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ATC SCM 11 loudspeaker Page 2
Sonics
Playing "Embraceable You," from Jane Monheit's Taking a Chance on Love (CD, Sony Classical SK 92495), what immediately became apparent was the ATC's more articulate upper midrange. The treble was under controlrevealing but sweet. Hand in hand with the above was a slightly wider soundstage. I quickly came to the conclusion that the ATC SCM 11 was a choice as valid as the Aerial 5B, and that, even though the differences between them were not "night and day," most listeners will prefer one speaker or the other, with room acoustics and associated equipment being, as always, major contributing factors.
Playing "Embraceable You," from Jane Monheit's Taking a Chance on Love (CD, Sony Classical SK 92495), what immediately became apparent was the ATC's more articulate upper midrange. The treble was under controlrevealing but sweet. Hand in hand with the above was a slightly wider soundstage. I quickly came to the conclusion that the ATC SCM 11 was a choice as valid as the Aerial 5B, and that, even though the differences between them were not "night and day," most listeners will prefer one speaker or the other, with room acoustics and associated equipment being, as always, major contributing factors.
I then listened to "I Won't Dance," Monheit's duet with Michael Bublé, which has a brassy big-band style arrangement. Here was a surprise. I'd thought that Aerial's 5B was the dynamics champ in affordable standmounts, but oopsthe SCM 11 upped that game. The ATC's dynamics were stunningand at normal listening levels. The one concern I can note is that the treble seemed a trifle disconnectedin this setup.
On the phasing test on Stereophile's Test CD 2, the SCM 11's performance was excellent, with a very pronounced difference in soundstage width between the in-phase and out-of-phase samples. Similarly, on "Green Flower Street," from Donald Fagen's The Nightfly (CD, Warner Bros. 23696-2), whatever phasing trick he uses about 2:14 into the track has never sounded better defined. On the veneered apron of the SCM 11's front panel, below the driver-mounting baffle, there is a black ATC logo badge whose lettering is made from a holographic diffraction-grating material. Holographicthat should have been the tipoff. The SCM 11 earned its "Monitor" label.
Over a great deal of listening with a more than usual amount of changing of source and amplification components, and several recomparisons with Aerial's 5B, I came to the conclusion that the SCM 11 had a touch of the "smile EQ" tonal character I found in PSB's Imagine Ba slightly recessed mid-treble regionalthough not to that extent. I found the Aerial's upper midrange more neutral and natural, and the ATC to have a slight amount of extra energy in the upper midrange and lower treble.
Going directly from the Peachtree Nova to Luxman's thrice-as-expensive L-505u integrated amplifier and four-times-as-costly DU-50 disc player, it became immediately apparent that the SCM 11 readily benefited from better partners. With Monheit's cover of "Honeysuckle Rose," the treble was more integrated with the midrange than it had been through the Nova, the soundstage was larger and more solid, and there was more fine detail in the beginnings and endings of notes. The sound became at once more authoritative and more relaxed.
With "Embraceable You" there was a better sense of the space the classical guitar was recorded in. Subtle dynamic shadings in Monheit's voice, as in her performance of the wonderful song "Bill," were rendered more realistically with the Luxman duo. All of which makes me think that the Peachtree Nova's phenomenal powers of resolution are not matched by an equal measure of timbral refinement. That said, I must emphasize that I don't know of anything close to the Nova's price of $1199 that delivers as much performance and flexibility. To take just one of the many examples I noted while listening to the ATCs with the Peachtree Nova, Jennifer Warnes's humming on Leonard Cohen's "Bird on a Wire," from her Famous Blue Raincoat (CD, original edition on Cypress; 20th Anniversary Edition, with 4 extra tracks, on Shout Factory) was presented with a resolution that was surprising at these prices.
Summing Up
The ATC SCM 11 is a fully-ready-for-prime-time loudspeaker with excellent resolution and dynamics, etc., but, even more important, the ability to create musical involvement. I intended to listen to just one track's worth of Gregorian chant from Consortium Vocale Oslo's Exaudium Eum (SACD, 2L 2L43SACD), and ended up listening to the whole thing. What more can I say? What I can't say is whether the SCM 11 will be the ideal speaker for you. But between it and Aerial's 5B, you have two super-high-value choices in the $2000/pair region.
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