ATC Announces EL50 Anniversary Active Loudspeakers
All Image Credit: ATC
British loudspeaker manufacturer ATC has announced the EL50 Anniversary, a high-end active floorstander that traces its heritage back to the company’s SCM50 platform. The elliptical cabinet design borrows from ATC’s EL150, while the active amplification builds on a tri-amped architecture that ATC has been refining since the SCM70 landed in the 1990s. As an active loudspeaker the EL50 differs from a passive one in that it houses its own amplification and active crossovers, meaning that each driver gets its own power amplifier with a tailored amplifier drive and no passive crossover components to get in the way. The EL50 Anniversary launches as a limited run of 50 pairs, each with a hardbound owner’s handbook documenting ATC’s history since 1974. Following the limited edition, the EL50 will enter standard production.
The elliptical enclosure is created using a curved laminated construction providing stiffness and internal damping, with the bass driver mounted into a precision-turned aluminium ring bolted directly into the cabinet face. The shaped front baffle and rounded edges are designed to reduce diffraction and improve off-axis response. Cabinet cosmetics are provided by hand-selected European walnut veneers, ebony inlays, a high-gloss polyester lacquer finish and napa leather panels.
All three EL50 Anniversary drive units are all built in-house. The SB75-234SL ‘Super Linear’ bass driver uses a 75mm voice coil and a motor system designed to reduce third-harmonic distortion and extending the bass response to 32Hz. The SM75-150S ‘Superdome’ midrange covers 380Hz to 3.5kHz and is built around a large voice coil and high-power magnet for low compression under dynamic peaks. While HF is handled by the SH25-76S ‘S-Spec’ tweeter that pairs a neodymium motor with a coated fabric dome, extending response to beyond 25kHz.
As a tri-amped system each driver gets its own Class A/B MOSFET amplifier channel with; 200 Watts for the bass, 100 Watts for the midrange and 50 Watts for the tweeter. The balanced input stage and fourth-order active crossovers, targeting a lower noise floor and reduced distortion. Each amplifier channel gets its own toroidal transformer plus a second transformer is employed for the low-voltage rails that ATC claims helps to reduce intermodulation distortion between channels and improves headroom under heavy use.
Features At A Glance:
- Elliptical curved cabinet for low diffraction
- ATC 9”/234MM ‘SL’ bass driver
- ATC 3”/75MM ‘superdome’ mid-range and 1”/25MM ‘s-spec’ tweeter
- ATC 3-channel discrete ‘amp-pack’
- Balanced instrumental input combining high CMRR and very low noise
- 4th order active crossovers implemented with low-noise discrete circuitry
- MOSFET Class A/B power stages delivering 200W bass, 100W mid and 50W high-frequency
- Power on/off trigger input and link output
- DC offset and thermal amp protection
Specifications:
- Acoustics:
- Bass driver: SB75-234SL 8Ω
- Mid driver: SM75-150S 16Ω
- High Frequency Driver: SH25-76S 6Ω
- Low Frequency Cut-off: 32Hz (-6dB anechoic)
- High Frequency Cut-off: 25kHz (-6dB)
- Matched Response: +/-0.5dB
- Crossover Point: 380Hz & 3.5kHz
- Max SPL: 112dB (per pair, IEC Weighted Pink Noise, 1m, anechoic)
- Sensitivity: -17.5dBu (85dBC, @1m, pink noise, per speaker, anechoic)
- Electronics:
- Balanced Input: Rear panel mounted female XLR, pin 2 +ve
- Input Impedance: 20kΩ
- Input CMRR: >80dB (20Hz- 10kHz)
- Input Sensitivity: 2.2dBu/1V or 8.2dBu/2V (switched, ref. full output)
- Crossover Filters: 4th Order Linkwitz Riley
- Amplifier type: Grounded Source MOSFET, class A/B, convection cooled (fan-less)
- Output Power:
- Bass: 200W (8Ω, continuous average, 0.1%THD)
- Mid: 100W (16Ω, continuous average, 0.1%THD)
- HF: 50W (8Ω, continuous average, 0.1%THD)
- THD+N: 0.0015% / -96dB (1kHz, 1dB below rated power, 90kHz BW)
- Frequency Response: 8Hz-190kHz
- Limiter: FET momentary gain reduction, all channels
- Electronic amp protection: Amplifier d.c. offset and over-temperature (both indicated by rear panel LED)
- Mains Input: 220-230V / 110-115V factory set. Please observe panel markings and labels!
- Power Trigger Input/Link: 2 x rear panel mounted, Switchcraft L712RA
- Power Consumption: Idle 77W / 105VA, 1/8th Power 240W / 315VA, Full Power 600W / 730VA
- Physical (each):
- Net Weight: 63kg / 139lbs
- Dimensions HxWxD: 1421x459x352mm, 5515/16” x 181/16” x 13 7/8”
- Each loudspeaker ships in its own plywood crate at a packed weight of 111kg.
- Comes with a front grill
MSRP (pair):
- UK: £49,500.00
- US: $99,999.00
Read the press release here.
For more information visit the ATC web site.
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