Well folks, after much deliberation we finally bit the bullet and bought the ATCs with new stands. Had them for about 6 weeks now and they sound brilliant.
Rick sold them to us on a 2 week home trial which was a number one priority owing to our room acoustics (see previous comments).
First impressions out of the box and sitting on an old pair of Z2 stands, were as follows; open, detailed, balanced and without any of the bass 'boom' that the Neat's were producing. Despite greater detail, the sound was far from clinical however. Reviews which comment on the lack of harshness with the new ATC tweeter are spot on. It is possible to listen for hours without any sense of fatigue.
A few days later, I phoned Rick to give him the good news and tell him that the ATCs would not be returning to the shop! Days later, we returned to Derby to purchase a pair of Q Acoustic speaker stands which Rick had recommended.
So now, the ATCs have been in use for over a month and sitting on the Q Acoustic stands.
First impressions have not changed and the sound remains as described. The ATCs did not appear to need any 'burn in' period. Addition of the new stands has made the sound stage became even more defined with clear placement of instruments and voices possible (something that was not evident with the Neat's probably due to bass interaction with room acoustics).
The ATCs cannot be described as 'warm sounding' but neither do they sound 'clinical' which leaves them somewhere in between. I'm tempted to say that they sound 'natural' but this is probably a term which doesn't fit easily into descriptions of music and sound reproduction.
Anyone wanting huge amounts of bass would probably need to look elsewhere. However, the bass is there and its detailed. You can easily pick out individual bass notes which many speakers appear to miss in the drive to make a big sound (often from a small box). This detailed, tuneful bass is also a revelation in our smallish, low ceiling living room. Some listeners might miss an extreme low end response but the addition of a sub would probably introduce the muddying effects that we have been trying to eradicate.
We never did get round to auditioning the PMCs or a selection of other lesser known options which I had on my list. The last few months have been too hectic for such activities. However, the end result is a good one. We've now got a speaker which sounds great in our living room *i-m_so_happy*
One final point to note. The ATCs are sometimes considered hard to drive but this is not the case for us. In our room (4m x 4m), the Roksan Caspian drives them easily and to loud listening levels. They appear to sound louder than the Neats at the same volume setting which is somewhat strange and not what I was expecting.
Thanks to Rick at Musicraft for excellent service and for anyone out there wondering if the reviews of these speakers are accurate, the answer is a resounding 'yes'. If you're wanting a speaker which just gets on with the job of presenting the music and gets out of the way, then give the ATCs a listen. You won't be disappointed!
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