Is there such a speaker...(loud but smooth)?


Hi all!

I am wondering...Is there a speaker that will get quite loud (almost concert level volume) but still have soft smooth highs at higher volumes than most home audio speakers?

I ask because I am looking for some speakers that will kick butt. I want to feel the music but I do not want to have ice picks driven through my ears.

Dave
diofan56

Showing 4 responses by shadorne

I am wondering...Is there a speaker that will get quite loud (almost concert level volume) but still have soft smooth highs at higher volumes than most home audio speakers?

ATC play extremely loud (concert level) without any effort or strain. Highs are generally rolled off and they use robust silk dome tweeters that do not give you the usual ugly compressed/congested tweeter sound so common at higher levels - so no problem there on any of the models. Concert levels of 105 db SPL can be reached in a small room with the small SCM19's and a Bryston 4B with very low distortion (almost all other small monitor speakers distort badly before getting anywhere near these levels - SCM19's have the largest 6" woofer drive motor in the world)

However, depending on your music preferences - since ATC have a forward midrange (compared to most consumer speakers) then you may find them harsh in the midrange (not highs which are smooth)- this would be true of hyper-compressed mastered music such as Green Day, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Metallica etc. - it will still sound great at lower volumes you just won't feel like cranking it for very long. People who like electronica, dance club music, classic rock (ACDC/INXS/Tom Petty/Led Zep etc), classical orchestral, country, Jazz, acoustic vocal tend to like ATC's - and mostly music professionals and artists who are intimately familiar with the sound of live music and instruments.

Another factor to consider is that since distortion is so very low at elevated levels and music sounds better louder - then the music will NOT seem loud as with other speakers - you may have an increasing tendency to crank it - so be careful with your ears & make sure your neighbors are far far away (it is the onset of distortion in other speakers that tends to limit how loud people play - distortion makes it "perceptively" loud in the same way as audio compression applied by mastering engineers does on some pop music).
So your going with a bookshelf!!! u so crazy man...

LOL...yes I was surprised by this too although if he were to go with the small ATC SCM19's you can still get pretty loud. Another speaker that can go loud is Meyer HD 1...also small but deceivingly big sound. However, most bookshelve speakers ...you can absolutely forget it!!
ATC sounds interesting.

They have had a following in some rock circles and a few high end night clubs/concert halls. So go ATC if you want very loud but Hi-Fi rather than PA sound quality. PA horn type speakers will still go louder more cheaply and be even more indestructable...
The big Tannoys with 15" dual concentric drivers, e.g., Westminster or Churchill.

Yes they would do it and then some!