I’m going to purchase new speakers in May (some bonds mature) to replace my ageing, long-in-the-tooth B&W DM3000 floor-standers.
One speaker that really interests me is Graham Audio’s relatively new LS5/5f floor-stander. I’ve been able to listen to the older LS5/5 “so called” bookshelf speakers and they were absolutely phenomenal. Music sounded real, voices in opera sounded real, and I’m pretty sure I heard everything Paul Sedyor heard in his recent review of these in TAS. I’m going to assume the floor-standing LS5/5f’s sound the same save for some extra ommph in the very deep bass.
The only other speaker that interests me is ATC’s SCM100ASLT. It does a few things the LS5/5f does not do, like play at 115dB rather than 104dB, and internet reports I’ve dug up on the ATC SCM100ASLT report flat (and loud) response to below 25Hz, but I’m not a headbanger and I rarely listen to loud music above 95dB to 100dB. And when I emailed Graham Audio to ask if the 104dB figure was continuous or peaks, Derek Hughes himself was kind enough to reply that brief peaks up to 110dB were acceptable, and he of course added it was not healthy to listen at such levels.
And as for the <25Hz flat response of the ATC SCM100ASLT, I’m going to assume the reported +7dB added response of the Graham Audio LS5/5f at 20Hz moves it very close to the ATC SCM100ASLT’s actual low frequency response, assuming one’s listening room gods allow it.
However, I’ve not been able to locate any ATC SCM100ASLT’s within a reasonable drive for me, so when I get really serious it appears I’m going to have to buy a plane ticket.
But I do have a couple of questions I’d like to solicit opinions on. First, any opinions here on how the ATC SCM100ASLT sounds at low listening levels, say 60dB to 65dB? When SWMBO retires for the evening, I’m risking my life if I wake her. There were several different threads on the Internet specifically commenting on just how good the Graham Audio LS5/5’s sounded at low listening levels. And I heard this myself when I was lucky enough to audition these speakers. IMO, you lose almost nothing when you listen at low volume levels with the Graham Audio LS5/5’s.
I posted this question in some ATC SCM50ASLT/SCM100ASLT/SCM150ASLT threads i discovered in several different Internet audio forums, but I never received a good answer. Most responses were that “the sound kept getting better as the volume increased,” which seems logical, but does not answer my query about low volume listening.
My second question concerns the rosewood veneer option offered by Graham Audio. The samples I’ve managed to unearth on Graham Audio’s website, their Facebook pages, and Internet images just show a deep red wine grain finish, with no “swirls”in the veneer like I see on visually attractive samples of rosewood veneer on the Internet. And the rosewood veneer samples on ATC’s pages are, IMO, much more attractive than Grahams Audio’s rosewood samples. I know this seems like I’m nit-picking, but if I ultimately decide on LS5/5f’s, I want a rosewood veneer that looks as good as ATC’S rosewood. Is it possible to get a better looking rosewood veneer from Graham Audio?
I would appreciate your collective comments.
One speaker that really interests me is Graham Audio’s relatively new LS5/5f floor-stander. I’ve been able to listen to the older LS5/5 “so called” bookshelf speakers and they were absolutely phenomenal. Music sounded real, voices in opera sounded real, and I’m pretty sure I heard everything Paul Sedyor heard in his recent review of these in TAS. I’m going to assume the floor-standing LS5/5f’s sound the same save for some extra ommph in the very deep bass.
The only other speaker that interests me is ATC’s SCM100ASLT. It does a few things the LS5/5f does not do, like play at 115dB rather than 104dB, and internet reports I’ve dug up on the ATC SCM100ASLT report flat (and loud) response to below 25Hz, but I’m not a headbanger and I rarely listen to loud music above 95dB to 100dB. And when I emailed Graham Audio to ask if the 104dB figure was continuous or peaks, Derek Hughes himself was kind enough to reply that brief peaks up to 110dB were acceptable, and he of course added it was not healthy to listen at such levels.
And as for the <25Hz flat response of the ATC SCM100ASLT, I’m going to assume the reported +7dB added response of the Graham Audio LS5/5f at 20Hz moves it very close to the ATC SCM100ASLT’s actual low frequency response, assuming one’s listening room gods allow it.
However, I’ve not been able to locate any ATC SCM100ASLT’s within a reasonable drive for me, so when I get really serious it appears I’m going to have to buy a plane ticket.
But I do have a couple of questions I’d like to solicit opinions on. First, any opinions here on how the ATC SCM100ASLT sounds at low listening levels, say 60dB to 65dB? When SWMBO retires for the evening, I’m risking my life if I wake her. There were several different threads on the Internet specifically commenting on just how good the Graham Audio LS5/5’s sounded at low listening levels. And I heard this myself when I was lucky enough to audition these speakers. IMO, you lose almost nothing when you listen at low volume levels with the Graham Audio LS5/5’s.
I posted this question in some ATC SCM50ASLT/SCM100ASLT/SCM150ASLT threads i discovered in several different Internet audio forums, but I never received a good answer. Most responses were that “the sound kept getting better as the volume increased,” which seems logical, but does not answer my query about low volume listening.
My second question concerns the rosewood veneer option offered by Graham Audio. The samples I’ve managed to unearth on Graham Audio’s website, their Facebook pages, and Internet images just show a deep red wine grain finish, with no “swirls”in the veneer like I see on visually attractive samples of rosewood veneer on the Internet. And the rosewood veneer samples on ATC’s pages are, IMO, much more attractive than Grahams Audio’s rosewood samples. I know this seems like I’m nit-picking, but if I ultimately decide on LS5/5f’s, I want a rosewood veneer that looks as good as ATC’S rosewood. Is it possible to get a better looking rosewood veneer from Graham Audio?
I would appreciate your collective comments.
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