AXPONA 2025

AXPONA 2025 had the world premiere of ATC’s most compact active speaker, the ATC SCM20ASL ($9999–$13,499/pair, depending on finish). Designed for small to medium-size rooms, the sealed two-way speaker is hand-built in England and includes ATC’s proprietary 6" "Super Linear" mid/bass driver and 1" "S-Spec" dual-suspension tweeter. Both are powered by onboard class-A/B MOSFET power amplifiers that deliver 200W and 50W of continuous power to the bass and HF drivers, respectively.

ATC says the mid/bass driver uses a 75mm voice coil and a long-gap "SL" motor system designed to reduce distortion from the upper bass into the midrange. The "S-Spec" tweeter features a soft dome, dual-suspension design, and a high-energy 2.1-tesla motor, extending response well beyond 20kHz. Line-level active crossovers employ second-order Linkwitz–Riley slopes, supported by an all-pass filter to refine phase response through the crossover region. The speakers include a six-year warranty.

ATC’s Leland Leard noted that the SCM20ASL requires a preamplifier—in this system, ATC’s SCA2 ($11,499), fitted with the optional SPH2 phono stage ($1249).

The system’s digital front-end included an Innuos ZENith NG Mk3 music server ($18,900), paired with a PhoenixUSB Lite reclocker ($1350), 2TB SSD ($450), and PhoenixNET network switch ($4349). These fed a Playback Designs MPD-8AI DAC with analog inputs ($29,500).

When Leard cued up Yuja Wang’s performance of Albéniz from The Vienna Recital, the sound was refined and impeccably controlled.