CharlieAudio
Active Member
Summary judgment: All the superlatives used in industry reviews apply.
The sound is fluid, realistic and detailed, done with seamless bass to mids to treble.
The speakers fill the room with you-are-there. I can't imagine any better than these two-way, rear-port speakers for my listening room. The floor area is just under 20 m2, within the company's recommended range of 15 to 35 m2. I favor baroque (mostly ensemble but also orchestral) and small-group jazz. However, Jet Black's rendition of Pipeline is a highly engineered modern studio production, and the Atalante 3 hands it right to you. Conversely, you hear Geri Allen, recorded at an event, when she draws breaths between phrases of Old Folks (on her Some Aspects of Water album).
By external dimensions, the volume is 25.3 liters, slightly larger than the Spendor Classic 3/1 at 24.8 liters. I presume this is as large a speaker as you'd want in this size room.
Before the Atalante 3's arrived, one concern was whether a FirstWatt F8 class A speaker could drive them. Nelson Pass declares the output power at 8 ohms to be 25 watts, 1% THD at 1KHz. No worry: the setup goes as loud as I can imagine a sane person would want.
I have to place the speakers on a bookshelf with the rear port 42 cm from the wall. Revival Audio includes foam plugs. If you put them in loosely part way, a strong bass sound will pop them out to the floor. I pushed the inserts in enough to stay, still not all the way. I now prefer no plugs (and grilles off).
A good listening test for accurate and full bass is the first 30 seconds of Shelly Manne's Past My Prime from his Li'l Abner album. Listen to the drum and Leroy Vinegar's bass, both emphasized by whoever mixed the track.
I've seen only one frequency response curve, in a review by Daniel Brezina, in Czech language. He says the curve is for his listening space, not an anechoic measurement. So the dip at 70 Hz could be room reflection. The specs say minimum impedance of 4 ohms is at 175 Hz. The same review includes his measured impedance and phase curves. They do not look demanding to me, but I don't know how to read the curves like a pro.
My verdict after one month: the Atalante 3 is at the top of its class.
The sound is fluid, realistic and detailed, done with seamless bass to mids to treble.
The speakers fill the room with you-are-there. I can't imagine any better than these two-way, rear-port speakers for my listening room. The floor area is just under 20 m2, within the company's recommended range of 15 to 35 m2. I favor baroque (mostly ensemble but also orchestral) and small-group jazz. However, Jet Black's rendition of Pipeline is a highly engineered modern studio production, and the Atalante 3 hands it right to you. Conversely, you hear Geri Allen, recorded at an event, when she draws breaths between phrases of Old Folks (on her Some Aspects of Water album).
By external dimensions, the volume is 25.3 liters, slightly larger than the Spendor Classic 3/1 at 24.8 liters. I presume this is as large a speaker as you'd want in this size room.
Before the Atalante 3's arrived, one concern was whether a FirstWatt F8 class A speaker could drive them. Nelson Pass declares the output power at 8 ohms to be 25 watts, 1% THD at 1KHz. No worry: the setup goes as loud as I can imagine a sane person would want.
I have to place the speakers on a bookshelf with the rear port 42 cm from the wall. Revival Audio includes foam plugs. If you put them in loosely part way, a strong bass sound will pop them out to the floor. I pushed the inserts in enough to stay, still not all the way. I now prefer no plugs (and grilles off).
A good listening test for accurate and full bass is the first 30 seconds of Shelly Manne's Past My Prime from his Li'l Abner album. Listen to the drum and Leroy Vinegar's bass, both emphasized by whoever mixed the track.
I've seen only one frequency response curve, in a review by Daniel Brezina, in Czech language. He says the curve is for his listening space, not an anechoic measurement. So the dip at 70 Hz could be room reflection. The specs say minimum impedance of 4 ohms is at 175 Hz. The same review includes his measured impedance and phase curves. They do not look demanding to me, but I don't know how to read the curves like a pro.
My verdict after one month: the Atalante 3 is at the top of its class.
