I think the way they looked kinda swayed my opinion a bit...

The bass of the scm20 is of course different from the bm15.
First of all you have a 10" against a 6.5" woofer.
But more important ATC have a very low distortion driver, that means that it's so clean that feels almost like it's less "thick".. But that's the trick..
You could hear anything that happens in the low/mid-low so well without guessing game anyway, because it's free from the usual "thickening" factor in most of all other loudspeakers..which IS distortion.

I'd say that the scm20 won't shake your room of course, but there's all the information you need. It's quite easy to understand what happen in the low end anyway.. Plus you could always add a subwoofer in the future, if you want more spl or simply bass.
In any case sweetwater have a demo pair for a little bit less.

Another option might be looking for a pair of used scm25..
They go for around 6/6.5k.. Which is slightly more than the scm20mk2.
But it's a 3way design..
I own them and I honestly wouldn't work with anything else (that is not another atc loudspeaker). Of course you can learn anything.. But you'll get faster and better mixes/results with no guesswork.

I'm so glad I got them.. (Of course scm50 or 100 or soffit mount 110 are even better, but you need a bigger room.. I couldn't accomodate any of them.. Otherwise I'd have probably gone for the 100).
A good friend of mine is building a new multiroom.. Perfectly treated and designed around the ATC110.. Can't wait to hear them in there.

I hope this helps,



Cheu

Ooh maybe i should just save up

on sweetwater the atc scm25 asl are like 8k, thats a bit steep. I could almost get a sony 800g for that... i bet i could do just fine with something cheaper, we mix a lot of pop music over here.
Definitely a goal, just need something to fill the room decently accurate, ill have to take the mercedes over the rolls Royce for now hehe.

This has been really helpful though, for the future when my budget is a little more flexible ill know what to look into instead of the focal options which im not a big fan of.

I meant a used pair of scm25.
At 6/6.5k they're not much more expensive than the 20.

New are indeed around 8k, that's a big jump..

I'd also like to add, that sometimes is better to get what you want, instead of thinking you can "save" money getting something else.. After a couple of years you'll end up with what you want and you probably have spent much more, due to the first purchase.

Good luck with your search,



Cheu

You know what, if cost wasn't an option id get the scm50asl. I have heard that out of the three scm20 scm25 and scm45 that the scm20 is the most similar to the scm50. Also i just realized that the 25 and the 50 both have only 6.5” woofers which is only a few milimeters more than the scm20’s woofer.

Jeez i know time is an issue here for me because i have a lot of projects to get done this year but i might just have to bite the bullet and get those scm20asl.... there really isnt any benefit to the bm15a other than the price.

The 25 uses a 7” woofer and goes louder/puts out more bass than the 20, partly because the 25 vented box while the 20 is sealed.

The SCM50 uses a 9” woofer and goes much louder than either.

If you want more bottom end from SCM20s then I’d strongly recommend you add in a good quality sub. Subwoofer Pros 12” is designed specifically for the 20s.

you already answered your own question on the last sentence.. yes, this is the hard truth.. you need to dig in your wallet..you get what you pay for, in the end. BUT in the medium/long run, you'll save time, which is YOUR time (therefore also YOUR money) while putting out consistent work.. this is a real benefit imho. I'd not work with anything else (I did and I could IF I HAVE TO, but it's not my preference of course).

as Alex said above.. the scm25 have a 7" woofer, plus is a three way, that means the woofer works in a "limited" range of frequencies.. and is not an SL driver.. so has a little bit more perceived lowend.. the fact that is a vented box might very slightly help to go lower, but this very loudspeaker it's not a classic bass reflex box. the bass reflex is in place for loading the woofer properly, not for lowend extension, so it's not that it goes much lower with this very design implementation (compared to almost every other manufacturer that uses the bass reflex to boost lowend). Plus the scm25 has the dome mid driver.

also the SCM20 6.5" woofer has a totally different construction than the scm25 7" woofer.. they're different speakers.. not comparable (and that is besides the slight size difference).

the scm50 also have a different midrange (slighlty more powerful..slightly better imho, the same you'll find in the scm100,110,200 and 300) than the scm25, plus a 9" SL driver.. not a 6.5" and different from the 7" driver found in the scm25 and 45.

plus at the moment the only loudspeaker that doesn't use the new ATC tweeter is the scm25, but I have to say, it's still a fantastic loudspeaker. I'd not worry too much. the 20 (and every other loudspeaker in the ATC range) uses the ATC tweeter..which is cleverly designed, sounds really good.

I hope this helps,



Cheu

No, the point wasn't not to like them. If you like them, you like them. Point was, find out by trying, not guessing based on other users, whether you actually DO like them.

The SCM20s are -6dB at 55Hz. Being a sealed cabinet, it is a gentle 12bB/octave rolloff, so -12dB at 42Hz? You can definitely hear well below 60Hz.

Well, i know that i will eventually want to get the atc scm25 or something of equal quality

All the other monitors on this thread are in the medium range where ill still need to upgrade some day.

Im goin ahead and getting some cheap yamaha Hs8 to hold me over to go with the ns10 untill i can afford the wonderful atc! Its not fun producing on ns10, the hs8s are just fine for this. I use them all the time in other studios.

I dont see any huge benefit in getting anything in the middle quality range (like the genelec 8040, focal twin, etc) when im really just using the second monitors for production and checking the mix for 10 seconds here and there while using the ns10. But i do see the benefit of the top of the line stuff like the scm25.

When i have the money soon ill definitely get something from atc. Thats the goal! No use going through an awkward costly mid level phase when i dont need to. Thank you guys

Thanks!