Acousticfrontiers, I have had a fair share of exposure to the 40, 19 and also the SCM 20. It is true that the 19 and 20 feels lighter and quicker a bit but they somehow just do not have the midrange palpability of the 40 (due to that amazing dome mid range driver of the 40). Regarding bass, it is both ways, the 40 goes deeper and fills a bigger place more elegantly while sounding very tight and defined, where as the 19 and 20 are somewhat more lean and agile. It is going to be a matter of preference and room size IMO.
Your thoughts about ATC loudspeakers
I’m interested in the ATC SCM-40 from their HiFi series and would like to hear from people who have owned or spent a lot of time with ATC speakers. This is a fairly new model and may be a bit of a departure from their classic sound.
At the show in Newport last weekend, I was quite taken by these speakers. I went back the next day and heard the same things that I liked about them, but a couple of red flags also went up:
Microdynamics – not sure these speakers do them well and microdynamics are critical to communicating inflection and nuance and to making music sound alive
Imaging, specifically wrt depth. Nothing much outside of the plane of the speakers, so recording venue info is not there and even instrument and vocal body may suffer a bit.
Were these shortcomings of setup or associated gear, or is this what ATC does?
At the show in Newport last weekend, I was quite taken by these speakers. I went back the next day and heard the same things that I liked about them, but a couple of red flags also went up:
Microdynamics – not sure these speakers do them well and microdynamics are critical to communicating inflection and nuance and to making music sound alive
Imaging, specifically wrt depth. Nothing much outside of the plane of the speakers, so recording venue info is not there and even instrument and vocal body may suffer a bit.
Were these shortcomings of setup or associated gear, or is this what ATC does?