The venerable British company ATC Loudspeaker Technology was founded in 1974 by Billy Woodman, and is famous within the professional community for developing the first soft-dome midrange driver, and for their well-regarded line of active (powered) studio monitors, the user list of which is a veritable <I>Who's Who</I> of mastering engineers. ATC loudspeakers are all still made in the UK, and were a favorite of the late <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/asweseeit/j_gordon_holt_19301502009">J. Gordon Holt</A>.

The venerable British company ATC Loudspeaker Technology was founded in 1974 by Billy Woodman, and is famous within the professional community for developing the first soft-dome midrange driver, and for their well-regarded line of active (powered) studio monitors, the user list of which is a veritable <I>Who's Who</I> of mastering engineers. ATC loudspeakers are all still made in the UK, and were a favorite of the late <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/asweseeit/j_gordon_holt_19301502009">J. Gordon Holt</A>.

The venerable British company ATC Loudspeaker Technology was founded in 1974 by Billy Woodman, and is famous within the professional community for developing the first soft-dome midrange driver, and for their well-regarded line of active (powered) studio monitors, the user list of which is a veritable <I>Who's Who</I> of mastering engineers. ATC loudspeakers are all still made in the UK, and were a favorite of the late <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/asweseeit/j_gordon_holt_19301502009">J. Gordon Holt</A>.

The venerable British company ATC Loudspeaker Technology was founded in 1974 by Billy Woodman, and is famous within the professional community for developing the first soft-dome midrange driver, and for their well-regarded line of active (powered) studio monitors, the user list of which is a veritable <I>Who's Who</I> of mastering engineers. ATC loudspeakers are all still made in the UK, and were a favorite of the late <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/asweseeit/j_gordon_holt_19301502009">J. Gordon Holt</A>.

The venerable British company ATC Loudspeaker Technology was founded in 1974 by Billy Woodman, and is famous within the professional community for developing the first soft-dome midrange driver, and for their well-regarded line of active (powered) studio monitors, the user list of which is a veritable <I>Who's Who</I> of mastering engineers. ATC loudspeakers are all still made in the UK, and were a favorite of the late <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/asweseeit/j_gordon_holt_19301502009">J. Gordon Holt</A>.

It's now 10 years since the launch of the two high-resolution audio disc formats, <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/asweseeit/164">SACD</A&gt; and <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/asweseeit/1099awsi">DVD-Audio</A&gt;. Yet, perhaps partly because both were <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/asweseeit/257">hobbled in various ways</A> to please the record industry, perhaps partly because too many supposed hi-rez releases sounded no better than CD, and perhaps partly because record retailers weren't sure how to display the formats to their best advantage, neither took off in any substantive way. DVD-A disappeared, and SACD survived only as a niche format for high-quality classical releases in both two- and multichannel forms. As we got deeper into the same decade, digital technology, despite various sparks and flashes, went into the doldrums. Mainstream digital technology was increasingly concerned with squashing the music into fewer and more portable bits, not with increased sound quality. Even the concept of "CD sound quality" began to seem an unattainable goal, as <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/features/308mp3cd">MP3 files</A> became the dominant music carrier.

It's now 10 years since the launch of the two high-resolution audio disc formats, <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/asweseeit/164">SACD</A&gt; and <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/asweseeit/1099awsi">DVD-Audio</A&gt;. Yet, perhaps partly because both were <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/asweseeit/257">hobbled in various ways</A> to please the record industry, perhaps partly because too many supposed hi-rez releases sounded no better than CD, and perhaps partly because record retailers weren't sure how to display the formats to their best advantage, neither took off in any substantive way. DVD-A disappeared, and SACD survived only as a niche format for high-quality classical releases in both two- and multichannel forms. As we got deeper into the same decade, digital technology, despite various sparks and flashes, went into the doldrums. Mainstream digital technology was increasingly concerned with squashing the music into fewer and more portable bits, not with increased sound quality. Even the concept of "CD sound quality" began to seem an unattainable goal, as <A HREF="http://www.stereophile.com/features/308mp3cd">MP3 files</A> became the dominant music carrier.