ATC Studio Monitors

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I had 300s soffited in my studio in 2012 and they sounded flawless at whisper-volumes, but anything louder and they became annoyingly-midrangey.

I had exactly the same experience with a couple pairs of their nearfields and midfields at Westlake in 2015. I was beginning to think it was just my own personal-problem with how my own ears react to them.

Did a 3-day session at 25th Street Recording in Oakland earlier this year and they have 300s and 150s. I finally heard them the way they’re suppose to sound and now get their reputation; they remained consistently flawless, regardless of volume! The engineer who assisted me says he’s been in quite a number of rooms with ATCs and they either work phenomenally or not at all! My limited experiences with ATCs bring me to the same conclusion!

Based on that experience alone, the studio I’ve been helping build for a few years and will be working out of, is waiting for 150s to arrive. We won’t be soffitting them and I find they’re too light in the low-end, so we’re also matching them up with a pair of Subwoofer Pros Studio Sub 18.

Here’s to hoping these ATCs will play nice with this room! There’s only one way to find-out, so we’re going for it! Should be able to report back in another month!
 
Monitors are a personal thing. I been around them a lot as of late and they are not for me.  Nothing bad just not my flavor at any volume.  But to be fair I am not a powered monitor guy in general,  they all tend to have similar responses to my ears.
 
I use ATC SCM 100A. I love them. I'm not looking for another brand of speaker anytime soon.
 
pucho812 said:
Monitors are a personal thing. I been around them a lot as of late and they are not for me.  Nothing bad just not my flavor at any volume.  But to be fair I am not a powered monitor guy in general,  they all tend to have similar responses to my ears.

thanks for all posted ,

had various chances to use  SCM45A Pro
and had very good "vibes"with  ,
as with Genelec ,

frequently a question pop up in head
when I listen old records from 70 till mid  80 age (various type of music like rock, blues , funk ,…)
how they did to get that very well mixed songs ,
balanced tracks levels , nice reverb , deep and punchy bass and kick  , silk mid-hi range….
with the type of speakers available in that age ?



 
SIXTYNINER said:
how they did to get that very well mixed songs ,
balanced tracks levels , nice reverb , deep and punchy bass and kick  , silk mid-hi range….
with the type of speakers available in that age ?

90% song arrangement, 10% engineers with great ears

Nick Froome
 
SIXTYNINER said:
frequently a question pop up in head
when I listen old records from 70 till mid  80 age (various type of music like rock, blues , funk ,…)
how they did to get that very well mixed songs ,
balanced tracks levels , nice reverb , deep and punchy bass and kick  , silk mid-hi range….
with the type of speakers available in that age ?

Many UK studios in those days used Tannoy Monitor Golds. Dual concentric is the only true way to listen.

Cheers

Ian
 
ruffrecords said:
Many UK studios in those days used Tannoy Monitor Golds. Dual concentric is the only true way to listen.

As someone who listens for a living I'm going to have to disagree with you on that.  The promise of Dual Concentric is great, the reality less so IMO. 

There's no question that good work has been done on them but I've heard most of the contenders old and new in that category and I'm not switching any time soon.

 
ruffrecords said:
Many UK studios in those days used Tannoy Monitor Golds. Dual concentric is the only true way to listen.

Cheers

Ian
the mono aural source concept is probably the best concept for a speaker ,
especially for set directivity and focus position of listen point ,
i remember back in the days some mix session as neophyte with the Sys 215 (double woofer)
very impressive spl and nice mid-hi range
a bit of difficult to set the instruments position level inside the mix ,
and a bit much emphasis on the nice mid-hi range
which induced  to keep them a little closed with ch strip eq ,
with the risk of having a dark mix at the end ,
problem largely solved with acoustic measurements and third octave filter equalizers curve ,
also the power amplifiers and passive speakers matching  was and is still today essential .

some year later when I then had the first mix session with the Genelec 
immediately I realized that it was much easier set instruments level position , pan pot , eq , etc… on the mix
and more simple get accuracy for same operations .

and years later same thing with ATC .
technology progress  ?  :)

cheers








 
The thing that put ATC on the map was the high output dome midrange driver. It made high spl without a horn possible.
I've heard the Tannoys sound good but it isn't easy to get them there. I haven't heard any horn loaded speakers I'd want to use. I heard the Tannoys in custom enclosures at Bernie Grundman. They would take some getting used to for me. I've also heard the stock cabinets in a bunch of locations. I've never been very impressed.

That said the only other speakermanufacturer I'd be interested in checking out is Geithain who does concentric drivers but no horn. I haven't heard that Danley horn that is getting great reviews.
 
ruffrecords said:
Many UK studios in those days used Tannoy Monitor Golds. Dual concentric is the only true way to listen.

Cheers

Ian

Not to hijack this thread, but how do the "Tannoy 215 DMT mkII with ST100 Super Tweeters" compare to the "classic" tannoys? I recorded some drums in a studio with those mains, and they sounded dreadful, I much preferred the Mackie HR824's...  :(
Not sure if those speakers are lemons, matched to the room wrong, or my hearing just doesnt like how they are voiced, but man, I have never been so disappointed in a set of speakers. They sounded super midrangy, with "zingy" highs and big woofy lows.

 
pucho812 said:
I been around them a lot as of late and they are not for me.
me neither.
pucho812 said:
Nothing bad just not my flavor at any volume.  But to be fair I am not a powered monitor guy in general,  they all tend to have similar responses to my ears.
turned one particular ATC user on to a set of custom high efficiency theatre type "monitors".
he was more than a little impressed, lets say "blown away".
imho, ATC's are glorified KLH model 5's.
 
Gold said:
I haven't heard any horn loaded speakers I'd want to use.

Ocean Way HR3s I loved. Really been drooling to hear the Meyer Bluehorns!

As a side, I too still  need to hear those Geithains. And shoutout to PMC TwoTwo8s as my favorite nearfield.
 
iampoor1 said:
Not to hijack this thread, but how do the "Tannoy 215 DMT mkII with ST100 Super Tweeters" compare to the "classic" tannoys? I recorded some drums in a studio with those mains, and they sounded dreadful, I much preferred the Mackie HR824's...  :(
Not sure if those speakers are lemons, matched to the room wrong, or my hearing just doesnt like how they are voiced, but man, I have never been so disappointed in a set of speakers. They sounded super midrangy, with "zingy" highs and big woofy lows.
..strange..
i ever found Mackie , Dynaudio and PMC nearfield series with a large hole in the midrange
and this give an impulse to add more midrange on any track with ch strips eq ,
resulting an excess  midrange  load on the master  .
 

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