There are several THOUSAND brands of speakers “out there.” If you follow the mags and forums, everybody and his brother has a different mouse trap.

Yet as you analyze them, the vast majority just purchase drivers from a popular handful of vendors and install them into their own box and crossover. Give or take a tad, companies that build like this, predictably, sound very similar. They’re fine, They’re OK. But I think you can do better for similar money.

To create a better speaker than the norm, you have to actually MAKE YOUR OWN DRIVERS.

Further, it’s important that these drivers are reasonably efficient, tough- and manufactured within a gnat’s fanny of the “reference standard” of that driver.

Please let us introduce you to Atohm of France.

Atohm makes its own drivers and does so with .25dB of the reference standard of each. That’s the tightest window of consistency I’ve ever seen. You get a 7 year warranty.

Nothing made in China is made to such exacting standards. When you read reviews with proper measurements in magazines or online, you’ll find it’s very unusual to encounter speakers that match well. For example, the tweeter in the L speaker could be 2-6dB brighter or duller than the one in the R. The same can happen with midrange drivers and woofers. Speakers with a wide variance from the intended design (reference standard) sound like… glasses with a poor prescription. They’re OK, but softer and less defined than they should be. The image isn’t precise. The bass gets muddled.

Atohm is so precise in manufacturing every driver that your speakers sound like a pair of glasses that can display pristine clarity. It’s the kind of resolution that not only lets you see a tree, but also lets you see the detail of the leaves on the tree.

Atohm’s detail is so accurate that it isn’t necessary to buy a large panel that is hard to place any more. Atohm won’t take a back seat to Maggies or stats in resolution. Further, Atohm will have higher efficiency and deeper bass. They will play much louder! And equally important is that they’re very tough. The screens can sound lovely within their limits, not the least of which is that they must be out from the back wall about 4-6 feet. You’ll likely want to add a sub too.

The more lively your room is (drywall anyone?) the more fussy the panels are to place. Panels like a very large room to allow them to breathe. Almost all of us have drywall in a listening room that wasn’t made to accommodate the needs of large panel speakers. Fidgeting with large panels was just part of the blessing and curse of the behemoths. You simply don’t need to go there now.

The Atohms are lovely in all options but I’m first and foremost a sucker for the gloss piano black finish of the GT Series. WOW! Just as a grand piano can be a stunning statement in your living room, the Atohm speakers are as well. The Sirocco Series has a beautiful array of wood grain finishes- black, walnut or blond.

Atohm knows you don’t want a MONSTER in the house. You’ll hear that you can derive a very big image from conspicuously smaller cabinets than you would expect. Atohm’s ability to cast a large, 3D stage is quite uncanny. You can’t believe you’re looking at a couple modest enclosures while enjoying such a massive sound-stage.

Let me describe in words how Atohm sounds.

I’ve mentioned great clarity and the broad sound-stage above. It’s a treat to hear musicians purveyed before you in a panorama that isn’t limited to the location of the speakers. Atohm does this as well as any speakers I’ve heard. You see a pair of lovely, modestly sized cabinets, but the entire wall in front of you is alive with music.

Atohm has a special ability to deliver the leading edge of transient response! For me… a fan of classical piano and female singers with acoustic instruments- this is vital. This is often the characteristic that convinces you that real instruments or singers are in your room.

You can appreciate this character easily on new, pristine recordings. Yet I also infer the same character when listening to some of my old favorites- like the piano recordings of the 60s/70s on DG and Decca.

I’m a big fan of the various Vladimir Ashkenazy boxes on Decca. He did “everything” LVB, Chopin, Schumann and others. He was in a state of the art studio with the best recording gear available. He played a Steinway that was tuned to the nines. You’ll love the bass of the grand piano on these recordings. His attack on percussive works like Schumann sonatas helps build the tension Schumann wants to express. What an incredible musician, who had the facility to cover all of these composers and many more, in unfettered, exquisite sound. These recordings sound fabulous through Atohms even though some are 50 plus years old.

I luv Murray Perahia. He started recording in the early 70s. We have his entire career of the great stuff (Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, Rachmaninoff) in excellent stereo, analog and digital masters on Sony. Perahia is a better piano player than ANY of these composers and to hear his interpretations of their compositions through Atohms- is to hear what they meant to say. We’re spoiled. The “masters” didn’t play on the quality of instruments we’ve had for half a century. They had to worry about food, cold and making a living while writing and practicing as best they could. There wasn’t much on TV in their time either. Perahia plays on state of the art pianos under comfortable conditions. He can focus more attention on his craft.

We can even ramp it up a notch with today’s best recordings. Benjamin Grosvenor’s rendition of the Bach-Busoni “Chaconne” is a joy. It’s a 2016 recording on Decca. It’s as real and fabulous as recorded acoustic music can get.

An extra special niche for ME is… to hear some of the best live recordings. Evgeni Kissin has world class technique and plays as though he’s walking on a high wire. He’s absolutely unafraid to tackle any challenge. To put him in your living room, any time you want, with superb fidelity, is almost unfair. Kissin specializes is releasing live recordings because of the extra energy spike he gets in a concert hall with an audience. Most players have the jitters and don’t play as well live as they do in an unpressured studio environment where they can touch up and splice. There’s a wide array of the repertoire to enjoy in live recordings by Kissin in particular.

Let’s go back to, that leading edge of the transient. A talented piano player can mostly hit the right notes. World class musicians like Yuja Wang and the fellas above can hit these notes more precisely. They can even VOICE or WEIGHT particular notes to deliver a more clear, emotive presentation. While this typically is exhibited in the top finger of the right hand in a melody, it can come from anywhere with these extremely talented pianists.

When it comes to singers, that leading edge speed lets you hear the marvelous articulation and phrasing of singers like Stacey Kent (“Day In, Day Out” from Close Your Eyes). Her diction is perfect. It’s delightful in a world of many singers who are a bit lazy, trying to sound sultry. With Atohm, you can appreciate her skills more fully.

Taut bass is another characteristic endemic to all Atohms. If you enjoy a jazz trio, you want to hear the precision of a stand up bass. We piano hounds always love the articulation of bass playing from composers like LVB and Rach who wrote extensively for that region. We want to hear the clear voice of a Hammond B3 instead of having it be muddled. Let’s hear McDuff, Smith and Face in their most expressive playing.

Atohms give you an INTIMATE look at the music. They put you in the recording studio with definition as opposed to listening to a louder, foggier version of the music you like.

GT Series

The GT models are the top of the Atohm ladder. They have a beefier sound than their less expensive Sirocco brothers.

Please go to Dave’s Faves to read about each model.

I find all three of these models and matching GT sub- to be outstanding, boxless sounding speakers. To put their value in perspective…

TAS just came out with an issue highlighting the Vienna audio show. They divided the speakers they investigated into two categories. The breakdown was at $50k per pair. That’s right.

The cheap speakers they thought were worthy… mostly ran $25-50k. The speakers they really thought were good ran well over $50k. They talked about $78k speakers as excellent values because they didn’t cost double that amount of money. And of course, the speakers they really liked were

$550-800k per pair. REALLY?!

Sirocco 24 Series

The Siroccos are dubbed 24 because they came out in late 2024. They have outstanding speed and clarity. If you’re primarily a vocal and acoustic instruments fan as I am, you may well stop your search with Siroccos.

Sirocco bass is defined and taut as opposed to woolly and murky. Many of us don’t WANT more bass than the Siroccos have in a normal sized room. The 1.24 is a stellar stand mount. The 2.24 is a lean tower that will fill a 20×14’ room easily. If you want more growl without giving up the virtues of the Siroccos, Atohm has a pair of perfectly mating subs to tempt you. The 2.24 tower will flat out fool you into thinking you’re listening to large, expensive speakers!