ATC SCM 100 SE Active

• ATC SCM100SE Wins Hi-Fi+ Editors Choice Award 2020
• ATC’s ever-green SCM100 active reflex-loaded three-way floorstanding loudspeaker needs little introduction, as it has been one of the mainstays of the company’s range for decades.
• "What makes it so appealing is the ease with which it goes about the business of reproducing not only the full bandwidth of the signal but its full dynamic envelope as well, and if you like to play at levels that approach the realistic, it is in a class of its own.”

ATC SCM 100 SE Active

• All this glory and more is there for the enjoying with these high-resolution loudspeakers.
• I mentioned earlier that I’d made a discovery about ATC actives over the course of this review. They need more drive than average; more than was provided by the MSB DAC or transformer passive Allegri. I was getting extremely revealing, wide bandwidth results with plenty of power but limited emotional impact: something wasn’t quite gelling. So I dug out an ATC CA2 preamplifier and hooked it up. Bam, that did it: the musicians were in the room. Now the Nils Frahm sounded truly live, the piano regaining its full dynamic glory and the performance taking on a spine tingling immediacy. Using a preamp with decent line driving capabilities broke through the last barrier between the listener and the performance to deliver both technical and emotional communication of the first order.
• If you want to move air properly you need a box with volume and preferably a large bass driver. The SCM100SE has both and is very well put together. What makes it so appealing is the ease with which it goes about the business of reproducing not only the full bandwidth of the signal but its full dynamic envelope as well, and if you like to play at levels that approach the realistic, it is in a class of its own.
• I found the ATC SCM100SE extremely rewarding once a key ingredient had been added to the mix. I’m sure that there are other preamplifiers that have the ability to drive these speakers but the results I got with the modestly priced CA2 were pretty damn fabulous.