ATC SCM 7 V3 is coming my way!

They've got a used pair of 11's I'm tempted to borrow for a week or so while waiting for the 7's ...

 

I think you get more with each model with the entry level series standmounts. Piano sounds incredible with the 11's and it's my guess even better with the 19's. I would have happily bought the 19's if I had the scratch....then I would have to buy Monitor 30.1's for the living room, so it's a good thing I stopped where I did. I would like to retire one day.

 

U surely gets better midbass, But the scm7 and 11 use similar woofer desing and construction 5inch and 6inchrespectivly. iirc only the scm 19 use the sl driver found in the pro range which is better then on the 7/11.

theres many user that after long audition prefer for example amphion one15 (5inch) over the one18 (6.5inch) and vice versa.

Ill be very happy to know ur impressions between 7/11 bhazen!

As for me, ive decided to go for best bang for the buck and the surely false hope that my sub qill save the show

 

received both the Sony ta 707 es and the ATC's!

the ATC have only 10 hours so I wont comment too much on the sound so early. I find tone wise, they are excellent.

I wonder how transparent are those metal grilles

 

Excellent!
And what's your impression of the big Sony. Heavy, ain't it?

I use a pair of PSB Synchrony Two towers with metal grills and find I prefer the grills on. Usually prefer the way speakers look with grills on. It's a win for me if they sound better that way. To be honest with the PSBs, I only gave a cursory listen without the grills. But they sound so nice with the grills, I kept them on.

 

yeah, I just compared the Sony 707 vs my gainclone lm3875. the Sony is MUCH better. very happy. its a monster! 45 lbs and really control well the ATC. its effortless, a true feeling of control and much more meat on the bone compared to class d or the gainclone.

The atc are amazing. my girlfriend is already saying she prefer them to the p3esr.

very stocked!

 

Wow pretty impressive considering they are significantly cheaper than the p3esr!

 

In comparison between ATC and P3, the P3's bass is slightly slow and most definitely lacking punch. The lower midrange and midbass is also much better define on the ATC.

The highs of the atc are smooth, accurate, unfatiguing, detailed and not harsh at all. Great Tweeter! the P3ESR tweeter I have to say is nothing special, I even think its a bit fatiguing and unresolved.

I may begin to even prefer the midrange of the ATC as its more neutral and transparent. the midrange is extremely detailed yet almost laidback. I find the bass/mid/highs very well balanced and nothing sticking out. the midrange is very textured and coherent. the harbeth have a very liquid, warm and natural mid with beautiful tone, but I do find it seem to colour each album in the same way, smooth over transients and details. everything sounds beautiful but after a while everything sounds alike imho.

The atc are very fast and natural with good prat. I find the harbeth PRAT lacking tbh. its something I am very surprised but the harbeth bass seems a bit slower which affects prat.
the ATC, even quite loud seem absolutely uncompressed and maintain a feeling of control and lack of distortion or coloration which is impressive, the music flow in a very controlled, precise way. im not sure id agree that they dont sound good at low volume either. I find the ATC very musical, contrary to many opinion I have read.

My measurements are quite impressive, the ATC despite being rated at -6db 60hz are actually -4-5db around 52hz in my room! I almost cannot integrate it with my rel t5 cause even at min crossover setting, the rel is -6db at 60hz.

AMP: I have to say though that Ive tried my 15 WPC tripath and 45 WPC gainclone, and none was able to make the ATC sing. The ATC sounded actually like poop, with no bass at all, thin mid and a mess basically lol. One part in one of my ref track in particular sounded super bad and uncontrolled and harsh with my tripath and gainclone to the point of unbearrable, I put the 90 WPC Sony back and it made it sing beautifully! So powerful amp is a must with the ATC.

I wont be keeping the P3's. I will miss the special midrange though!

Great speakers, one to try absolutely. Not sure they will suit everyone. the harbeth are undoubtly beautiful and for certain style of music, could be perfect. but put hard paced dynamic music and I cant say the harbeth shine anymore, where as the atc are almost unnafected. I have to say that the ATC seem to image not that well and wont go loud. so for symphonies at loud volume, id look elsewhere. but at 80db in a nearfield setup, wow.

 

The T5 is probably too small for the ATC's. I realize this is an extreme example but with my ATC19's I use an REL G1 (yes I know that the G1 is meant to go with much bigger speakers than the 19's, but I got a great deal on it so I bought it) and the match between them is seamless.

I know this sounds crazy but if you want to play the 7's really loud you will need a bigger amp. For my 19's I use a Musical Fidelity M6i at 200 Wpc. Sometimes for concerts I crank it up to almost half volume (they get really loud). Having said that, I also have to say take it easy on the volume for your hearing's sake. 80dB SPL is really loud! I think here in the US workers are not suppose to be exposed to 85 dB SPL for more than 1 hour without hearing protection. Save your ears, they will thank you when you get old.

 

ATC SCM 7 V3 are good speakers, using it in 12×8 room, getting good bass at very specific distance, very reveling speakers.

 

quick update, after a lot of week comparing both scm7 v3 and P3ESR, ive finally settled with the P3ESR. Ive sold the ATC's.

the atc are stunning but something about the articulation of the midrange and fluidity is very special on the P3ESR. the bass on the atc is better, but I prefer the mid of harbeth.

i will try to find a sub with good highpass capability and try to highpass the p3esr around 80/100hz.

 

What you think, scm7.v3 for classical music?

 

the scm7 v3 for the money are a bargain. they would work great for small classical ensemble (I dont listen to classic though only piano sonatta sometimes)

 

Interesting, thanks for the update - let us know if you find a sub that works well with the P3’s...

 

This is just the thread I needed. Tons of useful info. I'm currently rocking a pair of Harbeth P3-ESR speakers with a Sonneteer Alabaster amp and a pair of SVS-SB1000 subs. I quite enjoy them until I put some Hard Rock/Metal on (mostly Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Rainbow, et al.).

Anyhow, I've heard that ATC speakers are in general good for Metal music (I'm not talking about overcompressed junk). Long story short, I'm strongly considering the SCM-7 to replace my Harbeth in my little studio apartment. I ask you gentlemen with knowledge of both models to chime in, and share your thoughts as I've never heard the ATC model in question. I listen 75% of the time Hard Rock/Metal.

 

I would't buy such a small speaker unless I had another bigger pair of speakers. I'd choose a bookself with a 6.5" woofer for the type of music you want. I respect ATC as a company and I like their 3 way speakers (especially the powered versions) but they have increased their prices too much lately. You can pay less and get something else.

 

How little (i.e. what are the dimensions) is you little apartment?

 

Honestly, I've had a pair of Elac B6 before and I felt them a tad big for my room arrangements, so I'd stick with a small(er) monitor. The room is like 3meters high and appr. 6x3.5meter.

The system is in the middle of the room, like half a meter from the wall, speakers about 2.1m apart from each other, and I sit in the sweet spot about 2 meters back. That's the best I could do in my apartment.

I've also put the Proac Tablette 10 on my list. As much as I love my Harbeths I need something else besides midrange when listening to Hard Rock/Metal.

 

I haven't listened to metal in 30 years but everything I've played on my ATC SCM 7s in a room a little smaller than your own has sounded great.
And I've played quite a lot, from Albert Ayler and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan to Ivo Malec and Frank Sinatra.

 

the tablette 10 would be another 5 inch based speaker id like to try.

Ive finally kept the SCM7 v3 and sold the P3esr. Both are trading punches really. the p3esr sounds better at low volume and have a slightly more agreeable midrange: the P3esr mids are special, but the bass of the ATC are in another league and I prefer the ATC tweeter. The P3esr sound less open and closed in, but very special. Since I have the shl5+, it was easy to sell the p3 and keep the scm7 for another flavor. The SCM7 portray scale better, the Harbs make vocals better, both are really close in term of naturalness, tone, detail. The atc can be played much louder and sound weirdly uncompressed very loud. the P3ESR is more SPL limited. I use the scm7v3 at my girlfriend places 10x12 room, with a stupid cheap Volt+ tpa 3118 class d amp and surprisingly its 15 watts is enough for that room.

if you have the space, id probably skip past the 5 incher categories and jump to the new Proac SM100

 

Would love to try a pair of ATC speakers but not quite sure that my Sugden has enough juice. It sounds way more powerful than 23 watts would suggest but still.

Maybe I should buy a decently powerful used NAD as a backup amp that I can also use to test out some more demanding speakers.

 

The Stereophile writer who reviewed them had them working with a 2.5w tube amp !

 

that is a bit weird. the scm7 v3 are 84db/w.

In the untreated living room of my girlfriend, I thought the scm7 v3 was a bit too brutal in the treble.

I eventually decided to apply a high shelve starting around 2khz of -3db. Kept the magic of the scm7 and removed the only problem I had with them.

Thing is, my GF loves the look of the scm7 v3 so much, and she find they sound so good compared to all the other much pricier speakers Ive had in my system in the last few years, that she decided to buy them. That will put a stop to my merry go round for this system: I cant sell them!

I have a feeling that atc voice there speaker a bit on the bright side for studio purpose, a small -3db hi shelf from 2khz up to 20khz removed all brightness.

 

You'd think so for sure. But, I used a 2w Bottlehead S.E.X. amp with my KEF LS50s and the sound was beautiful. Of course I didn't crank them up with the S.E.X. and my room is fairly small.

 

MTC, FWIW I have a pair of SCM19's v2 in my video system. When I first got them we thought they sounded terrible (bright treble and squawky mid-range). The dealer told me to play them as much as I could for two or three weeks. Guess what got much better. This was back in 2010 so I cannot remember exactly how many hours it took to get the broken in but I would guess at least 100 hours.