ATC SCM-35

SCM 100's, Is my 12' by 10' room too small??

Jrmanders,
The 100's are a big speaker that was engineered for music playback for professionals; they are about as far from esthetically pleasing as you might get (WAF rating of -1 from 0 to 10 and nearly caused me a divorce). Unlike the book shelf 20's, the narrow tall esthetic designs of your towers, or the tall SCM 35's, the 100's will dominate and be intrusive visually in any room, let alone a 10' by 12' room. These heavy box speakers require a very robust stand and are even deeper than they are wide with the amp pack heat sink sticking out the back, which will necessarily make the speaker sit quite far off the back wall.

My guess is that the SCM 20 towers already do a great job in your 10' by 12' room, in '96 I originally auditioned the SCM 20's in a similar size of room and ended up impulsively buying them (my first pair of ATC's and I have never tired of them and still use them as surrounds). The SCM 20's are used professionally for near field monitoring and I think they are idealy suited to a 10' by 12' room. Have you considered the SCM 35's or a more poweful amplifier? Both would be less dominating for your size room and still likley to give you an audible improvement, particularly at higher listening levels?

Hi Shadorne..yes I think you are probably right the 100's would be too big. I tried to visualize them from the dimensions and they would be like wardrobes.
I have the active 20's so upgrading power amp is not an option. But I did ask my dealer if a power amp (possibly Ayre to match my K1-xe pre) and the ATC 35's would be an upgrade. He seemed to think it would be so maybe I'll have an audition after Christmas.
Have you heard the 35's because my dealer was saying he cannot believe that ATC make a speaker so good for £2000,

Jonathan.

>Jrmanders
if i may. take a listen to the SCM35s, they're not
too big a speaker but can play with a really big sound,
they're a three way design which does perform admirably,
especially considering their price.
they are just standing in your room, looking plain and not drawing
attention to themselves, but when they play its a different deal.
their sound is quite something. of course a really strong amp is a
must, and good room acoustics to boot.
the only thing one could wish for with these speakers - if the highs could
match the quality of the bass and the midrange. the highs
on this speaker are not your flashy audiophile thing,
the just are there and thats it. but hey - its fine with
me, this is kinda more natural that many designs with a really
sophisticated tweeter.
and one more downside of SCM35 - terrible speaker terminals, especially,
if you have a cable terminated with large spades...
to sum up - this time your dealer is saying how it is, many people are surprised when they hear what these speakers can do. sorry for jumping in not called for.

I have not heard the 35's myself, all I can say is that the specs and the reviews are impressive...it looks like great value. Since I have the space, my best option was to go for a second hand pair of 100A's...excellent value for sound performance but sadly scores low in esthetics...if cost was not a constraint I would probably go for the 50's in steinway black with the plinths - only very slightly less performance than the 100's but so much nicer esthetically.

The only reservation I might have on the 35's is

1) The performance improvement might not be that significant compared to your towers - you may want to side by side audition in a similar size room to what you have at home.
2) The tweeter looks different from the vifa they use in the 20's and the older line of professional monitors and, as far as I can tell, it is not the excel millenium (it would be truely amazing at that price point for that is what they use in all the newer 50's and up).....on a photo it looks more like the tweeter they use in the T16's. You may want to carefully check the tweeter sound in case it is less to your liking than what you already have.
3) You are going from active to passive...the extra performance you gain in the larger cone/cabinet in the 35's might be offset by the dis-advantages of passive speakers and passive crossovers...I suspect passives will suffer from slightly less sharply controlled crossover, slight phase issues, slightly more IMD and slightly more crossover drift as coils heat up with temperature. I cannot begin to guess whether these pasive design differences will be audible enough to offset the advantages of a larger cabinet and wooofer ...it may boil down to a question of personal taste or what is best for a given room size.

I would be interested in your findings on a straight comparison...the relative merits/trade offs of cabinet/woofer design versus active design against cost. (Especially since the SCM 35's with a 250 WPC amplifier would roughly be equivalent in cost to active 20's.)

I cannot say what would be the very best match for your ATC 35's, but my Perreaux 2150 amplifier and SM-2 preamp work splendidly with these speakers. I have had the 35's in my system for well over one year, and I couldn't be happier. The Perreaux amplifier, while old (manufactured in 1984), packs a tremendous, tight punch and it is known for its warm, tube-like sound. Whatever amplifier you decide to get, remember that the 35's require a lot of power. If you can find a 2150 to drive your 35's I think you'll be very happy. I certainly am. 'Hope this helps.