AudioDuck
Headphoneus Supremus
After owning passive speakers for over 20 years (PSB, Naim, Tannoy), I took the plunge and bought a pair of ATC SCM-19As that arrived last night.
After having moved to a setup with separates (i.e. power-/preamp) less than a year ago, I bought into the argument that shorter signal paths and crossovers ahead of amplification was the way to go. And I’m so happy I did. I plugged them into my Ray Samuels Audio The Apache preamp/headphone amp using Audioquest Water balanced interconnects, powered them with Harmonic Technology AC-11 cables plugged into a Furman Elite 15i power conditioner, and off I went. My source gear is a Schiit Audio Gungnir Multi-Bit DAC with a Bluesound Node 2 supplying the digital signal via a DH Labs Glass Master Toslink cable.
Simply put, the ATCs are simply illuminating. The spatial cues emanating from a completely silent background are a revelation, causing my living room wall behind the speakers to seem like a mirage. The sound stage extends far, far back, and the projected height of the performers that I started hearing once I got a great power amp and top-notch speaker cables remains. Yet the depth and crystalline clarity of every detail puts the old setup to shame in many ways. Of note, the power amp (an Odyssey Audio Kismet Stereo) I was using costs about half of what the ATCs do, and is known to outperform amps that more than twice as much. But the benefit of an onboard, perfectly-matched amp is so hard to beat, the excellent Kismet can’t compare.
When reading about these ATCs prior to purchase, I noted several reviewers rave about the SCM-19As’ tweeter. “Hah”, I thought. “How big of a difference can a good tweeter make?!” Quite a lot, as I’ve learned- in just 24 hours, too.
The way the ATCs portray the shimmer of cymbals, the ringing of a bell, or the whisper of chimes slightly colliding is simply breathtaking. How wrong I was about the importance of clearly and delicately-rendered high frequencies!
In contrast, I was expecting the ATC midrange to be exceptional. And it is. The timbre and emotion of Cassandra Wilson’s voice in “You Don’t Know What Love Is” comes through loud and clear, and her rendition of Neal Young’s “Harvest Moon” can easily give you goose bumps. That tweeter? It makes the crickets chirping in the background of Wilson’s song envelop you in a warm, sultry bayou evening.
While I may in the long term invest in a high-quality compact subwoofer to add punch below 35-40 Hz, it will need to be a lightning-fast sub to keep up with the precision and agility of the SCM-19As’ bass production. The detail the ATCs share in the low range is admirable, and they leave little to be desired when listening to most genres. I may also play more with room boundary reinforcement to see if I can eke out some elevation of another half-octave in the bass. If so, I may save my money and spend it on music rather than a sub.
At any rate, the grip and precision of the bass the ATCs throw at you- no, hurl at you- is impressive. Whether it’s Rage Against the Machine slamming out beats or Daft Punk getting your feet tapping, rhythms are always compelling and the ATCs never miss a step.
Across the board, the SCM-19As can do so many things very, very well. They can beguile you with jazz, pummel you with rock, serenade you with folk, or whatever musical genre is your preference. I hoped they would be the speakers (and for that matter, the power amps) to take me from here to retirement age.
Judging by my experience with these British wonders since they arrived, as well as their build quality, they are indeed. I could not ask for better companions for listening in the years ahead. Time to queue up more long-lost records until it’s far too late at night.
Here’s to ATC’s mastery of active speakers- a musical tool for more than just the pros in the studios across the world!
After having moved to a setup with separates (i.e. power-/preamp) less than a year ago, I bought into the argument that shorter signal paths and crossovers ahead of amplification was the way to go. And I’m so happy I did. I plugged them into my Ray Samuels Audio The Apache preamp/headphone amp using Audioquest Water balanced interconnects, powered them with Harmonic Technology AC-11 cables plugged into a Furman Elite 15i power conditioner, and off I went. My source gear is a Schiit Audio Gungnir Multi-Bit DAC with a Bluesound Node 2 supplying the digital signal via a DH Labs Glass Master Toslink cable.
Simply put, the ATCs are simply illuminating. The spatial cues emanating from a completely silent background are a revelation, causing my living room wall behind the speakers to seem like a mirage. The sound stage extends far, far back, and the projected height of the performers that I started hearing once I got a great power amp and top-notch speaker cables remains. Yet the depth and crystalline clarity of every detail puts the old setup to shame in many ways. Of note, the power amp (an Odyssey Audio Kismet Stereo) I was using costs about half of what the ATCs do, and is known to outperform amps that more than twice as much. But the benefit of an onboard, perfectly-matched amp is so hard to beat, the excellent Kismet can’t compare.
When reading about these ATCs prior to purchase, I noted several reviewers rave about the SCM-19As’ tweeter. “Hah”, I thought. “How big of a difference can a good tweeter make?!” Quite a lot, as I’ve learned- in just 24 hours, too.
The way the ATCs portray the shimmer of cymbals, the ringing of a bell, or the whisper of chimes slightly colliding is simply breathtaking. How wrong I was about the importance of clearly and delicately-rendered high frequencies!
In contrast, I was expecting the ATC midrange to be exceptional. And it is. The timbre and emotion of Cassandra Wilson’s voice in “You Don’t Know What Love Is” comes through loud and clear, and her rendition of Neal Young’s “Harvest Moon” can easily give you goose bumps. That tweeter? It makes the crickets chirping in the background of Wilson’s song envelop you in a warm, sultry bayou evening.
While I may in the long term invest in a high-quality compact subwoofer to add punch below 35-40 Hz, it will need to be a lightning-fast sub to keep up with the precision and agility of the SCM-19As’ bass production. The detail the ATCs share in the low range is admirable, and they leave little to be desired when listening to most genres. I may also play more with room boundary reinforcement to see if I can eke out some elevation of another half-octave in the bass. If so, I may save my money and spend it on music rather than a sub.
At any rate, the grip and precision of the bass the ATCs throw at you- no, hurl at you- is impressive. Whether it’s Rage Against the Machine slamming out beats or Daft Punk getting your feet tapping, rhythms are always compelling and the ATCs never miss a step.
Across the board, the SCM-19As can do so many things very, very well. They can beguile you with jazz, pummel you with rock, serenade you with folk, or whatever musical genre is your preference. I hoped they would be the speakers (and for that matter, the power amps) to take me from here to retirement age.
Judging by my experience with these British wonders since they arrived, as well as their build quality, they are indeed. I could not ask for better companions for listening in the years ahead. Time to queue up more long-lost records until it’s far too late at night.
Here’s to ATC’s mastery of active speakers- a musical tool for more than just the pros in the studios across the world!
