ATC Archives — AudioTechnology

ATC SCM12 PRO NEARFIELD MONITORS

Audio Technology — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 14:00:00 +0000

ATC’s new two-way compact passive nearfield monitor, the SCM12 Pro, will be available in October. Designed from the ground up, the SCM12 Pro is among ATC’s more budget-friendly options — in fact, it’s the most affordable in ATC’s line. It’s also compact enough to use on your studio desk or console monitoring bridge.

ATC Technical Sales Manager Ben Lilly: “Users will find that productions completed using the SCM12 Pro will translate beautifully to other systems and that their incredibly low distortion makes listening to them a pleasure — even after long hours in the studio.”

The SCM12 Pro’s tweeter is a one-inch soft dome designed around ATC’s dual-suspension technology, as opposed to the more standard single-suspension mounting of most tweeters. The result is supposed to be greater control of the voice coil and dome motion, especially at higher SPLs, and an extended frequency response.

The mid/bass driver is a six-inch CLD (constrained layer damping) drive unit with a symmetric gap motor system and other ATC-coined acronyms like FEA (finite element analysis) that provides better dynamic range and less power compression.

The SCM12i is an install-specific version of the SCM12 Pro and is expected to be released in early 2017. It’ll feature threaded mounting points for wall and ceiling brackets.

More info:
ATC: www.atcloudspeakers.co.uk
Australian Distributor: www.cda-proaudio.com

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STAR WARS: BATTLEFRONT SCORE MIXED BY JOHN RODD ON ATC 150 MONITORS

Audio Technology — Tue, 22 Dec 2015 13:00:00 +0000

John Rodd snuck out of the house. He was eleven years old, the year was 1977, and the occasion was arguably worthy of so great an infraction: the original Star Wars film was playing in the theatre and he wasn’t going to be the only kid in class to miss it! Now, decades later, Rodd is a part of the Star Wars universe by mixing and mastering Gordy Haab’s original score for EA Star Wars: Battlefront. Like many of the scores he records, mixes and masters, Rodd relied on his ATC SCM150ASL Pro reference monitors to inform his decisions with transparency and truthfulness.

Players of EA Star Wars: Battlefront hear Haab’s original score throughout most of the game, but the game also segues in and out of parts of John Williams’ legendary Star Wars film scores. Rodd had to make sure that Gordy’s original score would fit with the older film scores from both a technical standpoint and, more importantly, from an emotional standpoint.

“To fit within the Star Wars universe, Gordy’s music had to sound lush and huge, exciting and dramatic,” Rodd said. “The recordings took place at Abbey Road’s largest studio, and part of my task was always striking the perfect balance between the room mics and the spot mics. If only the room mics were utilised then the music would sound too far away. The spot mics add presence and detail, but if they become too loud, the recording loses its grandeur and falls out of balance. It loses its depth.”

Rodd emphasised that his cinematic and gaming work takes a different mindset compared with that of a classical recording that’s meant to stand on its own. It has to effectively coexist with dialogue and sound effects, which require different considerations. “I had to think about the big picture for EA Star Wars: Battlefront,” he said. “Clarity is paramount. A lot of my work involves tiny surgical adjustments to clear away frequencies that are masking or diminishing important elements. Getting the right balance of clarity and size is difficult, and it requires profoundly accurate monitoring.”

He continued, “I find that my ATC 150s are very revealing and honest. ATC is legendary for its midrange quality, and I rely on my ATC 150s to help make all the tiny sonic decisions that add up to a compelling mix. They’re brutally honest, which is a good thing! If something actually sounds glorious, then it will sound glorious on my 150s. If something is slightly amiss, it will sound wrong on my 150s. There’s no guessing; ATC gives me the whole picture. Moreover, that truthfulness guarantees that a great sound in my studio will translate well to any other system. As a result, I’m able to work with 100% confidence.”

More info:
ATC: www.atcloudspeakers.co.uk
Australian Distributor: www.cda-proaudio.com

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Review: ATC SCM20 ASL Mk2 Pro

Audio Technology — Thu, 30 Apr 2015 01:00:00 +0000

Review: Robin Gist

Australian-born Billy Woodman founded ATC in 1974 with the intent of producing drivers for the pro audio market that could handle more power with less distortion while still maintaining wide frequency bandwidth, uniform dispersion and extended dynamic range. 1976 saw the introduction of ATC’s SM 75-150S soft dome midrange driver which, in various cabinet configurations, became somewhat of a benchmark for studio monitoring at that time.

Looking to improve upon this original design and wanting to eliminate the effects of magnetic hysteresis as a significant source of driver distortion, Woodman and his research team developed what ATC call a Super Linear driver in 1996. One of the key aspects of the new design was hand and edge-wound short voice coils made from oxygen free copper that operate in a front- and rear-vented long magnetic gap. This reduces heat generation and helps increase power handling and long term reliability. This new design, along with structural improvements, also reduced third harmonic distortion by 10-15dB between the frequency range of 100Hz to 3kHz and it is the 150mm (six-inch) version of this driver that is at the heart of the new SCM20 ASL Pro Mk2 monitor.

New to the SCM20s is another ATC speaker innovation — the SH-25-76S 25mm (one-inch) dual suspension soft dome neodymium tweeter. This is the first tweeter to be designed and built in-house by ATC and is the result of six years of research. The design, in keeping with the key elements of the mid/bass driver, utilises a dual suspension configuration. This approach negates the need for ferro fluid in the coil space which enhances long term consistency of operation and avoids the negative effects of the fluid drying out over time.

These powered, two-way reference nearfields also come in a passive version, and are suitable for small to medium control rooms, both in stereo and surround configurations.

TOOLED CABINET

Weighing in at nearly 30kg each, lifting the speakers out of their boxes gave me an immediate impression of something very solid and substantial. The previous SCM20 model looked wholly different, with a cast aluminium casing with an integrated heat sink for the onboard amp. But the manufacturing tool used to press the shape was slowly getting out of spec, so it was retired in favour of a more traditional-looking cabinet design that fits in with the rest of ATC’s range. The German-made MDF cabinets are built to a fine tolerance and can be custom ordered in a variety of veneered woods — the review models came in Henry Ford studio black, which suited my decor just fine.

As part of ATC’s attention to structural detail, damped elastomeric (meaning having the properties of rubber) panels are adhered to the cabinet’s inner walls. This helps reduce cabinet panel resonances. The enclosure’s front panel is also radiused to minimise cabinet diffraction in the listening environment.

CLASSY AMPS

The MOSFET biamps that power the drivers are also built in-house at ATC. Each driver has its own common grounded amp which operates in Class A mode up to around 66% of rated power, with Class B operation taking over above that point to provide extra headroom. The LF amp has a 200W max continuous output and the HF amp is rated at 50W, which translates into 108dB SPL per pair at one metre. The amps are thermally protected and include a fast acting FET limiter for each band to protect the drivers in the event of unexpected peaks — good peace of mind for when you’re soloing a snare drum at high volume.

At the rear of each cabinet is the power switch, XLR and power connector, power fuse, input sensitivity trim pot, input sensitivity switch and the 80Hz low frequency shelf cut/boost rotary control. This control offers between 2dB of cut and 3dB of boost in 1dB steps, which is useful for fine tuning or compensating for the low end balance in your control room/home studio. There is also a power/clip LED indicator on the front panel of the speakers.

NEED TO KNOW

ATC SCM20 ASL Mk2 Pro
Nearfield Monitors

PRICE

$8000/pair
CONTACT

CDA Pro Audio: www.cda-proaudio.com
PROS

Very accurate & detailed
A wide listening area
State of the art design & construction
New tweeter ditches fluids
CONS

Big outlay for nearfields
SUMMARY

These monitors deliver the goods and reveal accurate detail in all types of program material. The wide listening angle is a boon for commercial facilities and they have been designed and built for long term consistency and reliability.

MIXING IT UP

The arrival of the review units was timely as I had just begun mixing an album for a client, which provided me with a great opportunity for a real world test. Before jumping into the mix, I spent quite a bit of time familiarising myself with them by listening to a raft of my favourite commercial recordings, over a variety of genres. I, of course, also listened to some of my most recent mixes and gained an overall sense of the SCM20s in the process.

The overall tone of the ATCs is flat and uncoloured which is what you would want and expect from a serious reference nearfield monitor. I found the imaging to be very accurate and consistent. These monitors also exhibited a high level of sonic transparency and I had the experience of hearing new details I’d not noticed or heard in commercial recordings I’d listened to many times.

The ideal horizontal acoustic axis for these monitors is in line with the top mounting bolts for the mid/bass driver. I dutifully set the speakers to this height prior to my listening tests. This is noteworthy because, with your ears placed in this horizontal plane, the dispersion according to the spec sheet is 80 degrees. This means you have a very wide listening area, and are not confined to a small, tight ‘sweet spot’ — which can often be the case with some nearfield monitors. Great for when the client or the producer is sitting at the back of your control room on the couch. I tested the horizontal dispersion by wheeling around on my chair to keep my ears at roughly the right height. I found that the frequency response and volume level was indeed uniform and I had no sense of there being a critical sweet spot.

ACOUSTIC SWEET SPOT

In my general listening tests I found these monitors excelled, particularly on acoustic and classical music. That is not to say that rock, pop, funk and other genres didn’t sound great too, but the general lack of overall compression and the space afforded by acoustic music was exemplified by these speakers. The revealed detail and imaging made for a very realistic and satisfying listening experience.

Another aspect of these monitors I thought was significant, was the consistency of frequency response at different volume levels. I found this to be the case in both my commercial recording listening tests and when I was mixing. I like to trim vocal volume automation at a fairly quiet level, and with some nearfields the relationship set at low volume can seem to change radically once you start turning up the monitor level. This was definitely not the case with the ATC’s and I felt the vocal-to-music ratio established at a low level remained consistent as I cranked up the volume.

If you are working in the area of EDM and are not using large, soffit mounted monitors for low end reference, then a sub-woofer would be necessary but this would be the case with any small diameter driver nearfields, as 12- to 18-inch drivers don’t sit so well on the ledge of a mixing console! This is equally applicable to film and post work as the extreme low end was the only thing I found lacking. The stated frequency response is 60Hz to 22kHz, and it’s not reasonable or even feasible to expect any 150mm (six-inch) drivers to go lower.

QUALITY THAT QUALIFIES

How did I go with mixing the album on these speakers? Well, the client absolutely loved the mixes and that is about as good as gets! I will be sad to see the review pair go back to the supplier.

The ATC SCM20s would represent a substantial investment for the home user/prosumer but you get what you pay for. For a studio owner, the ATCs provide reliable and accurate nearfield reference monitoring that will be appreciated by your engineers and clients alike.

The state-of-the-art driver and electronics designs coupled with high tolerance in-house component manufacturing indicate ATC’s commitment to producing a quality and reliable product for the long term. I would not hesitate to recommend these speakers to anyone who has a sizeable chunk of cash to spend on serious nearfield reference monitors.

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ATC SCM45A PRO ACTIVE LOUDSPEAKER

Audio Technology — Mon, 09 Mar 2015 13:00:00 +0000

The recent NAMM Show, back in January, saw a bevy of new products and technology announced, which we furiously covered at the time in our online news (link). Somehow though, we missed reporting on the launch of ATC’s newest high-performance loudspeaker – the SCM45A Pro – something we plan on rectifying… Right now.

The SMC45A Pro is a mid-sized three-way active loudspeaker, which can be used for both near- or mid-field positions and shares a number of the same features of the SMC25A Pro, whilst filling the gap in ATC’s professional active monitoring loudspeaker range. Producing a decent linear response across the midrange, the 45A’s design includes a second woofer for deeper bass response and increased SPL (Sound Pressure Level) capability, combined with a new proprietary dual-suspension tweeter for top-end resolution. The new tweeter is a first for the company and is the result of six years of research and development by Managing Director, Billy Woodman and R&D Engineer, Richard Newman.

“Any body who knows ATC will recognise that we very rarely release a completely new loudspeaker model,” said Newman.

Adding that all of the company’s products “have a very long history, each evolving to become what they are today. The SCM45A Pro is especially exciting since not only is it a completely new addition to the range, but it’s also the first ATC three-way professional monitor to incorporate our new high-performance SH25-76S dual- suspension tweeter. The SCM45A Pro also incorporates a new variant of our existing SB50-164 short-coil bass driver, which we designed and engineered specifically to operate in a parallel wired pair. Given that the efficiency of our three-way models is essentially set by the bass driver, the larger combined radiating area of the two 6.5-inch bass drivers increases system efficiency, putting less demand on each individual bass driver and reducing drive unit excursion for a given SPL and low frequency response. This results in further reduced non-linear distortions in the bass drivers’ 20Hz to 380Hz operating band. With the addition of our renowned hand-built, soft dome midrange and the new SH25-76S dual-suspension tweeter, the drive units in the loudspeaker constitute a formidable trio.”

Power to the drive units is provided by the company’s proprietary Amp Pack, a three-channel active MOSFET Class A/B design with 150W, 60W, and 25W for the respective bass, mid, and high frequency ranges. Additionally, the 45A Pro is not mirror imaged, but is physically symmetrical, which (the company says) makes it ideally suited to position as both a centre speaker and/or side speakers.

“Every aspect of the loudspeaker has been laboured over — from the drive units and amplifier design to the cabinet,” said Newman. “The result is a compact, yet high-performance professional monitor worthy of taking its place in our professional monitor range.”

PRICE AND AVAILABILITY

The SCM45A Pro began shipping in mid-February, 2015, and (per pair) has a price-tag of GBP£7,042.00/US$11,490. For Australian prices, contact distributors directly.

Australian Distribution: CDA Professional Audio, Ph: (02) 9330 1750 Email: info@cda-proaudio.com Web: www.cda-proaudio.com
For more info, check: www.atcloudspeakers.co.uk

ATC’s SCM45A Pro, front & back.

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