[AKLegal]

They are on the site,  I found them.  Try, again.

I meant the monitors.  I saw the towers.

[jimdgoulding]

AK, the monitors are there, too.  Promise.

Here ya go . . http://www.atcloudspeakers.co.uk/hi-fi/loudspeakers/classic-series/scm20/

Later, oh fudge, I believe these are passive.  Guess it's floorstander's after all.

[Freo-1]

Try this:
 
http://www.flatearthaudio.com/?page_id=39
 
 

[AKLegal]

AK, the monitors are there, too.  Promise.

Here ya go . . http://www.atcloudspeakers.co.uk/hi-fi/loudspeakers/classic-series/scm20/

Later, oh fudge, I believe these are passive.  Guess it's floorstander's after all.

Thanks for trying to help.  The towers have the same frequency response so its not a big deal.  I just recently became a monitor convert, hence the search for the powered version.

[ted_b]

[Freo-1]

Thanks, Ted!   That is the link posted above.

[Ericus Rex]

I can't wait to hear them!     

[targa02]

So glad to hear you are enjoying your ATCs!!  I owned the active 50 monitors recently and I still kick myself periodically for selling them. 

[neekomax]

So glad to hear you are enjoying your ATCs!!  I owned the active 50 monitors recently and I still kick myself periodically for selling them. 

Sweet.

[c1ferrari]

So glad to hear you are enjoying your ATCs!!  I owned the active 50 monitors recently and I still kick myself periodically for selling them. 

Hello targa02,

What size is your plasma?  I'm trying to ascertain perspective relative to your ATC SCM50 actives.
I'm contemplating ATC SCM 50's and 100's -- Anniversary series.  Given your listening environment/sensibilities...would you have any comment whether or not the active 100's may have worked in your room

Thanks.

Sam

[WireNut]

Hmmm. From just taking a quite look at the outside of the tweeter it looks exactly like my sea's T25CF001.
Of course the gut's could be completely different. 

[Muser]

Hi:
I've been a long time ATC listener and owned several different models 7, 20, 35 and now active 20s. I've also listened to for several months at a time to the powered 10s, powered 50s and had a weekend fling with the powered 100s (awesome!) - my wife hated them when she first walked into the room. When they had to go back, she asked "how much are they?" Many people who discover ATCs tend to upgrade within the brand to the biggest speaker they can afford. A friend and fellow ATC enthusiast has said repeatedly he'd buy the biggest ATC he could afford. 

FWIW, the actives are more resolving than the passives, which are still quite resolving. Having owned passive and active ATCs, only finances would have me going passive again.  ATCs can be placed right up against the wall without too much penalty - you'll have to make sure you keep your listening seat at least a meter away from the rear (behind you) wall. Naturally, you'll have experiment in your room for a result you like.

As noted by others, ATC tend to be a warts and all product, the often unspoken element of which is that when the recording is wondrous, so are the ATCs. They do something interesting with bad recordings for me, it sounds like a bad recording rather than simply bad - I've not heard that with other brands. FWIW, ATC do make powered 20s, I have the art deco 20-2A speakers. The powered feature seems to add between $3,500 to $4000 to the price of a speaker. For some reason Flat Earth Audio just doesn't have the speaker listed, I would expect they could order it for you, if you wanted it.

The key to me getting the best sound out of active ATCs was finding the right preamp. I've used an EAR 864 and EAR 802 for the long term and had a great result with the D3i, though that's ungodly expensive. A friend did well with a YBA Passion 400; though I have to say it sounded better with his Anniversary 50s in his room than with the powered 20s in mine. The Anniversaries have supposedly more highly specified amp packs, but I don't know what "more highly specified" means in particular.  I've heard good things about Ayre as a match but not first hand. Though ATC make fine preamps, they were not to my taste.

If you like the uncompressed dynamics with a rich timbre that doesn't change with volume, ATC can be a speaker that has you stop hunting for the right speaker.

Larry

[Danny Richie]

I have heard several of these speakers many years ago, and one pair in particular that I heard did sound quite good. But it has nothing to do with distortion levels. Distortion levels are about as useful as how many "watts" they handle. It is nothing more than a popular catch phrase and his little to nothing to do with how it sounds.

This is pure marketing hype:

"The effect of the rings is to reduce the third harmonic distortion by 10-15dB between 100Hz and 3kHz. This makes for distortion comparable with most electronics."

Most small woofers for instance will have measured distortion levels in the 1 to 2% range. This will be down to a range of about 45db on a 90db signal. If what they claimed is true then the actual distortion levels without their Super Linear design would be distortion levels in the 15 to 20% range. I haven't heard of any drivers being that bad unless they were defective in some way. So take claims like that with a grain of salt.

[lowtech]

The experience that will never escape me is the comparison I did in a local audiophile's house between his ATC SCM100 and his newly acquired (at the time) Linkwitz Orion's.  WOW.  Talk about an unfair comparison! 

To me, ATC's initially sounded "impressive" but it didn't take too long to realize that they were very hot in the treble.  A quick high-resolution RTA measurement of the speakers showed a fairly smooth top end but rising to +7db over the midrange response.  Compared to the Orion, they sounded like a box speaker.  I'm not sure I could live with them (having lived with Magneplanar 1.6QR for a few years).  YMMV.

P.s. His SCM100's were not the active ones and he was using Ayre amplification.

[lowtech]

Hmmm. From just taking a quite look at the outside of the tweeter it looks exactly like my sea's T25CF001.
Of course the gut's could be completely different. 

Many of their high end speakers use Seas drivers.  The SCM100 is one that uses the T25CF001 (a very good tweeter IMO).

[Freo-1]

I have heard several of these speakers many years ago, and one pair in particular that I heard did sound quite good. But it has nothing to do with distortion levels. Distortion levels are about as useful as how many "watts" they handle. It is nothing more than a popular catch phrase and his little to nothing to do with how it sounds.

This is pure marketing hype:

"The effect of the rings is to reduce the third harmonic distortion by 10-15dB between 100Hz and 3kHz. This makes for distortion comparable with most electronics."

Most small woofers for instance will have measured distortion levels in the 1 to 2% range. This will be down to a range of about 45db on a 90db signal. If what they claimed is true then the actual distortion levels without their Super Linear design would be distortion levels in the 15 to 20% range. I haven't heard of any drivers being that bad unless they were defective in some way. So take claims like that with a grain of salt.

Well, the ATC speakers can and do play loud and clean.  One does not need to be a "golden ear" or a manufacturer in order to hear the difference the super linear driver makes from a standard cone driver.  The distortion is LOWER, and it's easy to hear it.  They also possess a glorious lack of compression when playing music with significant dynamic contrasts.   
 
So, while I get your point, their statements are more accurate than not.
 

[Danny Richie]

Well, the ATC speakers can and do play loud and clean.  One does not need to be a "golden ear" or a manufacturer in order to hear the difference the super linear driver makes from a standard cone driver.  The distortion is LOWER, and it's easy to hear it.  They also possess a glorious lack of compression when playing music with significant dynamic contrasts.   
 
So, while I get your point, their statements are more accurate than not.
 

Okay, they're clean, lack compression, and have great dynamic contrasts. Awesome, but none of that really has anything to do with distortion. Harmonic distortion levels are really low on most speakers. That is not a real contributing factor to what you are hearing.

This is like comparing the sound of two amps. One has a rated .1% distortion and one has a rated .01% distortion. Big difference in the numbers, but it is a drop in the bucket. There are a hundred other things making a MUCH bigger difference.

One thing this speaker has going for it that does make a big difference, and is a MUCH greater factor in it sounding clean, is the spectral decay. It dissipates stored energy pretty well and has no ringing or break up. This is a very big deal.

There are other factors too, but the distortion stuff is just marketing hype. 

[Vapor Audio]

Well, the ATC speakers can and do play loud and clean.  One does not need to be a "golden ear" or a manufacturer in order to hear the difference the super linear driver makes from a standard cone driver.  The distortion is LOWER, and it's easy to hear it.  They also possess a glorious lack of compression when playing music with significant dynamic contrasts.   
 
So, while I get your point, their statements are more accurate than not.

I'd have to agree with Danny somewhat.  Based on the limited data presented in their white paper, the distortion isn't near low enough to make claims such as "the most important development in loudspeaker technology in 20 years".  The level of distortion they show is quite good (.3% to .5%), but I see similar levels all the time when I collect data on my own designs. 

But what they're saying with a 10-15db reduction in distortion is easily believable, again I see it all the time.  Plenty of $50 woofers will measure around 1% in general, or -40db ... whereas a top woofer like an Accuton or AudioTech will measure .3-.5%, or -60 to -50db.  And while the .3% to .5% is quite good, it's not the 'set the World on fire' revelation they claim in marketing releases. 

[Freo-1]

Okay, they're clean, lack compression, and have great dynamic contrasts. Awesome, but none of that really has anything to do with distortion. Harmonic distortion levels are really low on most speakers. That is not a real contributing factor to what you are hearing.

This is like comparing the sound of two amps. One has a rated .1% distortion and one has a rated .01% distortion. Big difference in the numbers, but it is a drop in the bucket. There are a hundred other things making a MUCH bigger difference.

One thing this speaker has going for it that does make a big difference, and is a MUCH greater factor in it sounding clean, is the spectral decay. It dissipates stored energy pretty well and has no ringing or break up. This is a very big deal.

There are other factors too, but the distortion stuff is just marketing hype.

I think I get it.   
 
Perhaps it's the spectral decay that makes it sound so good.  It certainly comes across as a special type of clarity. 

[targa02]

Hello targa02,

What size is your plasma?  I'm trying to ascertain perspective relative to your ATC SCM50 actives.
I'm contemplating ATC SCM 50's and 100's -- Anniversary series.  Given your listening environment/sensibilities...would you have any comment whether or not the active 100's may have worked in your room

Thanks.

Sam

Hi Sam,

Sorry for the late response.  Completely missed it.

The plasma is a 50".  My room, with the speakers against the long wall as you see in this picture, would not have benefited from larger ATCs.  I measured the room (actually Clayton Shaw from Spatial Computer measured it) and I had bass decay issues due to the back wall at the listening position.  I later added a Spatial Black Hole which greatly reduced those issues.  Clayton remarked that the ATCs measured better than just about any other speaker he had measured up to that point, except for the bass decay issue, which was very much room influenced.

BTW, I later move my system to the short wall and the bass decay issues disappeared.  The back wall was no longer just a few feet from the listening position, but was 15 ft behind it.

I would recommend buying an active ATC that matches your room and be prepared to provide the best ancillary equipment and room treatment you can afford.  They are very special and revealing.  It is easy to see/hear why they are such a favorite in studios.

I am happy to answer any other questions you may have!