ATC SCM40 > Applause Award, Stereonet
In the wonderful world of loudspeakers, you don’t get more hardcore than ATC. The company has ploughed its own furrow imperiously since 1974, largely avoiding the fashion-conscious world of consumer audio and focusing instead on its growing number of pro clients around the world. Unlike many speaker makers, the company doesn’t update its model range every year. Indeed, its apparent disdain for stylistic trends seems to endear it to many customers – something that’s buttressed by the unusually long product life of its designs.
The SCM40 floorstander doesn’t look or feel like any other loudspeaker in its price class for two reasons. First, it’s a true, old school 3-way design with ATC’s iconic (to speaker geeks like me, at least) 75mm dome midrange driver. Second, the cabinet is an infinite baffle type which is rare in any modern speaker these days, and last commonly seen back in the nineteen seventies!
THE VERDICT
ATC’s SCM40 will either confirm your prejudices about ‘pro’ speakers or confirm your prejudices about domestic ones. Personally, I adore it for its accuracy, speed and insight – the way it strings the rhythmic elements of the mix together, punching out the music’s emotion in a marvellously unconstrained way. You might call it a monster of rock, but it conveys the power and majesty of other musical genres just as well. It’s one of my favourite compact floorstanders, but as ever with loudspeakers, it is a case of ‘different strokes for different folks’ – so do audition a pair if you possibly can.
– David Price, Stereonet | July, 2020
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