The ProAcs excel at disappearing and portraying an expansive 3D soundstage with an expressive midrange, and they may be a little more forgiving of lesser recordings yet without lacking detail. The ATCs possess better dynamic power and will be a little more revealing of faults in recordings and are likely more forgiving in placement and needing space to shine. They are both excellent but very different speakers, so it really depends on what you’re looking for but they definitely are not substitutes for one another. Hope this helps, and best of luck.
Speaker question
I have a Nord class D 227 wpc tri- mono amp to run my front 3 channels. It does have an upgraded op amp buffer. Trying to decide on the L and R. Proac D30r’s or 20r’s…. ATC SCM 40V2’s. My center channel is a paradigm 600c. The Proac’s tend to be expensive. Coastal NC. No way to demo.
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The Usher Dancer Mini Two at $5290 is a very high quality speaker for the $ with custom drivers and beautiful build/finish, and it will do many of the same things as the ProAcs. I believe this seller offers a return policy if they don’t work out, which is a nice option to have and they offer a 10% discount as well. Just another option. |
Usher also makes the Mini One that’s very comparable in size/weight to the ATCs and are only $4090, in case you didn’t see those. https://soundapproach.com/usher-dancer-mini-one-tower-speaker-pair.html |
A couple of the benefits of the ATC’s, and I have the SCM 40 V2, is that they are not picky about placement and they’re quite good off axis. So without knowing your situation, I don’t know if these things matter to you, but they mattered to me. in terms of their overall performance, I’ve been very happy with them above and beyond the two elements I mentioned. There are plenty of reviews to peruse about this. I bought them without hearing them ahead of time and as you can probably surmise, I have been very pleased. |
My experience is not that they’re not bad at low volume, but that they get really good at higher volumes, creating a contrast that makes them seem a little worse than they really are. In general, any speaker with a flat approach, with no bass boost or additional screwing around, will seem to lose bass at low volume, simply because of the way our ears and brains work. The trade-off is that if the bass is right or preferable at low volume, when you crank it up it won’t be accurate anymore. The ATC’s are designed so that they are accurate at higher volume than many others. Anyway, those are my thoughts. I’m not any kind of expert. |
Who is saying ATC's have issues last low volume? That is utter crap and made up by someone who got a bad demo. They don't have an issue. On the pro side of ATC, which uses the same drivers as consumer versions, a very specific BENEFIT (that is very easy to demo) is that they sound exactly the same at low level than high level (level meaning SPL level). This is actually a rare skill and one that ATC prides itself on. Mixers need this badly because no one can mix loud all the time without wearing yourself out. You have to be able to turn it down and hear the same exact thing to work for 8-10 hours in front of speakers. I don't mind someone liking a different brand, that's fine, so it's not about a competing brand. Using complete mistruths and stating them as a factual and well known issue is not right. This "ATC's have a low level issue" is not true and a complete fallacy. If you go to an ATC dealer they can prove it to you. Brad
Brad |
@aleon Sorry I was excited there. DIdnt mean to blame you or pick on you. Ive read this before but I can't figure out where it comes from becasue it is categorically not true. It must some other problem attributed to the speakers- like maybe underpowered amps? Other readers read these kinds of things and if no one says anything, they beleive its true. Just trying to seet the record straight. |
I use them myself for HT. They are simply a very good three way and the least expensive model with the ATC mid dome, which they are famous for. 227W should be plenty of power, no problem there. On the amp sound, I personally defer to linear based Class A/B power amps, but Ive heard some awfully good Class D and some awfully bad Class D. I don't know the amp you are interested in so I cannot comment about that, but it certainly has enough power. We use the ATC P2 at 300W/Ch to demo them at trade shows, but I have also used the P1 at 150W/ch. Both work, the P2 has better bass (larger reserves and bigger dynamics). |
