Listening
Contents
Honestly, for the first few days, we’ve been reassigning the Audio Vectors. There is always some getting used to with a new loudspeaker but this time it took a little longer before we got used to the sound. But after a few weeks, we fell madly in love with this robust viewer. Music enters the space so effortlessly and so masterfully that at first you don’t realise how good and correct the balance is. One evening the penny falls after playing some of our favorite CDs. Not once, not once, do we tend to flush a number. Then you just know it’s okay.
On to those favorite CD’s then but starting with the album “Gling-Gló” (One Little Indian) with a very young Björk in the lead role. A special album on which she sings beautiful songs together with a jazz trio in incomprehensible Icelandic. The interaction between tweeter and driver is seamless, but the tranquillity and refinement is particularly impressive. Instruments come through wonderfully and we can ‘look’ very deeply into the recording. The (a)typical voice of La Gudsmundsdóttir never gets sharp either. An excellent start.
“The language of life” (Wea Records) from Everything but the girl is the second CD that disappears into the slot of the M50. This is top notch pop music with the amazing voice of Tracey Thorn. A nice recording also that is rewarded by the ATC SCM19 with a delicious flow. This British speaker should teach you nothing about pace, rhythm and timing. The great saxophone on “Me and Bobby D” sounds like a… saxophone. The piano on ‘Language of life’ sounds like a… lifelike piano. Or almost. We’re impressed.
Enjoy
After a while we realize that the center area of this speaker is special. Voices and instruments are full of feeling and nuance. The timbre of the instruments is spot on and voices sound pure and full of emotion. No better album to illustrate this than “Divers” (Drag City) by Joanna Newson. This American harpist may have the most unusual voice of the trio (that says something) but it is mainly the harp that is going to walk with the feathers. Oh, that harp. I love the sound of these monitors. The combination with the Bryston and Metrum is great.
This is enjoy with a big G.
All good and well those women’s voices but what about the low because the specs don’t seem very encouraging at first sight? Time for some research. Besides the well-known test songs of Massive Attack and London Grammar, we like to impose “Showcase” (Burial Mix) by Rhythm and Sound to investigate the lowest regions. There are ten tracks on that album with heavy bass that can get any speaker in trouble. But it’s okay here. The bass is tight, dry and with lots of punch. Occasionally we miss a little body, weight, gravitas… but the high quality of the low frequencies and mid-bass make up for a lot. Of course, it is and remains a monitor speaker.
You’ll notice that we’ve played a lot of albums on these great speakers. They bring the music to the listener without tricks and are easy to set up. The sound of the ATC SCM19 is linear and not intrusive, so that almost all genres come through well. Even with classical music it goes very well and that is certainly not always the case with monitors. Approved!
