ATC Home Theatre Series user manual

H ome T heatre S eries

ACOUSTIC

ENGINEERS

®

user manual

In selecting ATC you have chosen an example of the finest audio engineering available.

Since its very beginning ATC has kept steadfastly to its founders’ aim of building, mostly by hand,

loudspeakers which employ the most effective of modern engineering principles.

That has meant striving to make loudspeakers as near perfection as it is possible to make them.

In order to get the very best from ATC equipment careful and thoughtful installation is essential,

so please read the manual fully to understand your ATC monitor

and realize the very best performance it has to offer.

Please contact ATC with any questions or issues that arise during installation or use

and we will do our very best to help.

ATC (Acoustic Transducer Company) was founded in London in 1974 by Australian Billy Woodman who still heads

the company today. An enthusiastic jazz pianist and engineer he was naturally drawn to loudspeaker design.

After working for ROLA in Melbourne Billy, in 1970, travelled to England and worked in R&D at Goodmans in

Wembley (the training ground of many well-known British loudspeaker engineers) before starting ATC.

The philosophy upon which ATC began the development of its studio products is a simple one: that at their best,

hi-fi loudspeakers are detailed and accurate but limited by dynamic range,

H ome T hea tre S eries

whilst professional monitor loudspeakers have plenty of dynamic range but lack the clarity and accuracy.

ATC bridged this gap by developing, in house, unique drive units of exceptionally low coloration performance and

large dynamic range. There is therefore no differentiation technically between an ATC hi-fi product and professional

monitor other than the way it is packaged. A high fidelity loudspeaker is a high fidelity loudspeaker whether it is

for home or work.

The Home Theatre Series (HTS) from ATC offers unrivalled levels of performance from an install loudspeaker and

unlike many alternatives is capable of delivering both low distortion and high dynamic range in a discrete, easily

installed package. The range is suitable for both full surround systems as well as stereo listening.

In order to obtain the best performance from the Home Theatre Series they can be partnered with ATC’s

own range of electronics.

From modest beginnings ATC has grown to become one of the very few manufacturers successful across both

domestic and professional audio. By selecting ATC you join a group of music lovers, professional audio engineers,

educators, studios and musicians across the world that understand the value of the engineering that goes into every

ATC product.

1:Safety Warnings

1. Read instructions – all the safety and operating instructions
should be read before the appliance is operated.

2. Retain these instructions – the safety and operating
instructions should be retained for future reference.

3. Follow instructions – all operating and other instructions
should be followed.

4. Water and moisture - the appliance should not be exposed
to dripping or splashing and no objects such as vases,
should be placed on the appliance.

5. Heat – the appliance should be situated away from heat
sources such as radiators, stoves or other appliances that
produce heat.

6. Cleaning – the appliance should be cleaned only as
recommended by the manufacturer.

7. Servicing – the user should not attempt to service the
appliance beyond those measures described in the operating
instructions. All other servicing should be referred to
qualified service personnel.

2:Unpacking & Handling

1. All loudspeakers in the HTS range are heavy items and
should be handled with care. Unpacking should be carried
out by two people either on the floor or a large low table,
with adequate open space around the carton, preferably
close to their final position.

2. Open the carton and remove all loose items, leaving the
packing foam in place.

3. Up-end the carton so the open end is facing down.

4. Lift the carton off the contents (speaker & foam ‘end-caps’).

5. Lift the upper foam end cap off.

6. Lift each loudspeaker out of the foam end cap.

3:Monitor Placement

The subjective performance of any loudspeaker will be
influenced by the acoustic character of the room in which it is
used and its position within the room. A mixture of carpets,
curtains and soft furnishings will help ensure that the middle and
high frequencies are reasonably well controlled.

When a loudspeaker is wall mounted a proportion of the low
frequency energy which is normally radiated towards the rear is
sent forward, resulting in a boost to lower frequencies. In most
cases the additional bass energy can overwhelm the system and
degrade performance. The HTS range of loudspeakers address
this issue through carefully optimised crossovers designed to
compensate for the wall loading effect.

For the best performance the loudspeakers should be mounted
directly on to the wall allowing at least 1.5m between the loud­speaker and any side walls.

Stereo Speaker Placement

For stereo listening, loudspeakers should be positioned so
they form an equilateral triangle with the listening position
(See Fig. 1). The loudspeaker height requirements are explained
later in this section.

Centre Speaker Placement

The positioning constraints on a centre channel loudspeaker
are always influenced by the type and location of the associated
screen. However, the basic parameters that influence the
subjective performance of any loudspeaker in a listening room
as described above, should be taken in to account.

The HTS7C, HTS11C and HTS40 (horizontal configuration) are
intended to be positioned either just below or just above the
screen.

While every ATC centre channel speaker is effectively magneti­cally shielded, the extreme sensitivity of some CRT tubes to
residual levels of magnetic flux may mean that, in rare cases,
ATC centre channel speakers are not appropriate.Adjusting the
relative position of the centre speaker and the CRT can reduce
magnetic interference but should your screen suffer intractable
picture distortion caused by the proximity of a centre speaker
contact your dealer or installer for advice.

Fig. 1

Loudspeaker Positioning - Stereo

distance z

3

30°

distance x

distance x = distance y = distance z

0°

distance y