Listening
Contents
Let’s go through the three participants. We’ll take them in order of playback.
Grimm LS1a
The Grimm Audio LS1a is the entry-level model from Grimm Audio. Relative to the LS1, we immediately see a different woofer. And compared to the LS1be a different woofer, tweeter and cabinet. But internally there are also things different compared to the larger – more luxurious – brothers. Think of adjusted amplification.
The principle of the LS1a is exactly the same: a fully active and modular system. Primarily for the studio. But the LS1 series also feels at home in the living room. About the modular concept: the LS1a can be expanded with subwoofers and a controller. Thus a full-range system can be realized. And the controller offers extra convenience and inputs. Neat!
The Grimm Audio LS1a directly shows its neutral character. The speaker easily disappears. Leaving in effect only music. Although this is the entry level, we hear an awful lot of detail and can easily hear the various layers in the recording. Very impressive. Also at this price point, as we can easily find speakers in this class that do not possess this quality.
Anyone looking for an “affordable” high-end, expandable studio speaker for the living room will have to take a peek at Grimm! However, we estimate that you will want to put a few subs under it very soon: you have been warned.
ATC SCM40A
British Engineering. ATC is really a superbrit brand. Founded in 1974 and started as a speaker unit manufacturer. The name also stands for Audio Transducer Company. Two years after it was founded, it came up with the soft-dome mid unit. And it is also incorporated into the SCM40A. The advantage of the soft dome mid is more detail, less distortion and a more favorable ‘radiation patern’. And we can only conclude that ATC has a characteristic sound that many people experience as very pleasant. We too are immediately drawn into the music.
The large and quite heavy ATC SCM40A plays surprisingly large, tight and pleasantly smooth. We do not find it completely neutral, but then this floorstander is also the HiFi version, so maybe that plays a role. However, without a doubt it is still clean and neutral enough to listen to comfortably. We just hear a tasteful touch of warmth in this ATC. And that’s something “analog people” will really like. Especially with fully analog recorded tracks like James Taylor’s.
The active version of the SCM40 sounds super complete. We can not imagine that this level for the same money is achievable with separate components. In short: pre-amp and dac and… play! Definitely a great sounding active floorstander for an interesting price.
Dutch & Dutch 8C
A complete package in two monitor speakers. Dac, pre-amp, room correction and a streamer. We’re seeing it more and more. But not so often at this (high) level. Dutch & Dutch is a young company, but it has a lot of knowledge. And that knowledge is all in this one speaker: the Dutch & Dutch 8C. Does C stand for “Complete”? Well, it could be, but we’re guessing it stands for Cardioid. After all, there is something special about this speaker.
If you look at the speaker, you will see that there is a tweeter and mid on the front. So far, so good. However, at the rear are two more woofers. These use the rear wall – acoustic coupling – as a reflector. An internal DSP puts it all neatly in phase so the timing is not lost.
The 8C is designed according to a cardioid principle. This means that the tweeter and midrange play mainly forward. Just like a cardioid microphone picks up sound mainly from the front and ignores the sides and back. This has the advantage that the room has much less influence on the reproduction. That’s nice, because in many cases the acoustics are a limiting factor. And if you want to get the acoustics right, that can get very pricey. Dutch & Dutch wants to solve this differently with the 8C: via the speaker. As icing on the cake active room correction via REW is possible.
Enough technology. So how does this compact monitor from our little country sound? Well …. clean. And very stable. It really is very reminiscent of a studio monitor. No coloration and just very accurate. That sounds boring, but it’s not! Not at all! It is in a way reminiscent of the LS1a. With the difference that this D&D goes deeper than the LS1a without sub.
The beauty of this system is that the character is also adjustable through the REW software. Do you want more bass? Mid? High? What you want. Dutch & Dutch left the D&D 8C quite neutral for our test.
In short: are you looking for a compact, complete and versatile set? Well: the 8C might just be the solution!
Recordings Tim Knol
We have, with Tim knol’s approval, extracted the recordings from the lossless recording of the live stream and made them available to you.
So: herewith also the lossless live tracks of Tim knol!
Grimm LS1a – ATC SCM40A – Dutch & Dutch 8C
Conclusion
Three beautiful speakers. Each with their own power. And their own unique qualities. Grimm has the accuracy of a surgeon. And is expandable. ATC has a wonderful flow and balance between detail and smoothness. And Dutch & Dutch offers extreme flexibility and the advantages of the cardiod system which results in less room-mode. And so better performance.With these three it is not so much a question of better and worse. It's a matter of what suits you. What are you looking for in a speaker? We hope this overview and these demos have helped.