For the ninth year, the SCM11 has won the What Hi-Fi award for best standmount loudspeaker between £800 & £1200. This makes the SCM11 the most heavily decorated loudspeaker in the history of the What Hi-Fi awards, with it’s first award coming way back in 2005, the first year the SCM11 was released.
Here is what the What Hi-Fi awards team thought of the SCM11: “ATC has struck gold again. These are the most talented standmounters anywhere near this price”
On top of the SCM11’s ninth awrd, the SCM19 has won the award for best stand mount loudspeaker over £1200.
Here is what the What Hi-Fi awards team thought of the SCM19: “If you value insight and honesty above all else, these speakers are a terrific buy”
For further information, visit the What Hi-Fi Website. Alternatively, the special awards issue of the What Hi-Fi magazine is available now.
N.B. What Hi-Fi? Award and 5 star logos ® Haymarket Media Group Ltd.
Here’s just a little of what reviewer, Larry Cox had to say:
“vocals have a clarity, immediacy and “speed” that few other cone driver brands have.”
“ATC combine much of the dynamic characteristics of horn drivers, while leaving behind the shouty, cupped hands sound.”
And in summary: “I like the place the 40A plays in the ATC line. It’s an angel’s balance of the somewhat kinder, gentler domestic line with a slice of the precision of their studio line. Absolutely recommended.”
To read the review in full, please visit Positive Feedback Online
Here is just a taster of what reviewers, Mark Marcantonio and Jeff Dorgay had to say:
“The mid range is the money zone in speakers, and never is this truer than with the SCM40As. The soft dome is a revelation, especially with acoustic guitars. The romantic Mexican string style in “Puesta Del Sol” by Sean Harkness combines mellow richness with clarity. This accuracy is a hallmark of ATC.”
“If you’re tired of the cable and equipment hassle, I can’t suggest a better pair of active speakers than the ATC SCM40As. They produce sound well beyond what their price tag suggests, especially considering that you will eliminate at least a few thousand dollars in speaker cables and power amplifiers.”
You can read the review in full on page 139 of the latest digital edition of the magazine here.
Please also visit the ToneAudio website here.
As Autumn starts to turn and the days get colder, Essex based dealer, The Audiobarn are holding an event to blast those blues away (or should that be blast those blues out!)
All day on the Saturday 14th November, The Audiobarn will be demonstrating what can be achieved with a simple system comprised of Chord Electronics DAC and a pair of active ATC Loudspeakers. On demo will be:
Complimentary drinks and a buffet lunch will be laid on. Prize draw and ‘deals on the day’ T.B.C!
Colin Pratt from Chord Electronics and Ben Lilly from ATC will be on hand to answer any product questions attendees may have, as well as discuss audio and hi-fi in general.
We look forward to seeing you at this open day.
For more information please visit The Audiobarn website.
Alternatively, you can call Jack at The Audiobarn on: 01279 454 860
Here is what they thought of the combination of the all-in-one player/amplifier and loudspeakers:
“You can hear the attention to detail. Listening to the SCM11 speakers, the astonishing clarity, separation and bass heft quite knocked me over. Wiring my Mac into the SIACD music centre and using the (superb) new Tidal high-quality streaming service, I played my sister-in-law, Louise Wener (who sang in the Britpop band Sleeper), some of her own songs and she grew quite emotional. “lt’s the first time I’ve heard those tracks properly since 1995,” she said. “It’s like being back in the studio.” Which is, of course, exactly what ATC had in mind.” Jonathan Margolis, September 2015.
To read the review in full, please visit the FT website here.
ATC will be on active demonstration in room 332 hosted by our U.S. distributor, Lone Mountain Audio and Bay Area ATC dealer, Acoustic Frontiers.
A prize draw is being held with the opportunity to win a pair of ATC SCM7v3 monitors, worth $1749! Show attendees can enter the draw by visiting the demo room.
The system on demonstration will consist of:
For further information:
“Recommended for being insightful, transparent, accurate, controlled and addictive.” Dan Worth, Hi-Fi Pig July 2015.
“Recommended for: A superb performer, insightful, revealing and communicative in a highly musical natural way.” Dominic Marsh, Hi-Fi Pig, July 2015.
You can read the SCM19 review in full on the Hi-Fi Pig Website, here.
The Audiobarn is collaboration between Jack Satchfield and Bryan Beckford – avid music and Hi-Fi enthusiasts who have set out to establish an approachable, fun and friendly Hi-Fi showroom. Located in a luxurious refurbished barn, near to Harlow and Bishops Stortford, ‘The Barn’ is the ideal place to come and relax and experience a variety of exciting Hi-Fi products in a no pressure environment. The facility has two dedicated demonstration rooms, purpose built disabled access, air conditioning, on-site parking and refreshments all located in a picturesque, country location.
Commenting on the new appointment, ATC’s Ben Lilly said, “It’s fantastic to work with partners that are as friendly and customer focused as Jack and Bryan at The Audiobarn. On top of that, their location and facilities are excellent and provide just the right environment for presenting and auditioning the finest audio products.”
The Audiobarn’s Jack Satchfield comments, “We are absolutely thrilled at the opportunity of building a relationship with ATC and being able to offer our customers such a range of exciting, highly engineered Hi -Fi products.”
The Audiobarn, 2 The Threshing Barn, Feltimores Park, Chalk Lane, Nr. Bishops Stortford, Essex, CM17 0PF. Tel: +44 (0)1279 454 860. Email:info@theaudiobarn.co.uk Web: www.theaudiobarn.co.uk
ATC is delighted to announce the appointment of audio consultant BrianandTrevors as our retail partner for ATC’s hi-fi and AV systems in North West England.
Chosen for their outstanding quality and musical accuracy by industry veterans and self-confessed audio evangelists Brian Morris and Trevor Liddle, ATC’s residential systems join a very select range of high performance brands at BrianandTrevors. Using the real-world environment of a large Victorian home in Greater Manchester, the partnership applies three decades of experience and expertise to the joy of designing and demonstrating perfectly-matched audio systems to its customers. Comfortably furnished living rooms provide a choice of authentic listening spaces for ‘by-appointment’ auditions, and are a centre of excellence for the company’s very personal approach to service, sales, installation, advice and aftercare.
Commenting on the move ATC’s Marketing Manager Ben Lilly said “BrianandTrevors will bring great knowledge and capability to ATC’s representation in the North West and will offer music lovers the perfect opportunity to experience the extraordinary fidelity of our speakers and electronics.”
Brian Morris of BrianandTrevors said “we’re excited to be dedicating our best-practice ethos to one of the world’s most respected audio brands and look forward to demonstrating how ATC’s flawless engineering can make music sound real in our customers’ homes.”
Brian & Trevors – The Original House of Hi-Fi Whitefield, Manchester, Lancs. Phone: +44 (0)161 7664837 Email : info@brianandtrevors.com Website : www.brianandtrevors.com Demo Room: Yes – Demonstrations by appointment only
Building on the success of its hand-built standard tweeter, ATC has developed and manufactured an ENHANCED ‘S-SPEC’ VERSION for its flagship models.
After considerable development time the “S-SPEC’ tweeter completes the rollout of proprietary drivers across every ATC loudspeaker system. Six years in the making, the new SH25-76S design is a significant technical advance for ATC and a proud achievement for Managing Director Billy Woodman and R&D Manager Richard Newman. The Woodman/Newman collaboration has ensured that both the standard SH25-76 (as fitted to the Company’s SCM7/11/19/40/40A models) and ‘S-Spec’ SH25-76S tweeters exceed the exceptionally high levels of performance and consistency expected of an ATC driver.
The advent of the SH25-76S means that for the first time in a distinguished forty-year history, every ATC speaker system is able to benefit from complete ATC driver configurations, wholly designed and hand-built at the company’s UK development and production facility at Stroud, Gloucestershire. Now introduced on the Tower Series (SCM20/50/100/150), Anniversary Series (SCM50/100/150) and Classic Series (SCM20/50/100/150), the SH25-76S is ATC’s premium 25mm soft dome tweeter, developed with a no-compromise engineering approach in order to complement the renowned SM75-150S Super Dome mid-range driver.
In common with the standard SH25-76 (but unlike almost any other 25mm tweeter on the market) the SH25-76S is a dual suspension design, employing both an upper and lower suspension.
The key benefits are:
• Suppression of enharmonic diaphragm/coil ‘rocking’ modes
• Assured pistonic motion
• A very narrow magnetic gap for unparalleled linearity and low distortion throughout its wide operating band.
Further Key Design Features are as follows:
Improved Off-Axis Response: the complex geometry of the tweeter’s soft dome diaphragm and precision-machined, low-resonance alloy waveguide produces a smooth on-axis and improved off-axis response, which now extends beyond ATC ‘s previous benchmark of 22kHz to reach 25kHz (-6dB).
Stronger Magnetic Field: a massive neodymium motor complete with heat-treated top plate is FEA optimised to provide 20,000 Gauss (2.0 Tesla) in the magnetic gap (up from 15,000 Gauss in the standard SH25-76 unit).
Higher Sensitivity: higher sensitivity of 91.5 (±0.5 dB/W @1m) is achieved for the SH25-76S, despite the use of robust, well-damped mechanical structures.
Higher Power Handling, Lower Power Compression: shared by both standard and ‘S-Spec’ tweeter models, the short coil/long gap motor design and narrow magnetic gap perform the secondary function of dissipating heat away from the coil, ensuring high power handling and low power compression while liberating the structure from a reliance on ferro-fluid, which can dry out over time, compromising performance.
Commenting, R&D Manager, Richard Newman said, “We feel the new tweeter lifts the capability of our systems to new levels and reinforces our belief that exceptional system performance can only be achieved through exceptional transducer performance”.
For owners of certain older models wishing to upgrade, ATC tweeter upgrade kits are expected to roll out later this summer.
The SCM19 has been reviewed in the June 2015 edition of What Hi-Fi Sound and Vision Magazine and found to be deserving of a 5-Star rating.
What Hi-Fi had to say, “These ATCs are highly analytical, but never clinical or passionless, and are transparent to the original recording and system electronics…lf you value insight and honesty above all else these speakers are a terrific buy.”
The magazine is available to purchase in the UK now. For further information please visit the What Hi-Fi Sound & Vision Website.
Our new SCM40A 3-way active loudspeakers have been reviewed in the April edition of What Hi-Fi Sound & Vision magazine and received a glowing 5 star rating.
Here’s just a little of what the reviewers had to say:
“these ATCs… take all in their stride, revealing a lovely cohesion throughout the frequency range. Resolution, timing and dynamics are all spot-on… factor in the built-in amplification, exotically engineered in-house drive units and the resultant exceptional sound quality, and the SCM4OAs emerge as something of a high-end bargain. Consider us smitten.”
The magazine is available now or you can read the online version here on the What Hi-Fi website.
This month, Hi-Fi Pig have reviewed the SCM11, finding it to offer outstanding performance and it has achieved ‘Outstanding Product’ status. This is a very special award which requires the verdict of two Hi-Fi Pig reviewers.
Here are their conclusions from the review:
Dan Worth
You could argue that the ATC’s don’t have the luxury and flair of aesthetics as say a Sonus Faber but then it was Italian engineering that built the leaning tower of Pisa and British engineering that built Buckingham Palace and The Houses of Parliament.
The ATC’s are a solidly built real wood veneered ‘stylishly classic’ speaker which embodies a solid listen. Their strongly braced infinite baffle construction allows for their representation of the music to be truly outstanding, they give insight into the most intricate of tracks or can relaxingly and effortlessly flow with less busier material.
Although the previous model was thoroughly enjoyable they could sometimes bite back when fed with less than adequate recordings, as we say ‘rubbish in, rubbish out’. However now in their prime and more mature manner the ATC new in-house designed and built tweeter has the experience to tackle events with a second nature and never be phased or rocked of its confidence giving it the hallmark of a truly outstanding achievement by the company.
For the money and putting my experience and word on the line the ATC SCM11 are at the absolute top of their class and you really would have to spend much more to even be able to stand up confidently against these awesome little speakers let alone better them. If I had the room for another pair of speakers I would have a pair in a heartbeat.
Dominic Marsh
The ATC SCM 11’s are not perfect by any means – no speakers are, so it’s all down to compromises that we either can or can’t live with. I could easily live with the lithe dynamics, the outright faithful treble resolution, the midrange tonal accuracy of these speakers and oddly enough, I could easily live with that roll off in the lower bass registers as well, because the fast, taut, communicative and powerful bass that they do produce, more than compensates in that area. The most compelling reason of all is of course that £1,200 price tag and I would really struggle to name a single speaker that can get anywhere near such a stunning level of performance in that price range. As you read this review dear readers, I am polishing up my busking skills to be able to afford a pair for myself.
Read the review in full at the Hi-Fi Pig website
The latest February 2015 edition of Hi-Fi Choice Magazine (available now) features an interview with ATC’s founder and Managing Director, Billy Woodman. You can download the PDF or, read via the graphics below (click to enlarge).
