This thread is a bit old but I just received a pair of Atalante 3's that I picked up from The Music Room. My normal speakers are Cube Nenuphar Mini's V2. These are single driver, no crossover speakers that cost about 12k. I love them but single drivers sometimes beam higher frequencies that leads to sound coming right from the driver, like wearing headphones. Through careful positioning I've been able to get the Cube's to disappear but I've been wanting to try some standmount speakers in my room to see if the imaging can be better, and I may use them in another room as well.
I hadn't heard about these speakers and then saw a pair come up at The Music Room. I quickly did some research, including reading this thread, and decided to purchase them.
I received the speakers a couple days ago and dug out my sand filled Dynaudio stands, unhooked the Cube's and hooked up the Atalante 3's. My system right now is an Auralic Airies G1 streamer > Holo Audio May KTE Dac > Holo Audio Serene KTE preamp > Line Magnetic LM845 Premium amp. I also have a pair of REL S510 subs and a Project The Classic EVO turntable w/ Soundsmith Carmen MKII MI cartridge and Hegel V10 preamp.
Build quality on the Atalante's is very good. Simple "box" construction, but well finished and build quality is consistent with the price. The cabinet feels relatively solid. While not as fancy looking as the Sonus Faber Sonetto 2's that I tried a few months ago, I think the build quality here is better. Something about the SF's felt a bit cheap to me. They were very light for their size and seemed a bit hollow. The sound disappointed as well as it seemed a bit lifeless IMO. Not so with the Atalante 3's.
I've only listened for about 2-3 hours so far. I can see these are very well balanced speakers. Detail is very good and they have a nice lively sound but aren't bright. I haven't turned up the volume much as I've mainly listened while working in the evening. However, bass sounds full and very good texture for a speaker at this price. Imaging and soundstage are also very good so far. I haven't played much with location and my speakers are about 7-8' apart and about 8-9 feet from the listening sofa. They're about 2' out from the rear wall and one speaker has a side wall about 6' away, the other is open to the side, so they have some space to breath. The most I can say about the imaging is the speakers have disappeared in the room, which is what I struggle with a bit with the Cube's. I'm not really going to compare these with the Cube's as those cost significantly more and do sound better. However I will say these are very enjoyable and, like the Cubes, seem to do everything really well with nothing really standing out as "off" or as a major compromise. The biggest criticism I can give is while the tweeter is presenting very good detail and air, it may be just a touch edgy. However, that could be because I have primarily been listening to the Cube's for the last couple of years and their treble is very natural, open and refined. Not to say the Atalante's aren't, but they're just a slight step down in refinement. Again though, when thinking about some standmounts I've spent some time with (Sonetto 2's, KEF LS50 Meta, Usher 718BE, and Clearwave Duet 6 which uses Accuton ceramic drivers) the Atalante tweeter is amongst the best in that group. Considering the group consists of a berylium tweeter, a ceramic tweeter, and a concentric tweeter with some spaceage damping material, that's a compliment to the Atalante.
I'm going to keep these speakers in this room for a couple of weeks and I plan on giving them some time this weekend at some higher decibels to see how they do, but right now I'm thinking I scored a great deal on these and I initially concur with everything I had read about them.