Floorstanding loudspeakers — ATC EL50 Anniversary

The EL50 Anniversary is an active three-way floor-standing model built by ATC to mark 50 years since Billy Woodman founded the company in 1974. Production is limited to 50 pairs, each delivered with a hardbound owner's handbook. The speaker made its public debut during the Bristol Hi Fi Show, held 20 to 22 February 2026, with availability from March 2026, at 49,500 GBP, 68,700 EUR or 99,999 USD per pair.

Key specs that matter

A separate amplifier channel drives each unit - 200 W into 8 ohm for the bass unit, 100 W into 16 ohm for the midrange and 50 W into 8 ohm for the tweeter, all continuous ratings. The fourth-order Linkwitz-Riley active crossover splits the signal at 380 Hz and 3.5 kHz. Response runs from 32 Hz to 25 kHz within a -6 dB window, maximum SPL is 112 dB per pair at 1 m, and THD+N is 0.0015 percent, or -96 dB, at 1 kHz. Pairs are matched to within 0.5 dB. Each cabinet is 142.1 cm high, 45.9 cm wide and 35.2 cm deep and weighs 63 kg.

Engineering and use context

ATC fitted the SB75-234SL, a 234 mm bass driver with a 75 mm voice coil and a Super Linear motor system aimed at cutting third-harmonic distortion, the SM75-150S Superdome, a 75 mm soft dome midrange with a large voice coil and a high-power magnet for low compression, and the SH25-76S S-Spec tweeter, which pairs a neodymium motor with a coated fabric dome. The 3-channel Amp-Pack uses discrete grounded source MOSFET output stages in Class A/B, cooled by convection without a fan. Its balanced instrumentation input stage is built from new discrete gain blocks, and the power supply gives each amplifier channel its own toroidal transformer, with a further transformer for the low-voltage circuits. Protection covers DC offset and temperature, with active limiting. The elliptical cabinet draws on the EL150 shape first drawn by Billy Woodman in 2006, is CNC-cut from MDF in multiple layers, and wears European walnut veneer with ebony inlays under a high-gloss polyester lacquer, plus napa leather panels around the mid and high-frequency drivers.

Pairing

Signal arrives through a balanced XLR input with 20 kOhm impedance and switchable sensitivity, and a 12 V trigger input and link handle system switching. A bass shelf control adjusts from -2 dB to +3 dB, and spikes come supplied.

Alternatives

The ATC SCM40 is the brand's passive floor-standing option, using a 164 mm bass driver in a sealed 980 mm tall cabinet weighing 31 kg.