PMC and ATC

[admin_exported]

Hello,

My first post here.

I would like to hear opinions on the following speakers from people that owned or had significant exposure to active ATC 50/100 versa PMC IB2/MB2.

If you own or owned any of these would you mind sharing your path to or away from them, what made you buy them, or sell them?

 

[Frank Harvey]

I think you'll struggle to find someone who has heard both and own one of either. More people will have heard the more affordable models from both, so you may get an idea asking a general PMC/ATC question.

Regards

David

 

[MattSPL]

I used to own passive PMC IB1's, Different midrange driver to the IB2 so i cant comment on that.

But if your a bass nut and like to listen at live levels, then you'll struggle to find a better speaker. I ran them tri wired off a Krell FPB200 power amp and they were unburstable. I never reached their limits even with Sub Bass tones off basement jaxx played at stupid volume levels. Any other speaker ive heard/owned including Rel subs when played above loud, simply bottom out with that kind of abuse.

I only sold them to fund a house move.

 

[Anonymous]

I auditioned a pair of PMCs - I think they were OB1s by memory but could be wrong - and whilst the sound was great up to a point, above certain levels the speaker kept hitting back back of the cabinet which I was not impressed with.

I went for ATC SCM35s which have a lovely mid range and can't be bettered for the price in my opinion. They need plenty of power but once you get there, it's worth it.

 

[MattSPL]

EdJ:

I auditioned a pair of PMCs - I think they were OB1s by memory but could be wrong - and whilst the sound was great up to a point, above certain levels the speaker kept hitting back back of the cabinet which I was not impressed with.

I went for ATC SCM35s which have a lovely mid range and can't be bettered for the price in my opinion. They need plenty of power but once you get there, it's worth it.

Yes i agree, PMC speakers IB1(now replaced by EB1) and above are mind blowing but anything below in the range aren't much good with their cheaper drive units.

I now have ATC scm19's and although fairly low down in ATC's line up, they still have bomb proof qualities.

Just out of interest Edj, what amp are you driving the 35's with?

 

[Anonymous]

Hi there - I use 4 Musical Fidelity amps to power them. A pair of X-P200s driving the higher range and a pair of X-A50s driving the lower. It used to be the other way round but I don't play my music so loud nowadays and prefer to make the most of the mid range. My plan is to get another pair of X-P200s at some stage to even it out, but I'm not in any rush.

What about you on the amplifier front?

 

[MattSPL]

EdJ:

Hi there - I use 4 Musical Fidelity amps to power them. A pair of X-P200s driving the higher range and a pair of X-A50s driving the lower. It used to be the other way round but I don't play my music so loud nowadays and prefer to make the most of the mid range. My plan is to get another pair of X-P200s at some stage to even it out, but I'm not in any rush.

What about you on the amplifier front?

Sounds good, id say the ATC's like having 4 amp's in control.

Im currently using a Krell Kav 300i. It seem's like a good match for my 19's capable of ear bursting volumes and lovely bass control. But i think at some stage im going to find a used FPB200 again. But may upgrade my Arcam cd33 to a wadia 301/302 first and run the wadia straight into the kav 300i's power amp section.

I think it will be 2011 before i spend any more money though

 

[Frank Harvey]

That goes for any quality speaker really - the more amplification the better!!

 

[Anonymous]

FrankHarveyHiFi:
That goes for any quality speaker really - the more amplification the better!!

dave would i get much benifit adding a power amp to my primare i30 and is the a30.2 version still available how much does it retail for? and how would i go about wiring it up ? i want to use xlr's.

 

[Frank Harvey]

I'd have to check at work tomorrow, you never know, they may have one or two lying around.

Not overly familiar with Primare, but I assume you'd be looking at the A33.2? All you need to do is connect the pre-outs of the i30 to the inputs on the A33 - then use the i30 to drive the HF ad the A33 to drive the MF and LF - although what you coose to drive with the power amp is up to you, you can try a few different combinations and see what you think is best - I'd go with the power amp driving the mid and low.

Any decent quality speaker will always respond well to better amplification - in a similar way to using a £500 amp on your speakers then changing to the i30. Of course, whether you think the cost justifies the upgrade is always down to the user.

 

[MUSICRAFT]

fowler:FrankHarveyHiFi:

That goes for any quality speaker really - the more amplification the better!!

dave would i get much benifit adding a power amp to my primare i30 and is the a30.2 version still available how much does it retail for? and how would i go about wiring it up ? i want to use xlr's.

hi fowler

I hope you will not mind me responding.

Adding a power amp to the i30 will give better performance however another option to also consider is ATC's SIA2-150 MK2.

The SIA2-150 MK2 offers excellent quality of power, control and performance and is ideal match with your SCM40's.

Thanks for your support.

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

 

[ear]

have tried several mixing tables with equalizer built in. these have amplification inside I gues...they make sound so much powerfull. hasn't anyone tried them?

 

[Anonymous]

thanks david and rick for you advice! much appreciated.

 

[Frank Harvey]

When mixing and matching power amplification and inegrated amps, you need to be a little careful that the gain on both amps don't vary wildly, otherwise one will be sounding louder than the other for the same given volume.

 

[Anonymous]

MUSICRAFT:fowler:FrankHarveyHiFi:

That goes for any quality speaker really - the more amplification the better!!

dave would i get much benifit adding a power amp to my primare i30 and is the a30.2 version still available how much does it retail for? and how would i go about wiring it up ? i want to use xlr's.

hi fowler

I hope you will not mind me responding.

Adding a power amp to the i30 will give better performance however another option to also consider is ATC's SIA2-150 MK2.

The SIA2-150 MK2 offers excellent quality of power, control and performance and is ideal match with your SCM40's.

Thanks for your support.

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

I guess the SIA2-150 MK2 could be an option for me until I can afford the actives...... Rick, I assuming this would be a huge leap in SQ compared to my Yamaha 3900.

This could be just what I'm after.....

 

[MUSICRAFT]

fowler:thanks david and rick for you advice! much appreciated.

Hi fowler

Your welcome.

With the SIA2-150 MK2 on the end of your SCM40's - one unit - job done.

For me ATC inspires confidence.

Thanks for your support.

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

 

[MUSICRAFT]

dazzler9000:MUSICRAFT:fowler:FrankHarveyHiFi:

That goes for any quality speaker really - the more amplification the better!!

dave would i get much benifit adding a power amp to my primare i30 and is the a30.2 version still available how much does it retail for? and how would i go about wiring it up ? i want to use xlr's.

hi fowler

I hope you will not mind me responding.

Adding a power amp to the i30 will give better performance however another option to also consider is ATC's SIA2-150 MK2.

The SIA2-150 MK2 offers excellent quality of power, control and performance and is ideal match with your SCM40's.

Thanks for your support.

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

I guess the SIA2-150 MK2 could be an option for me until I can afford the actives...... Rick, I assuming this would be a huge leap in SQ compared to my Yamaha 3900.

This could be just what I'm after.....

Hi dazzler9000

Yes, the SIA2-150 MK2 is significantly better than the RX-V3900 in stereo and would be an ideal step to take until the active ATC's. For AV you could also use the SIA2-150 MK2 to drive the SCM40's leaving the RX-V3900 to drive the centre and rears.

Thanks for your support.

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

 

[Frank Harvey]

fowler:thanks david and rick for you advice! much appreciated.

No problem.

 

[Frank Harvey]

fowler:dave would i get much benifit adding a power amp to my primare i30 and is the a30.2 version still available how much does it retail for? and how would i go about wiring it up ? i want to use xlr's.

They have one option....

 

[Julian Stevens]

I own a pair of IB2's (not IB2i's or SE's) and I've heard the ATC SCM50A's many times. I've also heard the passive ATC SCM50's a couple of times.

The Advanced Transmission Line IB2's are of studio heritage and were designed for accuracy, neutrality and high power handling. They're not tweaked to sound 'nice' (you can watch an interview with their designer Pete Thomas on YouTube) and are therefore very demanding of what they're fed. They'll reveal as much what may be wrong with your source/s and amplification and overall set-up as what's right with them. If you can get all those things right which, as I've found, is by no means a doddle (it took me three years), they can be very rewarding.

Opinions seem to be mixed as to whether the IB2i's are actually better than the original IB2's (though Pete Thomas would probably declare unequivocally that they are). I couldn't afford a new pair of either, but I was extremely fortunate to get my IB2's pre-owned in mint condition at a steal of a price. (That done, the next thing I had to do was replace my Bryston 4B-SST with a pair of 7B-SST's to give them the muscle they demand. The 4B's just couldn't hack the levels at which I occasionally like to listen to certain material).

The IB2's also need quite a lot of elbow room if you're to avoid problems with their deep and potent bass. For me, the only solution was a pair of subwoofers fed via the excellent Bryston 10B-SUB crossover.

The ATC50's (10" bass drivers) and 100A's (12" bass drivers) are ported designs, incorporating ATC's own amplifiers, which, for both models, provide 200w to the bass drivers, 100w to the midrage and 50w to the treble. As far as I can tell, rather than three separate amplifiers each speaker contains one amplifier with three separate output stages but, to my ears, the actives have always sounded hard, steely and transistory.

The passives are much smoother and much loved by many users, but the 50's don't go as deep in the bass as the IB2's. The ATC SCM100's are bigger and may well match the IB2's for bass reach.

The PMC's can be driven actively with Bryston's Power Pac modules, though I don't know how many you'd need to match a pair of outboard 7B-SST amplifiers (900w each into 4 Ohms) or even if you can fit more than one Power Pac module on the back of each speaker.

I know very little about PMC's MB2's, except that they're even more expensive (and bigger and heavier still), though I imagine they were designed to be even better than the IB2's.

One other thing ~ PMC's IB2's and ATC's (passive) SCM50's weigh 91 lbs each (which is about as much as I can move by myself). The SCM50A's and both the SCM100's are heavier still.

If you can live with the amplification inside ATC's active models, compared with their PMC counterparts with (suitably muscular) outboard amplification they're actually relatively good value.

At this level of outlay, I'd recommend careful and thorough audition of all options, even though you're unlikely to find any dealer that stock both PMC and ATC.