Welcome.
In selecting
ATC
you have chosen an example of the finest audio engineering available.
ATC
was founded on a principle of engineering
excellence, and that principle still defines our products today. Given the right opportunities,
ATC
products will deliver exceptional audio
performance, but the opportunities will only arise from careful and thoughtful installation and use. Please read the following manual fully. It will help
you understand the product and to realise its full potential. We are happy to answer questions and offer advice on any issues that arise through
installation or use of
ATC
products. Contact details can be found at the back of this manual.
ATC
was founded in London in 1974 by Australian emigre Billy Woodman, who still heads the company today. An enthusiastic pianist and engineer
he was naturally drawn to loudspeaker design and after a period working at Goodmans, where many of the names that went on to found British
loudspeaker companies began their careers, he struck out on his own. The premise on which
ATC
began is a simple one, and one that in many
respects is still true today: hi-fi loudspeakers tend to be detailed and accurate but of limited dynamic range, while professional monitor speakers
tend to express the opposite character.
ATC
products were designed from the outset to offer the best of both. It’s an easy concept to describe,
but surprisingly difficult to engineer.
The difficulty inherent in designing such loudspeakers is one of scale. Hi-fi levels of accuracy and detail call for lightweight moving parts and delicate
engineering. Professional monitor levels of performance however demand far more robust components engineered to survive the rigours of high-
level use for extended periods. The only way to combine the two is through precision engineering of a class and scale more often associated with
SECTION ONE
I n t r o d u c t i o n
1.0
aerospace or motor sport. But the results are worth the effort and the cost.
ATC
loudspeakers, with their unique in-house designed drivers,
combine the best of hi-fi and professional to devastating effect.
ATC
has become synonymous with active systems. Choosing to offer active loudspeakers (where the passive crossover network is replaced by
active filters and multiple power amplifiers) is simply a result of the uncompromising attitude to loudspeaker design. While passive systems still
have their place, and
ATC
engineering skills can still bring remarkable results from them, “active” is a fundamentally better solution to the problems
posed by accurate, high level music reproduction. The
ATC
instinct is always for the better solution. Not cheaper, not quicker, but better.
It was the development of active loudspeakers that first brought
ATC
into electronics design and engineering. Active speakers demand multiple
power amplifiers so
ATC
from the mid-1980s became not just a loudspeaker manufacturing company but an electronics manufacturer too. The
further step from electronics for active speakers to a range of stand-alone amplifier products was natural and now means that
ATC
engineering is
available from the recording desk or
CD
player output to the ears.
From modest beginnings
ATC
has grown to become one of the very few manufacturers successful across both domestic and professional audio. By
selecting
ATC
you join a group of music lovers, professional audio engineers, studios and musicians across the World that understand and value the
engineering that goes into an
ATC
product – and the sound that comes out.
