Beyond that though, it’s as if they have an almost bottomless lung capacity at their disposal. They can be pushed to really absurd levels and remain eerily clean-sounding and totally composed, almost daring you to push them further. And for such big speakers, they are incredibly light on their feet with an almost instant attack to the music throughout its entire operating band. It especially drives a stake in the heart of that long-in-the-tooth old chestnut “big driver equals slow bass” nonsense.

At almost $40K per pair, there are plenty of passive speakers that try to compete with these active ATCs. Some will legitimately get you close.

But for me, the ATC SCM100ASLT, don’t just look and sound exceptional, and have the studio pedigree, but they have a personality and character that makes them utterly unique and adds to the whole pride of ownership. They are special, and well worth auditioning if you have the opportunity. Oh, and when you do don’t forget to bring some Van Halen along to the demo and politely ask the dealer to turn it up.

Overall, the Focal Theva No 3’s sounded very good and are an excellent value for the dollar. They tend to have a punchy bass and bright highs. That is their sonic signature. When I see photos on Facebook of audiophiles’ setups, and an equalizer is in the photo, the sliders are adjusted to boost the bass and treble. The Focal Theva N^o 3’s already do that. The bass was a bit too intense for me, so I stuck a rolled up sock in the port. That reduced the bass a few dB, and it was perfect. I will show you the difference in frequency response and impedance curve in the bench test section. If you want to do this, with any speaker for that matter, obtain a foam insert. You can Google foam speaker port plugs (also called bungs) to find choices.