FINALLY! A SPEAKER DANNY LIKES?! B&W, Epos and ATC!

[@sebastianbachert9528]

Just been switching the caps of my Sansui LM220-speaker-crossovers with Jantzen foil-caps. In addition I changed the cables inside the cabinet. Now I've got killer-sound in these +40yr old speakers. Highly recommended. Thanks for your channel. It encouraged me to do this DIY-tuning!

[@Mrhifitunes]

Its the ATC SMC11 you have on hand. It's a domestic monitor and not their studio line. They voiced that speaker like that as it is preferred for domestic use.

[@johnferri4883]

Atc smc11

[@rrtind]

Agree fully, the SCM11 are deliberately voiced that way as they are hi-fi reference (not studio reference) speakers. That way, if recordings do end up being made overly ‘hot’ in the recording studio, then these speakers can tame that ‘heat’ when listening through them at home. ATC know what they’re doing.

[@clintonbellizzi4292]

SCM11 mk2

[@pihda77]

Try Elac SLR 70 They are dirt cheap like $50, dunno about availability in usa. Very nice speaker, made to price point easy upgrades.

[@loudspeakerchefOriginal]

tweeters like dental floss inductors.

[@paulsfam]

I have the Cambridge soundworks T200 love them would like to see what upgrade to those would be

[@dannyrichie9743]

Send one in.

[@user-mo9mt6yu8y]

So atc is a winner

[@stevebirmingham9650]

Danny all speakers are built to a price point, interesting to see that they are all speakers of British design, they are all very well designed and built and highly regarded british loud speaker companies with years and years of hard earned knowledge. The UK has a very long history of technical expertise when it comes to the art of building speakers, its something we do very well here, you could not have picked three better examples.

[@lefizz55]

ATC make quality products, they're not cheap but there's some serious engineering behind them. There are made in my home town and I know people who have worked there over the years. A decent company worth supporting IMHO.

[@ichbinshaltne]

Yeah! Absolute stunning quality and true "HI-FI"! The drivers are from exceptional quality, really some of the best available.

[@karmachochi]

I also live locally and have had a tour of the premises and a session in their listening room. It's not flashy or amazingly high tech in terms of processes - but it's clear that the company has a very clear philosophy and understands exactly what it's doing. The active speakers are stunning, but the passives and electronics are very intelligently designed.

[@rikardekvall3433]

Whenever Danny gets a speaker he likes or find kudos, then his voice cracks up in such a sweet way 😀😀😀👍 Your the sonic man.

[@8068]

I own a pair of ATC SCM 25 monitors. They really are worth the money.

[@gcruishank9663]

Yep, bought a pair 7 months ago for my studio. Sitting about 53" from speaker to ear. Really love these speakers. Stereo image and midrange on these is magic. I use a sub just slightly. Dont really need it with these but I just like tiny bit extra bass so I can hear those really low frequencies when composing.

[@terrylarson7596]

ATC speakers are upper end in price, great video, apparently this is why they get stellar reviews!

[@jondonnelly3]

I like ATC, this does not surprise me and I like tweeter rolled off a little too to help with listening fatigue so i'd leave values alone first.

[@qddk9545]

Somebody made a target curve with less treble, I think it was Harman, so it could be by purpose it is like it is.

[@adampoll4977]

The density of technical information is somehow rendered coherent for a layperson in a really seamless manner. Great work. Thank you!

[@gcahill51]

Are we to believe that the designers and audio engineers at these companies don't run the same audio tests and are unaware, or jaded, of the results? Aren't the frequency signatures what makes these speakers unique? Otherwise they'd all have generic flat frequency lines

[@techsamurai11]

@@gcahill51 it’s a valid point. Danny, however, is finding clear flaws like bad crossovers, impedance issues, bad design, off axis issues. He’s right that you can’t really listen to a speaker on axis. You will be getting reflections and those reflections will amplify any issues. I noticed that B&W showed its drivers and crossovers in the 700 S3 series and I feel that’s Danny’s doing as he’s torn apart a lot of B&W speakers. The days of hiding cheesy parts in expensive gear are gone😊. He’ll open them up and show you the guts. For many people DSP corrects some. of these things and alleviate the brightness of a B&W speaker. Actually, in my case it adds +9db to my high frequencies tweeters. It’s absurd…

[@podunkman2709]

After watching several of his films, I simply stopped believing in this wisdom. All of them, except his modifications, are hopeless. With all due respect, but first of all, large companies producing loudspeakers do not have worse engineers. "Up and down" are probably often intentional to eliminate bands undesirable by the creators. Receiving sounds through the ear is not a transmission between devices.

[@johnkettlewell4854]

I have a pair of epos 22 loudspeakers- minimalist first order crossover with an aluminum dome tweeter and woofer all designed by Robin Marshall who has a PhD in Physics and who played the bass. The sound of Epos- 22 with the big Exposure Amps and Pre-amps with two Rel-S5 subwoofers, fully spec Linn lp-12, and Linn Akurate DSM all room corrected for the bass is musicality with such palpability-the direct sound, the speed, the pace, the rhythm, the timing, the dynamics and the clarity is goose bumps- head shaking all with emotions. Robin Marshal’s design of the Epos ES-14 and Epos Es-11 where designed by ear also- not just a frequency response and ect. Did Danny listen to the Epos-12 on a truly high- end system before he tries to “improve” the sound? Maybe he should talk to Robin Marshal - PhD in Physics- who designed the loudspeakers and wrote a twenty- one page white paper explaining the designs of the Epos-14 loudspeakers with a simple first order crossover using a single capacitor. Robin Marshall had to design the tweeter and woofer in order to pull of his simple first order crossover design.

[@dannyrichie9743]

There are pros and cons to this type of design. And in this case the designer may have left a little on the table. Several issues have been overlooked. Stay tuned till next week....

[@mgsamps]

Totally agree, Robin designed some great sounding speakers for Epos as well as some of the earlier Monitor Audio's. These type of designs may not be technically perfect and even sound coloured but boy do they produce great sounding music. The simplistic design of the x-over needs quality drivers to work properly but produce excellent efficiency and a very dynamic realistic live sound. I found through experimentations a few years ago this and the earlier Monitor Audio designs could be improved even further by implementing a third order Butterworth on the tweeter (2nd on the bass/mid driver) crossing at around 3.2Khz. Then by using a strut brace from left to right 2/3 of the way up the cabinet (Helped with the resonance from 450-550Hz) and careful placement and amount of acoustic foam and a little real wool wadding gave the right amount of damping. I used Ansar supersound caps which I found provided a sweet transparent sound and were better in my opinion than many expensive ones I tried. Sold them off a few years ago and regretted it ever since. Most speakers I hear these days south of £2000 sound pretty bad and are poorly made.

[@sherloidbai7064]

Any chance in presenting a list of other consumer grade speakers you like? Not sure if you've already done this.

[@mortenkallesen923]

I own a pair of ATC SCM7's. They are killer. Unbelievable the quality of sound from such a small box. The speakers are hand built by ATC themselves.

[@MrWisdom4U]

And they cost around 2k.

[@miespost]

@@MrWisdom4U a good pair of speakers can give a life time of enjoyment

[@rosstee]

@@MrWisdom4U That much in the US (I assume you mean dollars)? In the UK they're around £900 or a little less.

[@cs5842]

The Epos are good. Very good. Couple with their open square stands the design is timeless.

[@paulusandronicus]

Love this channel, this is how speaker designs should be reviewed and analyzed...

[@milesdufourny4813]

The first time I listened to the EPOS I was totally mesmerized and just sat there for 25 minutes listening to the music and forgot about equipment in the system. One of the few small speakers that captured the "feel" of the music being played.

[@roetsj]

I really liked the EPOS,put them on their own stands and use a warmer sounding system with plenty of power and they can shine

[@alanm.thornton4055]

these are actually my speakers, and every thing you said is 100% true (rega integrated, bel cato dac). I need to make the Epos stands higher though for my seating position: which is why I sent these to Danny to begin with to see what the fall off was that I was experiencing.

[@pliedtka]

But, their x-over sucks (not affiliated with Danny at all), and the 4kHz cone resonance surely sings on it's own - thankfully it's polypropylene cone that has decent self damping so it's not as agressive (smooth sounding) as better paper or kevlar, carbon fiber cones. My friends would laugh at me if I would show them something like that. I bet proper x-over around 2.5-3kHz that attenuates the cone break-up, levels tweeter a little and puts drivers into phase alignment would make into way nicer sounding spkrs.

[@tggonzales7971]

ATC, a gem, but not cheap. Good speakers, good sound

[@РуфатШиралиев-л8л]

For own price ATC made catastrophic cheaply. PMC, ATC, Dynaudio, Focal, B&W made speakers extremely cheaply.. Because made Marketers, no Engineers.

[@fabers92]

@@РуфатШиралиев-л8л I’ve never seen any marketing for ATC. Furthermore, they implement one of the most over-built drivers I’ve ever seen. Look at that magnet.

[@РуфатШиралиев-л8л]

@@fabers92 HI Mr. 👋 Mr. Look carefully, please.. ATC woofers very primitive driver, which have very heavy membrane and very cheap low effective magnet, therefore ATC have catastrophic low sensitivity 85 db!! Yes, two metal flanges looks big, but magnet very thin and cheap. Result - low effective magnet system.. And, Mr. Look, please inside ATC 19. ATC use extremely thin and cheap speaker wires and very cheap crossover parts - primitive budget yellow capacitors, look: www.lowbeats.de/site/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/ATC_SCM19-Frequenzweiche.jpg

[@LuisCardoso-bo8yx]

Those SCM11v2 are the best speakers I’ve heard for the price.

[@moodu1850]

EPOS are one of the best sounding speakers..They are unique sounding. Those measurements means nothing.

[@dannyrichie9743]

If you think those sound good then you need to hear some of our kits.

[@eddiebaby22]

​@@dannyrichie9743 those epos were a firm favourite with audiophiles in the UK, and a go to for many naim owners with sometimes limitless funds, they still chose epos. They are a legendary speaker, more than the sum of their parts. So there's a lot to be said from that.

[@tonywillans7556]

Danny, are you looking at Epos ES12 with 2020 sensibilities re parts. This was well reviewed at the time (1997) by JA at Stereophile with some different thinking regards construction from Epos. You could look at a '66 Ford Mustang and say the engine was very under-powered, and there were some "cheesy" parts. Does that make it any less of a classic. I think not. More recent offerings should be dissected to see what sort of rubbish they have going on. No excuses from very big players in this smallish industry ie: B&W, Dynaudio, KEF, Focal et al.

[@noahderrington5156]

I loved my B&W 602s2 speakers, it’s exactly the sound I love. After years of trying other speakers I have ended up with a pair of 607s and I love them. Perhaps some people (like me) just enjoy that sound of the B&Ws.

[@Penguin_of_Death]

My DM602's are still going strong after nearly 25 years. I've taken great care of them throughout their life, and they still look and sound great. I even still have the original packaging to use when moving house!

[@nesertema4583]

maybe a matter of personal taste. even if I forced me to use them, they caused fatigue tbh. still have them, but not using them.

[@juleswinnfield6930]

I agree as I have the 602s3.

[@tomchan2559]

I have a pair of 607 and found it too forward and bright. Didn't like them until I changed my amp to Hegel H120.

[@Justwantahover]

I bought some 706s and I liked the sound of them on KZbin. They are expensive but I'm a speaker freak and I design and build my own and have a few sets (both single driver speakers and coaxials). I do it just for fun and by ear in a room. But the bass intensity changes a lot as I walk around the room and have no idea how much bass to put into my speakers (the room is so acoustically bad). And it's easy to get used to an inaccurate sound. So I needed monitors and I needed expensive ones so I can frame the docket and compare them to mine for less than half the price (if I sell any). I don't know if mine are better or worse but since I bought the 706s my speakers sound millions better than they ever did (by a large measure)! Mine built ones I just finished are coaxial and they have the point source advantage over the B&Ws. And two of my friends (the only ones listening then) both prefered mine. Maybe cos of the point source 2-way sound. But that would not have been possible without the amazing 706s. Do you like coaxials? Maybe you can make some out of separate drivers: kzbin.info/www/bejne/an2tdmt6g7-NmKM

[@mfr58]

Hi Danny, I think that ATC is from their domestic hifi range, not the pro monitor, so they may have voiced them differently. Also you didn't mention the shape of the box....really interesting series...thanks

[@user-gf6gf2iy2k]

The pro equivalent of this model looks to be the SCM12 Pro. These look like the SCM11. Same drivers, but cabinet shape different.

[@scottypalmer2158]

What will the Mic hear 12ft away from the speaker 4ft off the floor? Sometimes correcting a defect in frequency response can alter the character of the sound in an unpleasant way. I've had speakers pass test measurements with flying colors but sound cold and sterile in their actual delivery. Our ears should be the last judge.

[@bartvanransbeeck1341]

Jbl 4312 monitor was crossover with 1cap on tweeter, 1 cap on mid, and bass unfiltered...and pots to tune efficiency of mid and highs...and it could sound amazingly good...with certain music....

[@dannyrichie9743]

There is more to how the speaker sounds than the measured responses. The quality of the parts is a huge factor. Everything matters.

[@NeilBlanchard]

The curved sides of the ATC cabinet have to help a little bit?

[@willbrink]

If dude didn't like ATC, he'd lose all credibility! 🤓 ATC aint cheap, but it's worth the $. My review of the ACMs 11 vs 19s: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pJDTiZaQgK2brZo

[@pauloshea3741]

I had the ATC SCM20 pro and the SCM300's. I should have never sold them!

[@beslemeto]

Epos ES14 is the best speakers ever made for the money!!

[@kdomster9141]

Older B&W like these had average crossover with lot of cheaper parts in it , to do more justice you forgot to mention caps were all poly no electrolitics like in KEF or other competing brands...and drivers are build really really well and you did not even show them ... Cabinet and parts in crossover were the weakest link in older B&Ws... More current versions of their 600 to 800usd mini monitors use simple 2 parts crossover with 14ga copper air inductor on woofer and single poly cap 4.3uf looking like EPCOS with 0.1ohm resistor on tweeter . Once much better poly cap with silver foil film bypass was used and 0.1ohm removed , tweeter have gained great quality and transparency and airness with ton of deatail and non fatiguing sound and very very little distortion , tiny bit boosted character of the tweeter that matches well with my 48yrs old ears most likely losing a lot of high freq extention 😉 by now. I removed the crossover and have used airfoil copper inductor on the woofer and layed it flat on the bottom of cabinet and caps all soldered directly to the back of binding posts and than back to drivers while have added some acousta fill to the cabinet instead of stock sheets of poly. Great Sound improvement and in my small very dampened room it sounds great ... I wish I could do more real reengineering with all the equipment and knwoledge of Danny but even what I simply did made these small 686s2 sound much much better . Nothing like fun of tweeking !😄👍

[@bella3008]

Which speakers are built with quality brands in them? Danny mentions that Elacs are well engineered.

[@kdomster9141]

@@bella3008All of them have weak sides and need tweaking to sound at thier best. It is up to you or Danny to address weaknesses and than tweak them...

[@carlitomelon4610]

Kudus to Danny;-) Very interesting to see what's inside, and the plots. There has to be a follow up! Kudos to ATC!

[@securityvlogger6825]

Danny is particularly lucid in this video. I’ve been wondering if he was ever going to open up and explain how he interpreted those graphs. Thanks for being so generous Danny.

[@dannyrichie9743]

Like this: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nJ7Gn5qImdJnock

[@DCwaters0]

I like the video s but I have unusual speakers old advent's. I had to replace the woofers I could not fine parts I used,12 woofers from a car part store crossover is a switch for high & low

[@jspiker5]

The ATC is much more money than the other speakers. Not surprising it is better designed. I think they are around 3 thousand a pair, The others well under a thousand.

[@jules153]

The ATC SCM11 speakers are available for £1300 GBP a pair (about $2000 USD)

[@chrisburn7178]

Those B&Ws were my first set of speakers back in about 1999, and I thought they were the bees knees: they played as loud as my friend's Mission floorstanders and I used to get up close and listen to that fizzy tweeter - aged 14 that basically amounted to what we thought was more detail which was what it was all about (and volume)! Looking back it was totally weird that two kids out of 6 in a boarding house dormitory had huge speakers set up. The rest of them must have hated us.

[@myturkishlife1777]

5.6k views .... 5.6k searches for ATC speakers 😁

[@yambo59]

Has everyone forgot about midrange drivers-??? Ive always felt (jmo) a good three way beats a good two way almost every time and im 61 heard lots of speakers, never heard a two way that didnt lack midrange

[@n.shiina8798]

I've been in love with that ES12 when i listened it on a friend's shop. it was on sale and ive been saving for it until someone steal that dream of mine. can't find another ES12 on sale locally until now. im aware of the ridiculously simple crossover and intrigued by how it sounds from such a simple crossover

[@billybastar4022]

Nobody is mentioning the elephant in da room....COVID hair...bro got flo!

[@tomchan2559]

You did a very very good job. Most audiophiles (including myself) do not have a clue about any designs or quality of the engineering behind the sound that we hear. We just relied on those reviewers who are more of a salesman than engineers. Now I can say that ATC is very well made speakers. Please do more of this Strip Analysis of audio gears.

[@jamescarty2790]

I wish a professional guy like could listen to my home speakers and give me your opinion. I think they sound super. I would like to send you a picture of what they look like. Let me know.

[@GRResearch]

Send a picture, send the speakers, or bring them over.

[@dedskin1]

Thing with Room Sound on that ES12 is that you can EQ it , so if say your Speaker has a dip in response in mids off axis , which is a problem due to summing for room sound , you can EQ the Room to boost mids and correct for room sound that lacks mids due to off axis speaker behavior . So its back to ok . That is a mouthful for you ppl not versed in this but but i cant say that simpler . Of course you need to know that , you need to measure that . But if you are to pay big bucks for Crossover and Upgrades you should .Its logical , Measure you speakers ppl , but dont pay big money for measuring microphones , they are all the same , but some cost 50 other 1000 $, to you it wont make any difference since you dont have anechoic chamber

[@glmaughan]

Danny Richie hit the ballpark with the ATCs. Those who disagree, well I've been reading, studying, and designing speakers since the late 70s, Danny knows his stuff. Please use his expertise if you want the most bang for the buck. And if you can afford it, his larger open baffle designs are fabulous, competing with other designs that are many, many times the price. I've heard his rooms at RMAF shows and as I was Al Stiefel's partner along with Marjorie, I know of what I say. Also we have used his Soni-Caps and they are very good.

[@Mickparrysstepdad]

I owned the previous Epos ES11 (used the same simple crossover) and they were boomy and dull in my living room, but as near-field monitors there were amazing - Very live and detailed sound, but not harsh either.... Had a shop demo of the B&W 601 in the mid 90s, and thought they were dull as hell. I can also remember the treble not integrating with the mids and standing out like a sore thumb. I had a non-audiophile mate with me and even he thought they were terrible.

[@bobsykes]

Nice to see that you found something you like. I suspect the slight downward slope across most of the frequency range of the ATC is intentional, done so that when they are used as near field monitors (the engineer probably seated only three to five feet from the monitors) the response will match the gently down-slopping response that you would hear in a far-field listening environment, such as a well tuned mastering studio. If your customer is using them as mini-monitors on stands in a reasonably large room, your idea to make them measure flat at one meter would make complete sense. Many pro near-field monitors come with a high frequency slope or level adjustment, to accommodate these two different use cases without modification.

[@mchrome3366]

Finally a channel which explains the mechanics of speakers in “English”. Thank you.

[@iantyler4045]

It always amazes me how a supposedly reputable speaker manufacturer spoils their product for a few dollars worth of crossover components. It's as if the crossover is the very last item to be designed and the budget runs out. Your reviews definitely highlight this.

[@drlodge]

Had and still have the EPOS ES14s, also had the ES30s for some years, now I have the ATC SCM40s. I must have good taste!!

[@gibguy5705]

I have owned Epos Es14s simply the best

[@brettb9600]

The ATC crossovers have about 5 weeks play time on them now. Absolutely fantastic. One of the biggest bang for the buck in my 30 years assembling and tweaking audio systems. The increase in detail, separation, clarity without a hint of harshness is astounding. Bumping up the tweeter level just a touch was the right call. Thanks Danny!

[@rikardekvall3433]

@Brett B ! Did you do the whole upgrade? Also No-Rez and did it stick to that curved inner side? No need to kerf the foam?

[@brettb9600]

@@rikardekvall3433 yes, no-Rez stuck just fine. No worries. Very good upgrade. Give it 100 hours of play to settle.

[@raphaelali218]

You probably dont give a shit but does someone know a tool to get back into an Instagram account? I somehow lost my login password. I would appreciate any help you can offer me

[@juelzvan9635]

@Raphael Ali instablaster :)

[@raphaelali218]

@Juelz Van i really appreciate your reply. I got to the site thru google and im trying it out now. I see it takes quite some time so I will get back to you later with my results.

[@gregcrezee4071]

Stereo equipment is the greatest invention, ever! What is great to one, is... meh, to someone else. I learned there is no perfect system. No perfect speaker. Cause you will never, ever, get 100% of people to agree. That to me is the joy. I ran my store for 37 years. My philosophy was very simple... If, when it's all set up, you sit your butt in your listening position. If a giant smile comes across you face, you've chosen correctly!

[@dragocelander6671]

I owned a pair of those ATC speakers (SCM 11?) and a pair of the ATC20-2A speakers. Both are great little near-field monitors. Thanks for the video!

[@jonesaleroy]

Thanks again Danny. You just explained the problem I've been dealing with designing a new setup.

[@KG-pt4gb]

Love your content. Keep it up. Can you do an episode maybe talking about why measurements are mostly great for speaker performance given its characteristics, compared to its true sound which is a combo of parts, and cone materials. In other words, talk about why two speakers that measure the same, could still sound very different.

[@dannyrichie9743]

Okay, I'll try to figure out a way to put that together.

[@justlookingaround9834]

If ATC have set a drop at the top end, it’s for a reason, I would leave well alone.

[@ReflectedMiles]

A modest roll-off at 15 kHz isn't going to affect anything in 99.9% of situations, especially because most mix engineers and artists will never be able to hear it anyway.

[@ReflectedMiles]

@Marten Dekker It really depends on the purpose. For studios, flat is imperative because they're producing a product that can potentially be played on anything from a boombox to an enormous theater system that will shout anything that isn't quite right. Depending on the material, it's not easy to get that right, and the last thing you want is any coloration from your monitors misleading you. For home or mobile use as a consumer, though, especially for audiophiles who like to spend lots of money on it, buying to taste is definitely the way to go, no matter how colored. I agree that a flat analysis is not a very good criticism of consumer-market speaker sound. I strongly recommend blind A/B comparisons as the only way to know what you actually think sounds best. Those can have surprising results. If someone wants to ensure flatness, that is what the pro market is for (not the semi-pro market like in music stores, which are usually not much different than consumer). The very old systems you refer to, at the high-end of the market, especially, were often much better at a flat bottom end down deep than what I see in popular speakers now, and with very little equalization, passive or active. James B. Lansing wasn't just eccentric; he knew his different types of customer needs and wants. I can't imagine what he would think of hissy Class D "pro" speakers put out under his initials today.

[@MrSilviut]

When I’m listening I’m 6+ feet away. So I’m guessing we extrapolate to say same effect if you are 2x off the vertical axis? Or is it logarithmic

[@maxine2798]

An interesting mix of traditional (ATC), high tech (B&W) and innovation (Epos). I would have gone for the Epos ES14 as it’s a purer version of the design. If there’s a bit of mid bass downward roll off, position the speaker next to the rear wall. Unless I’ve missed it there’s quite a bit of driver and crossover matching. Then there’s the size and scale of each of the manufacturers. I’ve still got some ES14s. They still stand up today as musical and communicative. It’s music for pleasure for me!!

[@Stelios.Posantzis]

I wouldn't call ATC and Epos low tech (as opposed to B&W high tech) - more like emphasizing different aspects of the speaker design.

[@semonpsytrance]

Doesn't ask for subscribe and notification bell immediately hit subscribe and notification

[@dean5485]

alot of speaker upgrade reviews but it would be nice to hear any before after comparison actually ive watched a handfull of his speaker vids and have not seen or heard any speakers under load making music

[@pwrfuel6688]

Please label your plots better. Which line is 4 or 8 inches. Show us what you are pointing at. Happy to find you. Much better than subjective observations. I used HP Fourier Transform analyser in 1981 in school. Have been missing spectrum plots.

[@simonkibble2869]

Danny kudos on everything you do. Huge fan and hopefully soon customer. I have a question though. What is a nose resistor? Did I hear that right or spelling. Appreciate any help

[@jowblow2171]

Very interesting I do really enjoy your speaker break downs and evaluation. Thanks Danny

[@klaushaunstrupchristensen7252]

I have newer owned an ATC loudspeaker but I think they possess fine engineering. Obviously the more expensive the better. What has gotten me to write here, is that I think their two way bass driver possess a rare but great engineering tweak. If I get it correct (and I am not 100% sure) then the 3 inch voice coil is attached directly to the 3 inch center dust cap. The outer part of the cone however is attached with a flexible inner surround which decouples the cone at higher frequencies. So it’s actually 3 way speaker. This concept improves the drivers dispersion and reduce standing waves and breakups in the main part of the cone. Lovely design feature if my memory serves me well, otherwise ATC must implement it just to keep me happy. Thanks for a lovely channel and greetings from Denmark.

[@rrtind]

Hi Klaus, I own the same ATC SCM11 speakers in Danny’s video and you are absolutely right, the design is effectively 3-way. Although on the back of the speaker there are only 2 sets of binding posts (not the typical 3 sets of posts that you’d find on a typical 3-way design). So perhaps is best to think of the SCM11 as a 2-way-3-way design! You should try a pair, they sound wonderful.

[@captwholey]

Danny, do you have any experience with the Infinity Column II speakers?

[@AudioGuyBrian]

I love how you put a lot of effort into making the response as flat as possible. I hear so many audiophiles say "Bah.. You should never look at speaker response specs they mean nothing". I call bullshit on them. Specifications and frequency curves are the only way to compare one speaker against another with all other variables being taken out of the mix like room acoustics and source signals. Love your channel Danny. Keep up the good work!

[@ChonkTek]

That's not the only criteria! Don't forget woody, punchy, soulful, captivating, harsh/sibilant, 2D/3D/holographic, and all the characteristics of materials (skin, metal, wood, ceramic, glass, etc). Amplitude vs frequency does nothing if the realism and detail isn't cohesive and believable. We've all heard flat curves which still sounded harsh...

[@tonesbones502]

Hifi is my hobby, I've owned plenty of speakers and components over 30 years. I stopped changing speakers when I bought a second hand pair of ATC's (40's). End game. Very interested in these simple upgrades but I live in Melbourne Australia and I don't know if we have guys like Danny around here.

[@internet4861]

Would be cool to see the graphs after you finish your work

[@THERIGHTWAY8164]

could the cheaper speaker crossover be better yes but you get what you pay for B&W ATC speaker cost alot high end . bottom line is every body want a pieace of the pie or money 🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑🤑

[@_TheRealGod]

Jesus. This channel makes me never again wanna buy a speaker from any manufacturer out there! What the hell happened to the industry??? I don’t nowhere near get the feeling regarding electronics where you just seem to get more and more for your money nowadays. Is it labor costs that’s causing this?

[@ryanthomastew]

Will be very cool to see a follow up video after you have applied your various suggested upgrades to each speaker. eager to see that one!

[@fissben]

Hey, first of all thanks for all information you posted on your channel - it is pure 💎 I got a question for you, have you ever seen atc scm 35? Does they have same issues with thickness and crossover need to be fixed?

[@aaronrobbins1458]

I really wish I understood those graphs

[@andrewmudge3718]

My thoughts exactly

[@rondegroot1508]

For me a great speaker is the one that makes me FEEL the music and draws me in.

[@stanleysmith3706]

true for me screw the graph

[@moodu1850]

Its the EPOS.. I was blown away by the ES14..

[@WACONimages]

Happy New Year! Another nice video! Am very curious what you might think about the fully iron cast Danish JERN speakers and their approach.

[@geickmei]

AHA! Danny! Danny who? PLEASE tell us who you are!

[@aussie8114]

I hope you never pull apart the Monitor Audio RX8 speakers. I think I prefer to live in ignorance 😂

[@musicman8270]

I had a pair of those 602's for 18 years, replaced a tweeter when an amp discharged a cap at an inopportune time, really loved them but a woofer needed replacing, so I just changed out the entire 7.1 system, with B&W of course.

[@JoeJ-8282]

Danny, great video, as usual, but there is two things I would love to see in the future in your vids: 1. The final, improved results of all 3 of these, along with what you did and how much it all costs. 2. Somehow if you could incorporate some kind of pointer or something on screen when you are showing and talking about all of the various response graphs, that way you can clearly point to the exact spots on the graph that you are referring to when talking about them, that way more people can clearly visualize exactly what you are talking about, as that would be especially helpful for the less technically inclined, and/or the newbies out there who are trying to learn about speakers but still don't know what everything looks like when trying to interpret all of those graphs, especially the spectral decay 3-D one! Keep up the great work, and if you could somehow find a way to add that final above info./pointer, it would be a huge help in everyone understanding your videos better!

[@WXSTANG]

Have you ever seen the guy on KZbin who designs and builds speakers? He would disagree with you. Tailoring sound, Q factor, speed, accuracy is all driver / motor / basket. Nothing to do with the crossover. All a crossover has to do is eliminate frequencies certain drivers can't reproduce well. Infact, the best speakers shouldn't use any crossover at all... but those kinds of speakers are very cost prohibative. (Like the D9e Urushi which are $60K just for the driver)

[@dannyrichie9743]

Nothing to do with the crossover? That is like saying the performance of a car has nothing to do with the engine.

[@thehandseesall]

I'd love to hear your opinion of the Rega RS series speaker crossover design, apparently they're quite unique!

[@WiliiamNoTell]

A really great video! Well presented. Never thought about modifying my speakers. Thanks, greatly appreciate it. I liked and subscribed looking forward to other videos. Just curious which speaker sounded best to you?

[@craiglaing2417]

I have a vintage set of mission 781's and love them. Would be keen to hear if these could be improved :)

[@gzubeck3]

The ATC is the value hifi. The other two really are crap designs. The higher end B&Ws would probably be a lot better but then they do weird stuff with their tweaters.

[@stevebirmingham9650]

have you ever owned or hearda pair of Epos speakers in a home environment because if you had you would not consider them as crap, these were designed by Robin Marshall a highly regarded Acoustics engineer, from a factual point of view your way off the mark, ok so you think their crap please explain how and why interested to hear your views.

[@gzubeck3]

@@stevebirmingham9650 These speakers are probably good for certain types of music and certain types of rooms. The problem with the epos are the fact that so many frequencies overlap and cancel or combine to bump the db. The interesting part of the epos are the separation of front to back and the sides for decoupling which helps for cabinet vibration. It's going to be interesting to see What crossover mods Danny can do. The reason why I say the ATC are good is you can see that almost no expense was spared mindset and also hence the higher cost for them as well.

[@captainwin6333]

@@stevebirmingham9650 They're out of phase and in room that only highlights the fact.

[@stevebirmingham9650]

@@captainwin6333 a speaker is only out of phase if wired wrong do you mean time aligned

[@RennieAsh]

Steve Birmingham you can see in the video the drivers phase does not align fully. In some aspect that is also “out of phase” even if it’s not as drastic as an incorrect polarity

[@MattRichardsonX]

It should be stated somewhere in video the original MSRP of each speaker and year of production. I know we can google that, but it would be nice see those important details incorporated into the analysis -especially when you're comparing quality of components. If your objective is NOT a comparative analysis, then I would do a separate video on each speaker, because viewers will automatically compare a $500 B&W to the $2K ATC when analyzed within the same video.

[@kevinw.weiser9820]

With all due respect, I think you are not giving us "viewers" enough credit for being able to discern the obvious price/quality difference between these speakers. I doubt anyone would think that all of these speakers are in the same cost category just because they're in the same video.

[@davidr8309]

Danny, I’m terms of listening wouldn’t the EPOS speakers have great clarity with only one cap in the system? The design seems to be sacrificing a more even response for less in the signal path. I understand that an even response reproduces the music better but the clarity, imaging etc. must be much better than other speakers in that price range. For some that may be a worth while trade off.

[@alanm.thornton4055]

Hey David. These are actually my specific speakers that he tested for me. You hit the nail on the head, and are actually specific "quality" that the Epos ES12 was known for: supreme clarity, detail, articulation. However, you HAVE to sit in the exact perfect spot, and you need to use the manufacturers stands (sounds weird, but it's true). So as Danny also nailed on the head, you HAVE to sit dead on, or else things can sound odd/honky/thin, etc. In general, these sounds amazing for wanting detailed, accurate, crisp reproduction. But, they lack presence, drive, power, dynamics as Danny mentions in ways thru the analysis of the range of the driver.

[@davidr8309]

@@alanm.thornton4055 Thanks for the reply it will be interesting to see what Danny comes up with for your speakers

[@davidr8309]

@@bbfoto7248 Thank you for the response, a lot of what you said is well beyond my limited understanding and experience. I have always had some type of stereo for music especially at work I only recently began to explore better quality audio. A year ago I purchased a pair of second hand RBH 1266se tower speakers. I was mostly looking for something big since they were to be used in a 2000 square foot hangar. I opened them up out of curiosity and found that a resistor on each crossover had overheated and damaged a capacitor. Searching rebuilding crossovers I found Danny. RBH emailed me the schematic for the crossover so I rebuilt it using high end components instead of the iron core inductors etc. The difference in “clarity” is how I would describe it, was phenomenal. The nuances of imaging etc. are a bit beyond me, although I am slowly slipping down the slope of wanting better....

[@smellylittlekiwi5743]

Seeing the different graphs with the different speakers really helped me understand what been measured. Thanks Danny👍

[@jungtir]

Love to hear what you would do for the 602's and xover please share your thoughts

[@MsgtMelton]

The last one looks like it was stuffed with black cat hair.

[@citronski]

It should be noted that the ATC and B&W are not the same price bracket. Thanks for all the technical information, i'm learning so much :-)

[@dannyrichie9743]

Oh of coarse, but I thought it would still be an interesting comparison.

[@hbmike47]

Wow.. 3 speakers, 3 completely different price points. A small amount of research tells you the B&W retailed around the 600 price point, The EPOS at 1100/pair Not surprised you liked the ATC SM11's Current speaker at $2200/pair! As far as bang for the buck, the B&W's were quite the bargain with B&W manufactured kevlar driver, dome tweeter and tweeter tube right off the Nautilus line and a crossover with air core inductors, poly caps and decent connectors. Good components in a very inexpensive box.

[@lw2978]

Yes, I agree, plus the Epos is circa 1996 and the B+W is a design from 2002, whereas the ATC is from 2012/3 (though their speaker technology probably doesn't change much!) I have a pair of SCM11's and I really enjoy them. My only real issue is the need for the speakers to be within 40cm/16" of the rear wall, in a carpeted lounge with 2 large squidgy armchairs a few feet from the speakers. 'Not sure what I can do to help with SQ but it would probably involve some major change that my other half would not allow!

[@jaswats9645]

Half way in, and I still don't see any speaker he likes. lol

[@peterfreeman3317]

The B&W 602 S2 is from the early 2000’s

[@dedskin1]

Can i ask , whats the problem with the Binding posts , why go in there with a magnet , and be like oh bad binding post , or oh very good binding post . Whats that all about . I like metal binding posts , i consider those plastic black and red spring kind of plastic post t a lower quality , but jugging by this magnet waving around that would be better then my metal or otherwise better shit , and i have few different types , never went in with a magnet checking if there is iron in them , what difference does that make

[@dannyrichie9743]

The difference in the quality of the binding posts can REALLY effect how it sounds. And the effect of ferrous parts can really degrade the sound.

[@dedskin1]

@@dannyrichie9743 Did you know that measurement devices used to check this stuff such as oscilloscopes etc..also have metal binding posts , right ? For example XLR connector on your measurement microphone , thats metal , did you put your magnet on that i guess not .

[@dannyrichie9743]

@@dedskin1 Those devices are not carrying an audio signal.

[@dedskin1]

@@dannyrichie9743 all audio measurement devices carry audio signals of course , I got you there , yes i did But its ok , 2 truths can exist , i say you wants 5000$ power cord you gets it , its your money . If i was selling it , oh man i would change my tune faster then a lobbied Democrat

[@PetraKann]

Cheesey? First time viewer. I must say that the detail that this guy goes into is exceptional. Well presented videos with all the data and graphs pasted on top of the video. Learnt a few new things so had to subscribe. I will browse his previous videos to see what else he covers. Cheers

[@jfloop77]

Which ATC speaker model is it?

[@annewoodman8251]

Hi Danny, enjoyed your last video with the ATC 2 ways. Have you looked at the Kef LS 50 and if so what can be improved?

[@dannyrichie9743]

I have not been sent that model yet.

[@Name-gr4dy]

Hi Danny. You mentioned you would like to replace the inner wiring. What cables would you recommend not changing the character of a speaker? Hope to get answer from you. Regards Michael

[@dannyrichie9743]

We provide a high quality internal wire. You can order it from our site.

[@gainstage4497]

Studio Monitoring Company For The Win!!!

[@rcdude86]

Right a book of your knowledge please!! I’ll buy it!