I worked for an ATC dealer a while back, and we didn't carry the 40s but I got to hear the 20s and 50s quite a bit while I was there. To me, the midrange is about the best I've ever heard in terms of power, resolution, and an utter lack of any distortion or strain. Where I found them to fall a little short was with respect to holographic 3D imaging. It's not that they don't image well, it's just that compared to other what I'll call the more "audiophile" oriented brands they don't portray (or some would say exaggerate) things like depth or width of the soundstage, and I'd agree the venue info is a little less apparent as well. Again, this is just relative to speakers that excel in these particular areas. Perhaps the new 40s improve in these areas if they represent an evolution of the house sound, but I have no idea. Can't say I noticed anything regarding micro dynamics, but we usually demoed them with more dynamic music so that might be why. I really can't fault them in any other areas. Great overall speakers, and I wish they had more exposure here in the U.S.
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?