Good as New ?

[Papa Zita]

I've been pondering whether it's worth the enervating faff of sending my 2006 ATC Active 50's down to Stroud for tweeter replacement & servicing. Can they really make them sound as good as a new pair for c.£2k'ish ?
The point is somewhat moot, as it seems that poor Mr Guppy, is still swamped by such requests and trying to get a slot is damn near impossible. You do begin to wonder whether ATC is undercapitalised ?
Rather than submit them to the tender mercies of UPS etc., I'm prepared to throw them in the back of the car, drive 600 miles & spend a couple of days exploring Gloucestershire whilst they sort them out. No chance says ATC.
One is reminded of what Keynes said about the long run.

[fr.jazbec]

Which tweeter do you use? If it is the Seas I think there is no need to change the tweeter. I would only change the ferrofluid inside. I got a second pair of Seas tweeters from the german service so I can change the ferrofluid while the speaker is running. The tweeters are the rest of an upgrade to the ATC tweeter and I got the pair for 100€. I don’t think that the ATC tweeter is so much better than the Seas, which is also used in the great Harbeth M40.3 XD.
The electronic will run about 30 years, so you will have much time of relaxed listening.

[Bulldog]

Papa Zita, I agree with fr.jazbec. I would question the merits of 'upgrading' your tweeters. Perhaps the ferrofluid doesn't need replacing. If you choose to do so, please refer to the following links which details how to do it:

https://speakerrepairshop.nl/en/questions/ferrofluid/c-34

https://speakerrepairshop.nl/en/questions/ferrofluid/c-34

[Larry]

Papa Zita:
In the interest of other points of view, gently held, it might be worth it.

I have 2002 SCM20-2As. I've also had the newly tweetered 40A and 50A SE at home for several months each. Both of the newer speakers are smoother in the midrange and seem to be more extended than my speakers. First, to contextualize, I'm not arguing that it's necessary, nor that you can't hear a difference. Is it a state change? No, but I heard an enjoyable difference.

Certainly refreshing/ refilling (?) the ferrofluid is a less costly idea. I've thought long and hard about having my tweeters upgraded, which also requires (per US agent and about $2k here) changes to the crossover. If I had 50A's I'd have done upgraded the tweeters, but I now have full range Gamut speakers (less costly than active 50s) with my 20-2A speakers as HT.

Good luck whatever you choose.

[Bulldog]

Good post, Larry. Perhaps I was wrong. I didn't properly consider the outstanding quality of the active 50's. They are relatively young and trying to fix the tweeter issues on the cheap may not be the best solution. Sending these beauties to ATC for an upgrade has lots of merit when you consider they will be returned from the manufacturer as good as a brand new pair. If the 50's are suitably packed, there's no reason they should be damaged during transit.

[Larry]

ATC packs their stuff very robustly. As long time user of numerous ATCs, mine have been unintentionally abused with no apparent penalty. Unless you get the wrong kind of "special treatment" during shipping, they should go and come back in good condition.

The SEAS tweeter has different performance parameters than ATC's so the crossover will probably be readjusted and perhaps have values changed. I thought about buying the 40A's but preferred the resolution of my SL speakers. In the US the 50asls are three times more expensive, so I took a less costly upgrade route. FWIW, I found the new tweeters to be "sweeter" without losing detail. I loved the 50asl SE, but at US$67,000 they weren't a choice for me.

Your speakers are terrific, even if the new tweeters are an improvement.

Good luck whatever you do.

[Papa Zita]

Thanks for your responses. I am confident, that were the process easier, I would have had the tweeters changed 3 years ago, which is when I made intial enquires. I imagine, that ATC make more profit from new sales than repair work - hence their understandable production priorities - however, given that they have traditionally been lauded for their after-sales service, their current position is disappointing. Customer goodwill - which can take a long time to foster - can disappear more quickly than snow on a dyke.

For example, I live in Northern Scotland, is there not scope for a small repair/upgrade facility in northern England, where customers from around, could take their precious speakers for some TLC ?

Of course, it may be that the economics of such an arrangemnt just don't work, however, I do feel that some innovative thinking is needed by ATC, to move things along a tad.

[fr.jazbec]

Oh, but now that‘s driftingt into the basics.