I've had these speakers for three or four years, though I've used them really few times. 3 months ago I bought a pair of the smaller ATC - SCM7, and so I compared them. The AAD S-1 seemed to be more bigger boxes at first. I mean, the bass was more tough, the treble was much much more metallic and intense (I still can hear quite well up to 17.5Khz). But overall, the music and voices were also pleasant with the ATC . Over the time I kept switching constantly between these two pairs, while working in my room. Then I realized one important thing, when a played song ended on the ATC, something inside me wanted to keep listening to music. I didn't want the joy to stop, so i fetched more songs from my computer to be played through the speakers. If the ending song was being played with the AAD, I ended up silently working after that las song with no need to inmidately listen to any other music. I felt somehow tired of listening to music

I must say however, that the ATC - SCM7 are best suited to play on the place I must fit them, and they are excellent decks. So the AAD aren't bad, just clearly inferior to a top class speaker. Also, The volume was very low, and I was close to them on the listening position. I guess that louder volumes and larger rooms will make de bigger AAD to resolve not that worse from the ATC