ATOHM GT 1.0
Stand mount monitors
These Atohm monitors are like a magnifying glass that lets the listener look deep into music. Despite their size they provide explosive dynamics against clear and quiet backdrop - not unlike premium headphones that let you hear a master tape including its own hiss.
Function and form
Atohm does not use OEM transducers because it is an OEM manufacturer - the company sells its parts under the Welcohm brand. For example, Waterfall is sourcing some. In the GT 1.0 Thierry Comté, the Atohm's chief designer, used top of the range SD28ND04RD silk dome tweeter with neodymium magnet. The sensitivity of the tweeter is 98dB. It crosses over to the LD150CR04 midbass driver that has an metal alloy cone and a LDS (Low Diffraction) suspension. The shape of the cone is optimized by laser interferometry, a method that is used for nano--technologies due its high accuracy.
Bass management
This review has been compiled from my notes that were scribbled few months ago. Honestly, after the months that have passed since the auditioning I am still amazed by how good the bass of the Atohm speakers was. Should I listen to the GT 1.0 through an invisible curtain I would swear there is quite a big floorstander behind it. The Atohm monitors reach 45Hz on paper which is fine for bass guitar fundamentals, stil the sheer weight that these monitors are capable of is unbelievable.
The GT 0.1 love to have a lot of room around - push them into a corner and they lose part of their magic and start to be boomy. Automatically, these small speakers do not qualify for being placed on a shelf.
Clarity & delicacy
The cymbals shimmer with brass and the transients of light strokes, when the wood of mallets hit the metal, were precisely defined, with beautiful long decays. But what I really liked was that the Atohms suceeded in painting the colour of the wood - through them the sound was not just a transient, it was a wooden transient. Very few speakers have such a resolving capacity.
Tonal accuracy
There is a small knob at the rear of the GT 1.0 cabinets which allows for adjusting the speakers frequency response within +/- 3dB range. It may be useful to smoothly blend the speakers with the room. I had no urge to turn it as I liked the frequency balance in my room but it is good to know there is such a possibility.
Spatial resolution
The soundstage of Atohm is precise rather than large. Most things happen in a kind of two dimensional spatiality - I wish the speakers had better depth with better resolution of individual layers.
Recommended resellers
Nisel SK, Bratislava, tel. +421 905 203 078
Manufacturer's website: http://www.atohm.com
Associated components
- Sources: Luxman D-05
- Amplifiers: Luxman L-590AX, Accuphase E-560, Vincent SV-121/S
- Intercconnects and speaker cables: Atohm ZEF
Gallery
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These Atohm monitors are like a magnifying glass that lets the listener look deep into music. Despite their size they provide explosive dynamics against clear and quiet backdrop - not unlike premium headphones that let you hear a ...
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Nisel SK, Bratislava, tel. +421 905 203 078
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