Got my atoms for a couple of weeks now and wanted to come back and share my thoughts on these. I have one main gripe about these speakers: the bass. They just don't extend low enough. Maybe i've been spoiled by my staxes that just stretched and stretched and stretched into the lows and made them audible, now i know what people mean when they say headphones are 10x better for the same budget. I didn't expect the atoms to give of a lot of bass, i bought speakers to get soundstage. The problem was not in that the bass cut off early, it's that right before it cuts off the atoms have this big resonating mid-bass hump that covers up all their qualities in the smooth mids and highs. One of my favorite piece has become unlistenable on the atoms: Concerto No. 3 in G major BWV 1048: I Allegro in Bach's Brandenburg Concertos by the Academy of Ancient Music. The cello or whatever it was that used to make the deep creeping grumble on my staxes that gives you goosebumps were now a big resonating OOOOOOO like a microphone getting feedback from speakers. And then just a bit lower, the bass cuts off very abruptly. I don't consider myself a basshead in anyway, quite the contrary, but i really wish this bass to be more controlled, more linear and go deeper. A subwoofer will not fix this (god i hate those).
I hear somebody mention Totem Acoustic a bit back. I'll give a shot to thier Dreamcatcher sometime in the future when i'll have the money. They're double the price of the atoms. Their sandwich woofer that promisses linear and deep bass with big soundstage has got me sold, but i'll ask for audition next time.
Damnit, i shouldn't have set foot into the speaker world because things just got a lot more costly for a lot less gains. Again, hourray for the Staxes, they really give me my money's worth.