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What is the REAL British Sound? (ATC content)

PhotonDon

PhotonDon

Active Member
I'm confused. Having owned a KEF 103.2 Reference for a number of years, I thought I knew what the "British Sound" was all about. Quite polite, sounding good w/ a number of musical genres. I can listen to them all day. But, like most gear heads, I wondered if there was something more. Last month I grabbed a pair of ATC Active monitors, model SCM20 2A. These are sho' nuff studio monitors, and they could not sound more different than the comfortable old KEFs. Now, I get the studio monitor concept, deadly accurate, able to get loud,etc. But which is the more British sounding? IOW, which of these two would sound like a pair of current well regarded Brit bookshelves (ProAc, PMC, Harbeth, Spendor, etc) Maybe Ill post a mini review and let on as to how I picked them up. Please tell me of your experiences and what I can expect with the ATCs, as they are nothing like I have heard before. Admittedly, I haven't been exposed to loads of quality speaks, as I am a redneck country boy and have to drive a great deal to hear anything above average. Thanks!
 
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I am only familiar with Harbeth and Monitor Audio speakers. Although I never listened to them side by side in the same system I would say they were more alike than different. The MA speakers I had were MA700 Gold bookshelves that I had 20+ years ago. I loved them and they got me hooked on the value of a well built British two way speaker.

one of the woofers failed after many years and I foolishly sold them and started chasing well reviewed speakers. Suffice it to say I never got back the enjoyment of the MA speakers. I got so frustrated that I sold everything and started from scratch. Harbeth speakers are the cornerstone of an (almost) all British system.

To my ears, in my system, in my room I once again have that magic. I don’t think they are overly polite, dull, or rolled off. The are accurate, organic and truly musical. Many of the other speakers I owned were hard, metallic and etched.....hard to listen to, let alone truly enjoy.

in my opinion accuracy does not come at the expense of musicality. From your explanations I would guess that the KEFs are more “tradition” British sounding. But even that is just a guess. I would tell you that you have to assess the entire environment...room, system components, source, everything to gauge where you are and what you want. It doesn’t have to be expensive, but work and getting into the details will often pay off in good sound.

the one question I would ask is can you listen to the ATC speakers for a long time without losing interest or getting fatigued? That is what would happen to me when I was experimenting with a number of well regarded speakers.

good luck!
 
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As you know I am a fan of what are now vintage Wharfedale speakers have been for 50 years. I recently purchased a pair of 50 year old W45’s. My W25’s, and W35 are wonderful but thr W45’s are almost a religious experience, They are not a large speaker in fact when this speaker introduced in time for Christmas 1969 it was classified as a bookshelf Speaker, it would not classified such today. Comparing it to my modern Polk Audio speakers the W45 has a complete sound, with the Polks the middle, the interior of an orchestra, the stage noises of a jazz set, The light airy sound of a Barque, or Rococo chamber orchestra are just not there. All of those interior sonic goodies are there with the W45’s.
As for the bass it is there but in an accurate way. It does not get in the way. My Polk Monitor 10B’s sound like a drunk singing karaoke while blasting on a bass guitar they are a very tiring set of speakers to listen to. They are in semi retirement.

I have an advantage in that with a mouse click I can switch between 2 sound systems. The Yamaha HT system with it’s Polk RTi A3’s, with a Klipsch subwoofer. and the PC based system using jRiver 25 and a modest but very good DTA120BT Dayton audio amp and the W45’s. .I cannot use the W45’s with the Yamaha as the cannot safely handle the power.
 
StuartB, your last paragraph nails it. Although the ATCs are new to me and I haven’t listened to them enough( I’ve just moved and I’m working about 1800 miles from home) but so far they are not a relaxing speaker, nor were they meant to be. I guess I’m not an hyper analytical guy, as the ATCs have me tensing up in my chair. I’ve never heard Monitor Audio but they seem highly thought of.

Transmaster, I’m with you on the Polk 10Bs. Had em for a while, not my cuppa tea. I’ve never listened to Wharfs and it seems they are beloved by their owners.
 
The thing about Wharfedale is early on they were never marketed much across the country. They were well know in New England, especially in New York, and to a lesser down the East coast. I was introduced to the Marque in Key West Florida. I am looking at 2 of those speakers right now, the W35’s. To those of us who love Wharfedales it is nice there is no real collectors interest in them so the prices for them are very attractive. I have watched Wharfedale speakers listed fir sale for the better part if a year without selling mainly because they would not ship them. I can understand this about th3 W70, or The W90 but most of the others can be taken to s UPS store, or a Kinko’s and they will box them up a ship them for you. There are a couple that if they would have shipped them they would be here with me right now.

I went out to look at my Brother’s AR2AX’s speakers which purchased new in the mid 1970’s they are in the same class as my W45’s. They are complete wrecks needing new surrounds, recapping and the level pot’s is in need of cleaning or replacement. My W45’s are about 6 year older than the AR’s they arrived in good working order all I did was replace the cap’s because excessive ESR’s. I wanted to compare them with the AR2AX’s but that is not going to happen.
 
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The origin for the term “The British Sound” came from BBC developed LS3/5 studio monitor. In the early 1970’s Dudley Harwood a BBC audio engineer developed the LS3/5 monitor from parts obtained from KEF. He exhausted this parts source so the BBC contracted with Rogers, and other small British speaker marques, but Not Wharfedale they were a part of BIC not a “small” speaker company. The original LS3/5 had a 15 ohm impedance, the bass driver was revised and it dropped to 11 Ohms. The LS3/5 is still in production by several companies including Rogers with upwards of 600,000 unit priduced.
 
I believe the newest ATC SCM models with the ATC made tweeters are are a little more forgiving than previous models.
Had a pair of SCM 11v2s for 2 years and loved them (only sold them to take some $ out of my system).
 
Here is a vintage set of LS3/5’s. This is a prime example of what collectors can do to prices. This is a nice little studio monitor but hardly worth $2,000 Dollars for the pair. The current Rogers LS3/5A is selling for about $2,800 Dollars.

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Let see what could I spend my money on?

Rogers LS3/5A $2,800 USD.
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Or: Klipsch Cornwall III $2,199 USD,
Edit: I keep forgetting the price is for one speaker.
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Which speaker do you think would sound the best :idea:
 
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Guys, responses are great and reinforces what I thought. My KEFs are def the classic Brit Sound. I like this sound very much. I think I’ll give the ATCs a chance to grow on me but I just may recap my 103.2s and see what that does. My Magneplanars are probably too big for my dedicated bedroom man cave.
I got the ATCs at our unclaimed baggage store in north Alabama. They had been sitting there for two years with no action. I mentioned to management they were prolly priced too high and they reduced them over half. That was last year. Last month they reduced them 25%. I had to listen at that point. After an hour of listening to them perched on the countertop, the manager asked me if half off would sway me. I couldn’t say no an grabbed them at a steal. Patience pays. If I sell the ATCs I’ll be able to afford something a bit nicer than the KEFs.
 
botrytis said:
I would prefer any British speaker over Klipsch. Most make my ears bleed as I dislike their horns.
Click to expand...
I agree, I like Klipsch Subwoofers but not much else. Right now I am looking at the Wharfedale Diamond 225. I have talking with people that know this speaker and they tell me if you like the vintage Wharfedale bookshelf speakers you will like the Diamond 225. I has the Wharfedale sound with a much higher power handling capacity. 125 Watts vis 45 Watts for my W45’s.
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I had some 103.2s and enjoyed them, but when I moved on to other speakers I realized they were masking some detail.
Freshening up the crossover would probably have helped; I didn't think it would be enough.
 
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