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New Product Launch: ATC SCM12 Pro
ATC are very proud to announce upcoming availability of the SCM12 Pro — an all-new high-performance, two-way compact passive nearfield monitor – as of Monday 3rd October.
As an all-new design, the SCM12 Pro proffers ATC’s acclaimed performance at a lower price point without compromising component quality and achieves this in a more compact, installation-friendly footprint ideally suited to nearfield monitoring as well as multichannel music and post-production applications.
ATC SCM12 Pro
“Anyone who has been waiting for an ATC nearfield with a smaller footprint, that is more easily installed, or that is more affordable, yet still delivers undiminished ATC performance, then the SCM12 Pro could be for them.” So says ATC Technical Sales Manager Ben Lilly, before adding: “ATC R&D Manager Richard Newman has poured the same knowhow, time, and passion into this new model that has made the rest of the professional product line so successful. 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. At under £1,150.00 per pair, they may prove ideal for those seeking to upgrade ageing, hard-to-repair passive studio monitors.”
Though the SCM12 Pro is the most affordable model in the professional range of loudspeakers, the monitor makes use of the ATC’s celebrated drive units for both the mid/bass and tweeter, both being meticulously hand built at the UK facility.
The tweeter is a 25mm/one-inch soft-dome designed around ATC’s unique dual-suspension technology. Unlike conventional tweeters, this precision part employs two suspensions, offering far greater control of the voice coil and dome motion — especially at higher sound pressure levels. The result is an extended high-frequency response with much greater clarity and definition due to the reduction in disturbing an-harmonic distortion. Listener fatigue is also greatly reduced, resulting in users being able to work for longer periods with greater accuracy.
ATC SH26-76 HF Driver
At the lower end of the frequency spectrum, mid/bass reproduction is handled by ATC’s 150mm/six-inch proprietary CLD drive unit. Using a 45mm/1.75-inch diameter voice coil, and employing an FEA (Finite Element Analysis) optimised high-energy symmetric gap motor system, the driver is capable of tremendous dynamic range with minimal power compression. Cone construction is courtesy of another proprietary ATC technology that represents another advance in driver performance — namely, Constrained Layer Damping (CLD), a process that uses multiple laminated fabric cones to form a stiff, light, and tremendously well-damped structure. Speaking acoustically, this construction creates a smoother on- and off-axis frequency response and also a reduction in distortion leading to a more lifelike reproduction of source material. Meaningfully, judgements and decisions can be made more quickly, more accurately, and for longer periods of time by busy working audio professionals.
Put it another way: by employing exceptional drive units, the passive crossover can, by design, use the minimum number of components in a simple, second-order implementation. Indeed, the capacitors are all 250Vdc metalised polypropylene and all the inductors are air-cored types for minimal signal distortion. Additionally, all of the inductors are wound in house with very high-purity copper while large-gauge wire is used for the bass components to minimise signal losses.
ATC CLD Bass Driver
Looking beyond the release of the superb-sounding SCM12 Pro, an install-specific sibling, the SCM12i, will be available as of Q1 2017. This model will feature threaded mounting points to mate with widely-available wall and ceiling brackets from K&M and Adaptive Technologies to simplify installation — incredibly useful in complex multichannel systems, such as those required by Auro 3-D, Dolby ATMOS, or DTS:X.
Discerning audio professionals always appreciate that exceptional passive monitors require exceptional amplification; as far as the SCM12 Pro is concerned, the best possible results will be achieved when it is partnered with ATC’s own range of stereo power amplifiers. As such, the 150Wper- channel P1 Pro dual-mono power amplifier is the perfect partner — both in terms of power output and its outstanding resolution, resulting from technology originally developed for ATC’s high-end active monitoring systems. So customers can comfortably make the upgrade to an all-ATC monitoring and amplification system, an attractive package price will be offered for purchasing the two products simultaneously.
ATC SCM12 Pro & P1 Pro Power Amp
Simple, well-engineered products almost always trump feature-rich, cost-engineered alternatives, and ATC’s SCM12 Pro has been duly designed with that philosophy very much intact. Its neutral fidelity makes it a very versatile proposition, one which — when backed up with the company’s industry-leading six-year warranty — makes for a high-value, longterm investment for anyone looking to upgrade their monitoring system. So now is the time to consider EQ’ing, balancing, and editing faster, with more consistent results and reduced listening fatigue using the latest nearfield monitoring marvel from ATC.
Audio professional or otherwise, witness the performance of these two new products alongside the company’s full professional product range by visiting ATC at EastWest Studios (Studio Two), 6000 West Sunset Blvd, Hollywood, California, USA from Friday, September 30 to Saturday, October 1, 2016.
ATC and US distributor TransAudio Group will also be hosting a press-only event from 7.00-8.00 pm on Friday, September 30 (just prior to the AES Party in Studio One at EastWest Studios).
The SCM12 Pro will also be being showcased Stateside by Vintage King Audio throughout the 141st AES Convention, September 29-October 1, 2016 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, Los Angeles, California… come check it out!
The SCM12 Pro will be available from 3rd October 2016.
UK Retail Pricing
SCM12 Pro £1146.00 ex VAT.
P1 Pro Power Amp £2165.00 ex VAT.
SCM12 Pro/P1 Pro Package: £2980.00 ex VAT (saving 10% over items purchased seperately).
SCM19A: Diverse Engineering Talent
SCM19A Review | Positive Feedback 09-06-2016 | By Michael Wechsberg | Issue 87.
“…also takes a company with diverse engineering expertise to cover electronics, mechanics, electro-mechanics, and other disciplines and this is rare. ATC clearly has the engineering talent required as they have been in business over 40 years and producing active speakers for many of them. The SCM19ATs are a wonderful advancement in the state of the art of active loudspeakers. You could easily spend three times as much on comparable separate components and not do as well. I strongly encourage you to seek out the ATCs and give them a listen.”
Read the review in full at Positive Feedback.
Tom Elmhirst augments ATC monitoring setup at ‘home’ in Electric Lady Studios
“The addition of SCM45A Pros perfectly supplement my second rig to bring it in line with my main control room monitoring setup. It’s important that both rigs can speak the same language so I can work and my assistants can work in both places comfortably and confidently.”
– Tom Elmhirst, 2016 (mix engineer).
NEW YORK, USA: specialist British loudspeaker drive unit and complete sound reproduction system manufacturer ATC is proud to announce that GRAMMY award-winning mix engineer extraordinaire Tom Elmhirst — already an advocate of ATC’s professional loudspeakers — has supplemented his second setup at Studio C within New York City’s legendary Electric Lady Studios with a pair of SCM45A Pro mid-size, high performance, active three-way studio monitors…
Tom Elmhirst at his Neve VR with ATC SCM50ASL Pro. Photo by Drew Wiedemann. www.drewwiedemann.com
“Tom Elmhirst is a mix engineer based at Electric Lady Studios in NYC.” So reads the somewhat humble homepage for the talented individual in question. Yet the British-born specialist music producer and mix engineer’s many achievements at the helm of large-scale console — currently a Neve VR-72, about which he is on record as stating, “It’s a luxury… I can do ten things at once, but with a mouse I can only do one…” — speak louder than words. While most of the many millions of listeners who have heard the results of his sterling work with several of the biggest-selling recording artists around today will not know a Neve from an SSL, the man with the Midas mixing touch clearly knows what he is doing and must be doing something right with that mission-critical mixing and ATC monitoring setup aiding his course of action time and again.
As of June 2016, British singer/songwriter Adele’s third studio album, 25 — mostly mixed by Tom Elmhirst, has sold some 20 million copies, having become the world’s best-selling album of 2015. He has also manned the faders for Adele’s critically-acclaimed and commerciallysuccessful debut long-player 19 in 2008 and its 2011-released multiple GRAMMY award-winning follow up, 21, the longest-running number one album by a female solo artist in the history of the UK and US album charts. Credits in-between and beyond include Irish rockers U2’s thirteenth studio album Songs Of Innocence (2014) — famed for being announced at an Apple launch event and released on that same day to all 500-million iTunes Store customers at no cost — and 2016’s Blackstar, the twenty-fifth and final studio album by British singer/songwriter David Bowie — the iconic artist’s first and only album to top the Billboard chart in the US in the wake of his death — to name but a notable few.
But between those noted successes, Tom Elmhirst successfully transplanted himself and his sought-after services to Electric Lady Studios, the oldest working and thriving recording studio in New York City, founded back in 1970 by American guitar hero Jimi Hendrix. “I moved here about four years ago for both life and work reasons,” he reasons. “I wanted a change, having mixed in the same room in London for nearly 10 years. You can’t beat being part of an iconic studio based in the heart of Greenwich Village, so when Lee Foster — manager at Electric Lady Studios — showed me the only vacant room I jumped at the chance to set up home there!”
Tom Elmhirst in his studio at Electic Lady. Photo by Drew Wiedemann. www.drewwiedemann.com
The tremendous workload of the time dictated that Tom Elmhirst had to hit the hallowed ground running, so speedily furnished his new ‘home’ with the aforesaid Neve VR-72 console while monitoring came courtesy of ATC, a new and enjoyable experience for the mix engineer extraordinaire: “I’d used monitors from another manufacturer for years, but they stopped making the drivers, so it became increasingly difficult to replace one if it blew. A friend of mine lent me a pair of SCM25A Pros for a few days when I first moved to New York and I enjoyed the experience so much I went ahead and got myself a pair of SCM50ASL Pros. The sub and the speakers are tuned to the room using an XTA DP44 DSP-based audio processor, so everything is balanced as a three-way system rather than just adding low end. Having the sub allows the woofers on the SCM50ASL Pros to work more efficiently as well. In the years that I’ve owned this system, I’ve found the ATCs to be invaluable and the majority of artists that I work for also enjoy the listening experience.”
‘A-list’ artists like Adele. “I was mixing ‘Skyfall’ right around the time that I got my ATCs,” adds Tom Elmhirst. “The accuracy of the SCM50ASL Pros proved invaluable for mixing such a complex song with so much orchestration.”
Obviously Tom Elmhirst knows what he likes and likes what he hears — so much so that he has augmented his ATC setup still further: “The addition of SCM45A Pros perfectly supplement my second rig to bring it in line with my main control room monitoring setup. It’s important that both rigs can speak the same language so I can work and my assistants can work in both places comfortably and confidently.”
Chances are we won’t have to wait long to hear another chart-topping mix making its musical way out of Electric Lady’s Studio C. But by then Tom Elmhirst and his assistants will likely be enjoying the experience of working with those ATC professional loudspeakers on another one!
Photos by Drew Wiedemann.
New Product Launch: C1C and C3C Centre Channel Loudspeakers
Matching the acclaimed SCM7 and SCM11 loudspeakers, the new CIC and C3C designs introduce the prospect of all-round 5.1 channel accuracy…
ATC has developed two new centre channel speakers for multi-channel system applications. Available in two sizes and emulating their successful Entry Series SCM7 and SCM11 loudspeaker counterparts, the new C1C (V.3) and C3C (V.3) designs will deliver dynamic wide-bandwidth accuracy and outstanding vocal intelligibility at the centre of compact 5.1 channel ATC systems for audiophile film and music devotees.
Compatible Tweeters
Matching the monitors, the C1C and C3C driver systems feature ATC’s acclaimed SH25-76 dual-suspension tweeter, designed and built in-house according to the brand’s rigorous low-compromise regimen for exceptionally low distortion and an extended high frequency response. The tweeter’s 15,000 gauss (1.5 tesla) neodymium magnet has a black heat-treated top plate, which dissipates heat away from the voice coil to maintain high power handling and low power compression. A precision-machined 5.5mm rigid alloy waveguide provides optimum dispersion, a flat on-axis frequency response and resonance-free operation.
Compatible Mid-Bass Drivers
In each centre-channel system the tweeter sits between two mid-bass drivers identical in design to those employed by the corresponding L/R main loudspeaker. The CIC utilises the highly linear 125mm ATC mid/bass driver of the SCM7, featuring a 45mm soft dome – exceptional for its horizontal dispersion of mid-band frequencies – and a huge 3.5kg high-energy magnet system, which includes a 45mm ribbon wire voice coil, meticulously milled and formed by ATC. The new C3C design uses the SCM11’s CLD 150mm mid-bass driver incorporating a 45mm soft dome. Exclusive to ATC, Constrained Layer Damping offers reduced harmonic distortion between 300Hz and 3 kHz, an extended frequency response and improved off-axis performance.
Compatible Crossovers
The new C1C and C3C systems incorporate new crossovers developed from the SCM7 and SCM11 designs, involving metallised polypropylene capacitors, large air cored inductors and ceramic wire-round resistors to offer superior power handling and clarity. Consequently, and in common with the SCM7 and SCM11, the centre-channel systems exhibit an impedance curve free from low values and extreme phase angles, presenting an easy load for amplifiers of 75 to 300 watts.
ATC’s new 5.1 channel systems
Two new compact ATC 5.1 channel speaker systems combine the C1C and C3C with the SCM7, SCM11 and ATC ‘C1 sub’ active subwoofer to energise multichannel applications with the brand’s signature virtues of neutral fidelity, wide bandwidth and high dynamic range. Deploying identical high performance, low distortion acoustic design throughout, the C1 System comprises four SCM7s, the C1C, and the C1 Sub. The C3 system unites the C3C with matching SCM11s in the front, and for ‘family-friendly’ installation, the SCM7s in the surround positions.
C1 Subwoofer
ATC’s C1 Sub active subwoofer is a compact, substantially braced design, incorporating a hand-built 12” (314mm) ATC bass driver and a fully discrete ATC 200W MOSFET power amplifier. Supplied with full remote and fascia mounted control over crossover frequency, gain and phase, its response may be calibrated for customised music and home theatre modes. Line and speaker level inputs are supplied together with a 12V trigger jack.
Matching Aesthetic Design
Engineered to complement the SCM7 and SCM11 both visually and acoustically, the CIC and C3C employ a high quality cabinet construction, braced for high rigidity and damping. All system components are hand- finished in either real cherry-wood or black ash veneers.
Manufactured entirely in-house, ATC’s C1C and C3C centre-channel designs offer the ownership of hand-built, finely-engineered speaker systems, world renowned for audio accuracy. Like all ATC products, the new centre and 5.1 channel systems are backed by a six-year warranty.
Pricing: Please contact your local authorised dealer or distributor for pricing in your region.
Availability: 12th September 2016
