"Anthony Edwards" wrote in message
...
Speaker-wise, I'd be very interested to hear how you get on with the
20s.
I had a two hour demonstration of the CA2 pre-amp partnered with both
the Active 10s and SCM 20-2s (the Active 20s) yesterday at Cornflake
in
London.
snip much glowin praise for the Active 10s
From the first few bars of Soundbites in that small room at the
commencement of the demonstration, I knew that the ATCs partnered by
the CA2 are perhaps the definitive small room system. Unlike some
alternatives, the volume level did not need to be high in order to
create a totally convincing rendition of Jim Mullen's (former, he
now has different sidemen) band in full effect, with each note of his
guitar rendered faithfully and accurately, not sounding like a hi-fi
system's attempt to reproduce it but sounding like Jim's guitar
itself.
That's exactly what struck me about the Active 10s when I first heard
them (and still does now) - it doesn't sound like you're listening to a
hifi representation of a given performance, it just sounds like the
performance. Which is exactly what a hifi should sound like.
snip more glowing praise, followed by unusually poor performance by the
Active 20s
Dominic agreed with me that something wasn't right, and is I think
going to investigate things further. It is hard to pinpoint what may
be wrong, but there is something definitely wrong with that pair of
loudspeakers which merits further investigation.
I would tend to agree. I had a pair of the pro model Active 20s on loan
for a week or so (while the 10s were in for servicing), and the sound
was overall very similar. Unfortunately one of the woofers was a bit
knackered (this was ATC's demo pair, Serial No. 0001, and they had
clearly seen plenty of action
), so I didn't really get to do much in
the way of critical listening. But from what I did hear, they sounded
much like the 10s, with deeper, more powerful bass, and possibly (just
possibly...) a sweeter, more refined treble (though that may have been
my imagination). Certainly nothing of the magnitude you describe.
Unless ATC have royally cocked up the design of the new Active 20s
(which isn't something ATC are likely to have done), I'm quite positive
there was simply something wrong with the pair you heard (though it does
seem strange that ATC checked them over and gave them a clean bill of
health...)
In any case, I get the impression ATC design their range of active
loudspeakers to be basically the same speaker, only for different
applications - i.e. near/mid-field listening in a relatively small room
(Active 10, 20) to far-field listening in a mahoosive room (Active 100,
200, 300, etc.) - and that the character and quality of sound throughout
the range is generally very similar. I haven't actually heard any of
the bigger actives, though, so this is purely conjecture (and quite
possibly just wishful thinking from a proud Active 10 owner.
)
Anyway, I'm certain you'll enjoy your purchase (and the tour of the ATC
factory - so jealous!) For a smallish room, as you say yours is, there
really shouldn't be any need to ever upgrade again. BTW, we now have
the same hifi system (apart from my Concept 4 sub) and damn if it ain't
a beaut!
Dunc
ATC Active 10
Linear Mode
