I am the very spoiled owner of a pair of Genelec 8351 (in WAF-white-color). After studying for months, looking into the budget, studying more I had a unique opportunity to get the speakers-of-a-lifetime!
They are hooked up to a Mutec MC-3+ Smart Clock USB because I can then get rit of music servers and cable nightmare in our living room, only need a simple $20 Roon Bridge (DietPI on a Rasberry PI). So USB from Roonbridge to Mutec and from Mutec AES/EBU to the speaker (they are daisy-chained with AES cable). The first evening we got them positioned and calibrated we listened to a huge variety of both native Danish music as well as test-tracks and a lot of Niels-Henning Ćrsted Pedersen (bass). I can truely say, that I have never for once in my life heard any reproduction of bass (and mid-high range) as tight, acccurate and emotional impacting as this pair of speakers. My wife was litteraly crying in tears when we heard the now late Danish āFlemming Bamse JĆørgensenā performing a pure vocal performance - he was right there in the living room with us - I am not kidding when I tell you we could feel and āmake outā the full depth and details of his whole voice-box and throat. Yes - I am a true believer in active speakers.
Just a question about current production ATC active speakers:
These are NOT DSP based, correct?
Analogue inputs remain analogue all the way through?
Iāll tag @Rhythmatist , after reading this:
Iāve only auditioned the SCM40A actives, which are entirely analogue. Gorgeous midrange, extremely disappointing non-extended treble and woolly bass. IMHO. YMMV.
Correct. Analog entirely. ATC donāt recommend any DSP. They recommend room acoustic treatments only and sizing the speaker according to the application and room size. Remember they are used as a reference by the recording industry so the sound needs to be a reference - the same in all setups except for the room acoustic properties. Mixing decisions are generally made near field (least room effect) while bass checks and impressing clients are done on large main monitors.
Woolly bass doesnāt sound correct at all - something might have been wrong with that setup you heard - but the treble is indeed polite rather than extended. Mid range is the quality that most users go for.
Perhaps, but Iām coming from a Meridian DSP + EBA perspective.
Thanks. Never heard active ATCās properly but your description is exactly my description of the Special Edition DSP5200āsā¦ while the bigger ones may have better bass, I donāt know how different the treble will be. But Iāll demo the bigger ones soon enough.
??? Iāve never heard the 5200SEs described as having non-extended treble or woolly bass. And I have a pairā¦
I guess Iām used to the bass of the DSP controlled built-in subwoofers of my old GoldenEar Triton Oneās and their Oskar Heil AMT inspired tweeters 
You should hear my old manās 40 year old ESS Fortura speakers with original Heil AMTāsā¦ while Iām quite happy telling him the overall speakers are crap (good for their age I guess), the tweetersā¦youāll never want to listen to dome tweeters ever again 
I donāt use DSP at all. It only ever gave me an improvement in a poor acoustic environment. Tried Room EQ. Tried Audyssey XT32. No experience with Meridian but they are highly regarded and respected.
If you get a chance listen to the Grimm LS1be with the new bass unit.
I agree about the Heils (and Iām your old manās age, I remember Oscar Heil himself).
I have Avantgarde Solos in the home theater, very precise and direct and there. When I needed a small room system, I got Mark & Daniel bookshelfs with AMT tweeters, they gave me that same there.
I owned a pair of ATC SCM50A for quite a while. Your description of the sound is pretty spot on, but they are speakers you can live with as they have a certain leveling quality on whatever you put through them. The characteristic sound also meant they sounded much better on some types of music than others. They did get a bit āshoutyā when turned up though, no doubt due to the frequency balance, so they eventually had to go.
From what I know now about how the room affects the sound, I think that they could have been tamed rather nicely with DIRAC or REW treatment.
I need to demo these.
And Iām told by a good source (non-Roon) that these are in the process of being Roon certified.
I donāt know if that means āRoon Readyā or more like the KEF LS50Wās - either option is fine for me, although Roon Ready obviously is the ideal.
@dabassgoesboomboom They are Roon endpoints, you connect each speaker to the network (no link cable as they sync via the network) and they appear as a Roon endpoint with full control, they sound very good too, imho they look better than the Kiiās.
Ymmv
Russ
Already? I was told they arenāt yet, but will be.
It might have been beta fw but they worked beautifully as full Roon endpoints, with connectivity as described above.
Nice. Iām looking forward to demo-ing these soon.
The envelope continues to be pushed in this space.
I had a demo of these at home in early September, just Nucleus+ and D&D 8Cāsā¦sounded absolutely stunning! No brainer. Ordered a pair