stage and imaging over the 19s or 11s. Better yet, I use both the 20s with short jumpers to just the woofers in the 40s. Wow! The Hegel requires long power cables but the monoblocks get long XLR signal cables and have short jumper power cables from the monoblocks to the 20s&40s.
The black two way SCM 20DSL PROs are not beautiful but I'm told they are the ones at at Abby Road (?4U!LOL); brilliant next level up tweeter AND even better midrange. My plan is to eventually do each of the six driver cross overs digitally with a miniDSL processor and then provide seperate A/D & amps for each driver. I want to see what happins with NO analoge elements (well..except of course in the amplifiers.LOL) in the signal path. And added benefits might be to have the room correction taken care of at the miniDSL and no amps in speaker boxes! Cheers and all best from California. red
@@richarddemaray9775 Great stuff Richard. Very interesting to learn about your experiences 👍
That midrange driver is said to be massive. Wish they sold it to speaker builders.
That would be nice but maybe counterproductive from their perspective 😊
I once heard these play in my hifi shop powered by a Moon 340 amp and it was superb. My preferred testtracks are Where Breathing Starts by Tord Gustavsen Trio (that bass solo
Thank you 😊
Another one for Manu
One of my favorite demo tracks:
Walking on the moon, by Yuri Honing Trio.
Thank you Ed 👍
Late one: I have mine 40's for 1,5 years now use them 5 - 10 hours a week. I can say yes to Tarun's findings about the tweeter level. But I have noticed a very long burn-in-time of it. And I think it have to do with the double suspension of it. It takes a long time to settle in. The highs and mids opened a considerable amount the last month or so. I needed to post this.... Great review by the way keep up to good work best wishes.
A great review as ever Tarun. I really enjoy this channel.
Demo tracks:
Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd
Pretty Good Year - Tori Amos
Miles Davis - Flamenco Sketches
Mahler - Symphony #5
Massive Attack - Teardrop
Jackson Browne - The Pretender
Ann Sofie Van Otter & Elvis Costello - Baby Plays Around
Bruce Springsteen - Human Touch
Thank you Tim. Great suggestions 😊👍
The first thing that came across my mind after listen to this great presentation is, the Dynaudio Contour 30i! I think you should consider compare these 2 speakers, last one would for sure match most of your lacking findings here.
Thank you Nick. Much appreciated. That is on my radar 😊👍
Great video, really well done, with regards to music, try Ronny Jordan the antidote album, dynamic, bouncy and dark, great for testing bass weight and stability with speakers and power amps
Thank you kindly 👍
My demo tracks
2049 - Hans Zimmer
Back To Black - Amy Whinehouse
Before Today - Everything But The Girl
Don't Know Why - Norah Jones
Graceland - Paul Simon
Invisible Sun - The Police
Kashmir - Led Zepplin
Mosaic - Art Blakey
Optimistic - Radiohead
Too Broke To Spend The Night - Buddy Guy
Great list. Thank you 👍
As far as demo tracks are concerned, I have been obsessed with Hozier’s album, “Wasteland, Baby”, in particular the tracks, “Movement”, and “Shrike”. “Movement” emphasizes, especially at the start, bass fullness and punctuation, while simultaneously highlighting treble shimmer. “Shrike” Also digs into the bass, while highlighting vocal dynamics and finer detail. A good system will express the whisper in his voice nicely. I love this mode tracks.
Thank you 😊
Here's the ideal recording to test your system on: Dylan Thomas reading 'And Death Shall Have No Dominion'. No really. According the guys over at Harbeth the human voice will give you everything you need to judge the quality of speakers.
Thank you for sharing 😊
Hi, thanks for your review and this nice channel. Having lived 2 years with the passive 40's, I could experience some harshness in the upper medium sometimes too. My guess is that my amplifier (Nap 300dr) was not enough for them. I made the change to the active 40's, never experienced harshness again, a far better speaker then the passive version, a real bargain in fact.
Thank you Nicholas. I hope to try the 40 Actives at some point 😊
I have heard these in a dealer's room. I still have ATC amplification in my 2nd system. Short point is that they are really good. You have to go high end (and that typically means high money) to do better. If I did not have my Magicos I could happily live with these.
Thank you for sharing your experience Zog 👍
Are the Magicos worth the cost. I just got rid if my QLN's and now weighing in a the Devor's super nines. Which I may get.
Just saw this and though I'd ask. I have not heard the Magicos but the super nines are on another level.
@@jasonme3557 Hard to say Jason. I bought the Magico A3s when they were new but the price has gone up. I have not heard Devores but they have quite a reputation.
Thanks for another wonderful review Tarun. These are my end game speakers and are on the vision board! Along with ATC amp and CD/DAC.
Demo tracks: Billie Eilish - You should see me in a crown, Two Feet - Love is a bitch, Muse - Madness, Dire straights - Once upon a time in the west & Yello - Point album.
You know you’ve ruined me with this review. I’ve only just got the Buchardt S400 mk2 and Rel T7. ;)
Thank you Stuart. Much appreciated. I would love to check out the active version. Should move things up a notch or two. Thank you for the music suggestions too 😊👍
My favorite demo tracks are November 99 by Manu Katche, from his Neighbourhood album on the ECM label and A Little Warm Death by Cassandra Wilson, from her New Moon Daughter album. Both master recordings are available on Tidal. Great drum kit work by Manu and the Cassandra Wilson track captures the warm glow of her vocals and the sweet groove of her exceptional bandmates. Enjoy!
Thank you Dave. I am not familiar with Manu Katche, I will check it out 👍
@@abritishaudiophile7314 try neighborhood the first album. It’s stunning, you will hear it from the first 10 seconds of the album
Favorite demo tracks in times past; Jazz - O-Zone Percussion Group - Jazz Variants. Electronic - Depeche Mode - Fly On The Windscreen. Male vocal Billy MacKenzie - Wild Is The Wind. Female vocal Agnes Obel - Run Cried The Calling. Group Dead Can Dance - Rakim (Live). Classical Chase The Dragon pressing of Vivaldi Four Seasons
Thank you 😊
Thanks for this Tarun. I've been looking forward to this. I lust after these beauties like you can't believe! Glad to hear that they're up to scratch. I too have a deep fondness for the dome midrange. I experienced their qualities in a pair of Pentagram P10s (5 sided 4 way Pyramid-shaped floorstanders) I owned when I lived in South Africa - a similar front array to the SCM 40s but with an 8" SEAS woofer, a ribbon tweeter and a passive 15" floor firing sub suspended from an internal brace by means of a heavy duty rubber band! - I kid you not. When those muthas were at full chat they were not measured in decibels but rather on The Richter scale - driven by a pair of bridged Alesis studio amps (500w a side) that dimmed rhe neighbourhood's lights when cranked up. Ridiculous (but great fun!). Demo Cds I can recommend - Patricia Barber - "Modern Cool" (Premonition/EMI) / two from the redoubtable team of Producer John Snyder and Engineer Jay Newland - James Cotton "Deep In The Blues" (Verve) and Jeanie Bryson "Some Cats Know" (Telarc) / Charlie Haden and Pat Metheny "Beyond The Missouri Sky" again Jay Newland engineering, (Universal).
Great to learn about your experiences. I appreciate the music suggestions too 👍
Demo track: Trilok Gurtu's Maya. Crank the volume, forget about your neighbors. Love this piece!
Cool 😎 I will check it out 😊
@@abritishaudiophile7314 Let us know Tarun what you think. If your Exposure amps and speakers can convey the incredible talent of Gurtu. He plays drums, sometimes, with his fingers, he plays with his voice, a song with lots of impact, dynamics, fun, rythme.
The question why choose the passive version when they also build an Active Version :-). Heard only Pro Arguments for the Active Version, that theyre ,,better,, - but as always - subjective. Here is my ,,Best Of,, List what i collected over the years. Carefully long list :-D with various Genres
Big price difference and many already have an amp. £7,400
Variety is the spice of life 😊
Ps audio's Octave records for demo tracks comes to mind?
Really enjoy your channel! 👍
Thank you Mark 👍
Yes I've worked my way through Paul McGowan's 120 or so favourite tracks. Some are real bass workouts.
I would also like to hear this speaker with the more expensive tweeter. For me this tweeter fails to deliver the fine detail and airiness even in the smaller stand mounts. I have the mid in another “kit” speaker and as you say It really does mid range wonderfully well. In the kit the mid is paired with a scanspeak revelator tweeter which reveals considerably more detail. However, the ribbon tweeter in my Raidho’s are in a completely different class in both sound and price.
I assume its a development of the old Seas unit. The models above this one have an 'S' spec tweeter
Thank you for sharing your experiences 😊
For power in the music, the closing 12 minutes of Mahler's 8th symphony conducted by Pierre Boulez on DGG, - that tuba blasting the low Ab plagal cadence.
For clarity, the opening bars leading to the fist climax of Mahler's 9th symphony, listening to the rising chromatic lines in the celli and viola (they can't be heard with a lousy system, well with my system anyway) because it's a very crowded sprawling texture in the orchestration. I'm curious if they can be heard at all.
Thanks for caring about the sound, and not being a salesman like the rest.
Thank you 😊
I'll recommend the following (and why) - no particular order:
~ The Very End by Blank & Jones on Chilltronic No. 6 (listen for random water drops [like raining on the mic - not your imagination!] amongst a sea of bass and other interesting percussion)
~ Make You Feel by Alina Baraz & Galimatias on Urban Flora (female vocal tone, piano, beep bass, listen for left-right & front-back instrument soundstage changes)
~ Alaska by Maggie Rogers on Heard It In A Past Life (fun song and check for bass modes of the room)
~ Yui by Ampyx on Yui (electronica, full of different sounds/samples)
~ Only Children by Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit on Reunions (male vocals, stereo separation, authentic guitar chord change string sounds)
~ Weather by Jackopierce on Bringing On The Weather (stereo separation [one guitar on left, one on right], listen for male vocal plosives - sounds like singing into your ear).
~ Better To Be Lonely (feat. Makk Mikkael) by Alex Lustig on Better To Be Lonely (simultaneous crazy bass and tweeter sibilance test, warning this song is addictive)
~ Jammin by Til Von Sein on Jammin (instrument separation, listen for the bells to move around the room and maracas move forward/backward)
~ Birds by Dominique Fils-Aimé on Nameless (female vocal tone+, bassy, simple, exquisite and repetitive to the extent you have time to soak in the subtleties)
All available in HD or UltraHD on AmazonMusic or likely SD on RUclipsMusic - enjoy!
You might see a tendancy toward bass in my recommendations. Open-baffle bass-head here - my experience nothing else comes close to the precision and texture of OB-subs.
Thank you. Thanks gives me some to work through 👍
My short list: Steely Dan's "Aja", Ai Kuwabara "Live at the Blue Note Tokyo", Duke Ellington "Blues in Orbit", Radiohead "Kid A", Jeff Golub "Soul Sessions", Sir Adrian Boult & the LPO "Vaughan Williams: The Nine Symphonies." Sorry for the long list. Great video as always. Thank you.
Thank you, great suggestions 👍
I like to mention something about the need for power. Yes, ATC's are powerhungry speakers, also like Dynaudio's for example. I have great experience with amps below 50 Watts per side, IF the power supply is robust and healthy. They say, it's all about the first Watts?! And not all Watts are equal. Currently I have mine 40's fed by Pass Labs pre and power amps. The poweramp is the highly regarded XA.30.8 (class A, 30 Watts per side) with a massive and robust powersupply. (The amp weighs 44 Kg.....). Class A is a whole different things. If you play at normal levels and sometimes a bit louder you will be fine, you don't need 300 Watts. But the ATC's can handle it if you want to max them out at crazy listeninglevels.
I agree. Watts are only part of the picture. Thank you for sharing Ralph 😊
For soundstage and imaging check out "The Package" by A Perfect Circle. For something different, try "Monkey and Bear" by Joanna Newsom.
Thank you Gary 👍
Go to track “Plains of Waterloo” by Martin Simpson ( Bootleg USA ) Its an excellent track both in pleasure & production. If you don’t know it check it out 😊
Thank you. I will 😊
Melody Gardot = baby im a fool....State Azure = cyclical space....Jackie Mc lean = destination...out! . and thanks
Thank you. I love her too 👍
Hi Tarun,
thank for the great review. I just saw it lately, although it's been posted for quite a while now. Since two years, I am a happy owner of a pair of SCM40's myself, and am very satisfied with their sound. Electronics is Cyrus pre-power amp. Your question regarding test track: my favorite in this respect would be The Curse from Agnes Obel. The ATC's bring the piano and violins to life.
I have a question myself though. In the video the speakers are not mounted on spikes, but on some other feet? Could you please tell me which ones that are?
Thank you.
Thank you. I used washing machine anti-vibration feet. An inexpensive but effective solution 👍
I use Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On (Live (2004/Wiltern Theatre, Los Angeles)) By Willie Nelson and Friends feat. Jerry Lee Lewis, Kid Rock, Keith Richards & Merle Haggard. Lots going on in that track.
Thank you 👍
Very nice :)
Thank you 😊
I've had MK1 40s & MK2 40s running off ATC CA2 and a pair of P1 amps. Both sounded superb. I prefered the more layed back warmer sound of the MK2. I then got some MK2 40A and wow the dynamics both loud and micro were superb, more air around the treble and vocals with tighter more controlled bass. I now have SCM50 ASLT and again things have got better but the SCM40A is possibly the best value speaker out there all things considered.
Thank you for sharing your experiences 😊
Martin Logan’s recent Motion 100 towers are receiving high praise. I wonder how these towers would compare price/performance wise with the Martin Logans. (The downside is ATC is double the price in the USA.)
I would like to find out too 😊
over a year late, but my main reference track to test gear on is Pan by Plini. It is complex music, a lot of different passages, variation of instruments is solid, and then there's the sax solo. with that song, I can decide how I like or dislike gear pretty quickly.
Never too late 😉 Thank you for sharing 😊
For demo track, you can't beat Bonobo reacurring!
Tbf, they are out of my price range. For the same cash as them new, I can get B&W Nautilus 803 AND still have cash to pick up something from Classé to power them from the fleabay! Good vid though.
Thank you buddy 😊
A good and very fair review. I also have these speakers, fed by the Hegel H390, and the wonderful Duelund DCA16GA hookup wire. They are undoubtably brilliant speakers.
I must however differ a little with the review. Being unported, they can be placed relatively close to the back wall without the bass booming. In fact, there aren't that many unported speakers available nowadays, so those with limited space have a restricted choice.
Unless I win the lottery I will have these speakers forever. And if I do, I'll just get one of ATC's bigger offerings.
Thank you for sharing Mark 😊
A demo track I use a lot is David Elias Vision Of Her, from "Acoustic Trio - DSD Session"
... oh the upright double bass , will sort out a lot of speakers, the acoustic guitar being plucked is he not sitting in my lounge somewhere.
Thank you Duncan 😊
Another wonderful review of such a great speaker. Thank you ATC for providing these speakers for review.
Tarun, did you ever try removing that thick carpet In front of your listening position to see if it would provide better high frequency definition that you reported lacking in this review?
From experience think carpets and lots of furnishings tend to zap the high frequencies in my listening space.
Favourite listening tracks:
Men I Trust, Album: Men I Trust, Track: System.
Men I Trust, Album: Headroom, Track: Again.
Harmonium, Album: Harmonium, Track: Harmonium.
Kevin Paren, Album: Miguasha, Track: Provocateur.
Au Pairs, Album: The Anthology, Track: Headache for Michelle.
Michel Petrucciani, Album: Michel Petrucciani, Track: Gattito.
David Crosby, Album: If I can Only Remember my Name, Track: Laughing
Brian
Thank you Brian. I didn’t try removing the carpet. Thanks for the list. Some new ones for me to check out 👍
Female vocals - Emmy Lou Harris. “Sweet Dreams” from Elite Hotel (1975) or (2003 remaster). Vocals can be eerie and enchanting or a bit harsh depending on the speakers
Thank you 👍
Great value imo. Top quality drivers and assume cabinet is more solid than most
Thank you Will. Everything about that speaker is solid, including the cabinet 😊
Thank you for the review Tarun. ATC speakers are high on my short list. But, any plans to review the Mission 770 any time soon? And demo track: anything by Tracy Chapman, especially Talkin' Bout A Revolution.
Thank you Dean. IAG didn’t seem to interested in sending me stuff to review last time I contacted them. Probably worth another try at some point 😊
My favorite albums 💿 demonstration: Ahmad Jamal The Rossiter Road; Steely Dan Two Against Nature….
Thank you 😊
Could you do a review of Canton Vento 30, because they are basically at the same price as the highly acclaimed Kef Ls50, but in my opinion the Kef's sound is much more undetailed, especially in the lower frequency department.
Thank you for the suggestion. I will look into it 😊
The key to some manufacturer’s decision making can be questionable. The reason for this may be obscure to some. There are other tiers of speakers. Do you really expect this or any manufacturer to put all their best in a base level speaker? It isn’t happening. What you get is a compromise that gets you into their brand and drives you to seek their best whether you can afford it or not. Is it wrong? Depends on what your idea of wrong is. I am not kicking this or any other manufacturer for their choices. Only the purchaser needs to have realistic expectations for any given speaker at any price point they happen to be. You won’t get the best on the first tier and no one who has any common sense is expecting that given what that would mean. There are compromises in all speakers and each one must choose what is important and focus on that based on their need and budget. No one can achieve an absolute level without finding it through a journey that involves finding what is important to them and what manufacturers give them that given their price point at the time. As your budget increases, so must your expectations. Find your best choices by finding those brands that deliver for your budget and never give up on finding the best that your budget will allow! Your review is spot on Tarun! It proves that you can get close given a price point. It also lets people know there isn’t any easy decision that doesn’t involve compromise.
Thank you Mark. A pleasure as always 👍
Many thanks for your particular review of the ATC SCM40 speakers. In your opinion are these speakers harder to drive than the ATC SCM19 or the opposite? As a demo track to test the system on speed or is it tempo/rhythm would be Pink Floyd's Money because when the saxophone solo ends and the guitar solo follows on, the drum beat markedly picks up pace, and a good system would instantly reflect that change of pace.
Thank you my friend. They both require a bit of current to wake them up and control the low frequencies but I found the 40s a little more satisfying to listen to at low volume due to a fuller sound 😊
Recommended demo track. Uncertain Smile from the album "Soul Mining" by The The. Jools Holland on Piano and Zeke Manyika on drums make for a stunning listening experience. Highly highly highly recommended.
Thx. I will check it out 👍
@@abritishaudiophile7314 I am 100% positive you will be bowled over by it.
Thanks for the review. Very informative as always. Demo top picks, DIGITAL 1. Angel (Sarah McLachlan) female vocal/piano. 2. Fever (Malia/Boris Blank) female vocal/deep bass. 3. Firestarter (Prodigy) Its never too loud. 4. Dreamer (Prince) male vocal/guitar. VINYL 5. Time (Pink Floyd) It has everything. Sorry no jazz, not my thing. Eclectic mix to test your system.
Thank you Wayne 👍
Hi Tarun I'm looking at both the ATC 50 actives and the Dynaudio Focus 50s. My listening room isn't ideal as it very large with lots of reflective surfaces. So the Dirac room optimisation is edging it for me at the moment. Hope you're keeping well. Just found your chanel and it has been a mine of information - so thanks for that. Hope you and M are keeping well. Will pop over next time I'm in the area. PS I have two pairs of Edifier 3000 Pros active bookshelf speakers and they have blown my mind for quality at the price point. Happy to bring you a pair for review. Cheers Lee
Thank you Lee. I can see how Dirac May be a winner in a problematic room. I appreciate the offer for review 👍
I Own a MkI version of those SCM40's, which uses a VIFA/Peerless Ferrofluid tweeter, which is brand new because when I bought them, the original ones were dead (I knew it). Even with those brand new tweeters, they tend to distort, and they're way below their two Middome and Bass inhouse drivers in terms of quality, which is a shame. I'm pretty sure they're much much worse than their inhouse silkdome tweeters that are fitted in MkII's and MkIII's that you tend to say they're ok but not as astonishing as the other two.
So yeah, I tend to have the same thoughts than you, stunning speaker (and I got them for 1 500€, put 200€ for those crappy tweeters), and they bury every signle speaker I've ever tried, but, as you said in the beginning, a DIY enhancement needs to be done, a big tweeter Upgrade is needed, as for me (I use them in my HiFi and Home Recording Studio).
(PS : I used them with various sources, a 1U 19" Racked Studio Converter from my PC - for recording and Digital playback, an 80's Technics SL-P550 CD Player, a 1970's heavily upgraded Thorens TD-160 with Nagaoka MP-110 cartridge, all that into a 1988 Accuphase E-305).
Thank you for sharing 😊
@@abritishaudiophile7314 A pleasure, Always great to hear various reviews about them !
Hi Tarun. Some more for demo purposes, with specific regard to bass reproduction - 1) John Martyn "The Church With One Bell" (a superb piece of recording) / 2) Bill La Bounty "Into Something Blue" (particularly 'Ax To Grind' and 'You Can't Break My Heart') / 3) Lee Ritenour "Rhythm Sessions" (try 'LA By Bike').
Thank you Rafe. I love John Martyn. I has been a while since I heard him 👍
My best all round album for everything is: Auberge by Chris Rea. Going fishing 🎣. Great review 👍 need deep pockets.
Thank you Keith. I am fan of that album too 👍
Tarun, regarding the tweeter discussion, have you considered reviewing the passive or active 20s? They're not the most visible of the ATC range, not many reviews around of them, but they do have the super linear tweeter. There is an ATC forum, and the few that have the 20s love them.
Watch this space 😊
Hi,
Can anyone explain how the placement distance between loudspeakers impacts or changes midrange sound?
Thank you!
That is probably worth a video in itself 😊
Ooh so many tracks to recommend so I'm gonna go with a couple of left field suggestions ; The Royal Airforce Squadronaires - In The Mood and Dead Can Dance Live American dreaming - A test of midrange and ambience.
Thank you Ian 😊
Any review with Keith Moon will put a smile on my face. With that in mind, how about Dreaming From The Waist (Live At Swansea Football Ground, 1976). Keep up the good work. All the best, Paul
Thank you Paul. I enjoyed finding that clip of Keith Moon too 👍
I love the sound of ATC, PMC, KERR ACOUSTICS & Studio Electric ⚡️💎💎💎💎⚡️
Cool 😎
Fascinating speakers. I didn't know there are ATC floorstanders at this price point.
Two of my favourite demo tracks: Icicle by Tori Amos (piano and female voice) and Hey Now by London Grammar (a difficult one on purpose to get the bass right)
Thank you for sharing 😊
The London Grammar song Hey Now, likes to incite resonances in a lot of my speakers. It makes internal wiring rattle against crossbraces, lol. Such a resonant bass.
Thank you Tarun for the excelent review. Tracks: High Water Everywhere (Live) - Joe Bonamassa / Paloma Negra - Lila Downs / It Makes Me Scream (Live) - Meena Cryle / Kingdom of One - Maren Morris / Keith Don't Go (Live) - Nils Lofgren / Tulipani - Fausto Mesolella / Whithout You - Teeks / Arthur's Theme (Live) - Monty Alexander / Angel Eyes - markusphilippe / Mi Corazon - Brandt Brauer Frick / Seven Blues - Nenad Vasilic / Berimbass - Renaud Garcia-Fons / Laytana - Le Trio Joubran / Black Shoes - Felix Laband.
Thank you Paulo. Great music suggestions and some new ones for me too 👍
It would be great to see how these ATCs would pair with Rotel amps. Rotel is supposed to be affordable versions of Hegel amps. Could be interesting to hear ATCs with Rotel a11 paired with a Rotel power amp.
That would be cool 😎
Another great review Tarun,from the description of the midrange you gave can I suggest Stevie Ray Vaughan's "Couldnt Stand The Weather"album and in particular the track "Tin Pan Alley"/Roughest Place In Town......If you have never heard it through a great system you wont be disappointed.
Thank you Mally. I am trying to remember if I heard that track. I will check it out 👍
Love a review when it involves your speakers. I absolutely love them and very much enjoy the amazing tweeter performance thank you very much. Driven by Michi P5/S5 combo (800w+).
Songs getting a good go at the moment:
Tin Pan Alley (AKA the roughest place in town) Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double trouble
Don't Explain - Chantal Chamberland
I want a little sugar in my bowl - Chantal Chamberland
Thank you TB 👍
Great review and I love these speakers if I could afford them. My go t track is Sting and Eric Clapton on " Its Probably Me"
Thank you. I love that track. Stings records are generally well produced 👍
👍⭐👍
Malia / Boris Blank - Celestial Echo.
Thank you Irene 👍
@@abritishaudiophile7314 💖
I have noticed that the Omega Super 3 High Output Monitor has no reviews on youtube. Please correct this. Thank You.
Thank you for the suggestion 😊
Josh Groban's recordings are top drawer-produced by David Foster.Vocals.
Thank you 👍
You said you would do floorstanding reviews. And you are delivering!! Much more relevant to me, I have the Elac Unifi FS U5 Slim floorstanders, they are the single best hifi component I have ever purchased! Hope you will do speakers in the $1000 range later.
Thank you Martin. There is a sub £1,000 floorstander review coming soon 👍
Great review, demo tracks the Blue nile hats lp and Walk across the rooftops, Peter Nooten and Michael Brook lp sleeps with fishes
Thank you Ernest 😊
On the tweeter, I'll bet that an upgrade of the capacitor (and possibly the resistor, as well?) that are on the tweeter, would open the soundstage up, and improve the treble in general. And possibly a high quality bypass cap, would max out the tweeter's quality?
I thought the same 😊
@@abritishaudiophile7314 You foreshadowed this in earlier in your video.
Even very good caps, like ClarityCap CSA can be improved with an even better bypass cap. I like the 0.1uF Audyn Plus Cap (which are a bargain at about $9US) as bypass caps. These effectively drop the ESR by nearly half, and the effect is not subtle.
I use the Townshend supertweeter on top. Tarun is right about this ATC tweeter and told it fare and square. By the way, not spoken of the integration of the 3 drivers, in a 3-way very hard to get right. The 40's seems liquid in this regard very well done.
@@ralph7585 there is superb integration between the drivers with shows in the wide sweet spot 😊
I recommend just about anything by the band Fourplay as a demo disc they are all great recordings with superb musicianship by Bob James ,Larry Carlton ,Nathan East and Harvey Mason my highlights are the albums" Heartfelt" , "yes please" and " X " Also anything by Dave Grusin especially the album "Migration" ..I had ATC active 100 towers some time ago which i liked at first especially the mid range but i found the cabinets could have been better damped , but the drive units and amp packs were great .I changed them for a pair of Meridian dsp 8000 actives speakers which i had for 10 years and loved them . Moving house meant downsizing and i chose the Q audio concept 500s driven by a Michi X5 a very nice combination and great value for money If anyone has these I recommend a set of Iso acoustics gaii2 under the C500s and orea Bordeax under the Michi they aren`t cheap but i think they are worth the expense ,they really open out the soundstage tighten and extend the bass along with a REL sub woofer parked in a corner . Keep up the good work Tarun .
Thank you Martin. Great to learn about your experiences 👍
Another nice review, Tweeters make you say hhhmmm... are they or aren't good enough and would a front end tweak help. Seems to be a well thought out speaker.
Thank you GG. With the right amp, the ATC SCM40s can sound great 😊
Childrens Chambers by Girls In Airports is one of my favourite demo tracks. More than anything, I love this song and know it well enough to get an idea about of the demo equipment 😊 - cheers from Melbourne
Thank you 😊
Lp = Beck, "Morning Phase" its exceptionally mixed... ⏏⏹⏺⏪▶⏩⏸
Thank you 😊