STEREOPHILE ATC SCM11 DRIVERS
STEREOPHILE ATC SCM11 DRIVER

I do have to call the SCM7's reproduction of JA's low electric-bass notes 'respectable' rather than 'convincing,' and nowhere near flat at 41Hz, the frequency of the instrument's low open-E string. Image specificity was excellent, and the difference between the in- and out-of-phase segments was as great as I've ever heard. The SCM7 deftly handled the 'Channel Identification' and 'Channel Phasing' tracks of Stereophile's Test CD 2 ( Stereophile STPH004-2). A DIY speaker-designer friend witnessed one administration of the 'Full Glide Tone' and spontaneously exclaimed his amazement at the robustness of the woofer's excursion, and at how low (especially for a sealed-box design), the woofer began to actually make sound. The woofer behaved as you might hope a 5' woofer with a magnet structure the size of its cone and a motor weighing 7 lbs would. And while no sound emerged, the lack of sounds of distress or mechanical noises was most impressive. The woofer's excursions at subsonic frequencies were just plain huge. It was immediately apparent from the first application (at a moderately but not insanely high volume) of the Irrational! But Efficacious disc's 'Full Glide Tone,' which begins at 5Hz (!), that the SCM7 was, for its size, bombproof. All of my substantive comments refer to the end state the SCM7 reached. Between lots of listening to the Archiv boxed set, sifting through a treasure trove of Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab SACD reissues, and keeping up with new releases, as well as daily thwackings with Ayre Acoustics' Irrational! But Efficacious System Enhancement CD Version 1.2, over the course of weeks, the SCM7's treble blended better with the midrange, and the sound as a whole opened up and calmed down. When first set up, the ATC SCM7 v.3s sounded to me like promising speakers that definitely needed breaking in.

Background music for Campari and chitchat it is not. That said, his music, which strikes me as a blend of Tom Waits and Brian Eno, is something I think I'll return to only infrequently. Hollis's solo work was new to me, and I found it more engaging than what I'd heard from Talk Talk. Which, by the way, is a phenomenal bargain. Perhaps he suspected that I needed a break from working my way through all of Deutsche Grammophon's Archiv Produktion 1947≢013 (55 CDs, Archiv Produktion 001833572). The most notable experience with the ATCs driven by the 2.5Wpc Miniwatt amplifier was with Mark Hollis's sparse and moody Mark Hollisthe album with the rather unsettling (at least to me) cover image of a malformed loaf of Sardinian Easter Bread (CD, Hip-O 5376882)another loan from the friend who'd lent me the Miniwatt.

STEREOPHILE ATC SCM11 DRIVERS

They claim that the SCM7 v.3's flat impedance curve presents an easy load to amplifiers (they recommend 50≢00Wpc), that the woofer's motor assembly weighs nearly 7 lbs, and that the drivers are pair-matched to within 0.5dB. In 2009, when I reviewed the SCM11, the SCM7 cost $1050/pair the SCM7 v.3 costs $1499/pair in Cherry or Black Ash veneer.ĪTC states that the SCM7 v.3's frequency response is 60Hz≢2kHz, ☖dB its sensitivity is a lowish 84dB/W/m, its nominal impedance 8 ohms. On the rear panel are two pairs of non-insulated binding posts for biwiring jumpers are provided and the speaker comes with a six-year warranty.

With these updates, the speaker's front looks far less cluttered when the grille is removed to reveal the 5' woofer and 1' tweeter. The stylish, all-metal, hex-mesh grille is a neutral, medium-light brown just a little darker than café au lait, and attaches by means of concealed magnet pairs. The veneers are, as before, grain-matched across the left and right speakers.

STEREOPHILE ATC SCM11 DRIVER

The precision of the driver cutouts is impressive. The SCM7's drivers are now flush-mounted in a fully veneered front panel. The sides curve out and back in toward the rear, in the modern-speaker lute, canoe, or truncated Coke-bottle look wherein the rear panel is narrower than the front. It's a solid, hefty little speaker that looks quite different from and far more up-to-date than its predecessors. The SCM7 v.3 measures 11.8' H by 7.9' W by 9' D and weighs 15.4 lbs.

Stereophile atc scm11