Active Speakers Better? No, per Michael Borresen


The best sounding speaker I have had the pleasure to hear is made by Borresen.

I recently spent time with Michael Borresen in Seattle at a show. It was slow so

I was able to speak with him for a time. I asked him if he plans an active speaker. 

His answer was a definitive and immediate "No". He said separates sound better.

 

His statement flies in the face of what passes in most audio corners as commonly recognized facts. 

 

Sadly I am too technically challenged to convey any of his further explanation.

 

I invite all intelligent commentary on this question. Theoretical or not.

128x128jeffseight

Just to tickle the dragon, believing this subject somewhat beaten to death, not only in this post but others, but are not nearly everyone's subwoofers active?  I like many here have owned a plethora of everything, but I've never done the passive subwoofer with a dedicated separate amp.  Would that not be the same argument?

I'm just wondering respectfully how that plays out with the zealot passive transducer crowd.  Confident that confirmation bias will rage in and have a declaration of "that's not the same thing!"  It makes me smile.

I know what works for me and do not wish to proselytize to others. 

 

 

@celtic66 , that is exactly the same thing, the benefits of an active sub apply to active speakers. 

Imo, subs are a different situation… 20-30ft LF wavelengths and room interaction.. so a sub needs dsp to deal with modal issues. A properly designed speaker has controlled dispersion above 80hz.

And sure.. you can have a sub as separates if you want. The company that made my sub actually does this in their standard home theatre installations.. everything is separate, but this is far above my pay grade.

 

 

@jhw9 , all speakers have room interaction issues, need proper placement, and can often benefit from DSP. Many active speakers have controls in the back unlike passive speakers, similar to a subs controls only more appropriate for the type of speaker.

Upper octave and lower octave room interactions seem quite different. One is a direct reflection that more or less preserves its waveform, so will be perceived as a smeared or reflected sound from the source (and not sure how you effectively dsp this because you're talking about reflections of detailed recognizable things.. vocals, instruments, etc), whereas with the latter the wave is often longer than the room, and are for the most part are truncated waveforms that manifest as unrecognizable resonances. These anomalies can be more imperceptibly fixed with dsp.

All that said.. even if you could effectively dsp upper octave room interactions.. who wants to listen in an anechoic chamber? That is a very dead.. boring listening space.

Dsp'ing transducers on the other hand makes some sense.. nullifying their unwanted resonances with the inside of the speaker cabinet and also leveling the direct output between drivers to give a flat output. Nonetheless, I am still suspicious of sticking sensitive DAC/DSP electronics into a noisy, vibrating space.. and also of speaker manufactures who also claim to be amp experts, and dsp experts. I don't think the company that makes the Holo DAC line wants to put their best work into a cauldron of strong magnetic fields.. a space that is literally shaking. I know it can be done, I'm just not sure if putting it inside, or attaching it to the speaker is a good idea.

I am still learning all this.. this is the way I understand it right now. I do own some small class AB active monitors designed by Simon Aston (Audiosmile/uk), btw. They serve a specific purpose, and I like them, but I don't nitpick their performance.

Some irony here is, the new (passive) speakers I chose (forgoing re-working my entire system and going the active route, but with separates) are designed by a music producer/studio engineer who primarily designs and manufacturers active speaker systems for his studios and clients.. this is how he makes his living. He's also designed very large line-array theatre installations for live performances. He's not a traditional audiophile speaker designer, however he still feels compelled to design and sell (albeit in very low volume) high-end passives. I'll have to ask him why next time. I still have this active digital crossover system in the back of my mind (but with separates), but just need some extra space to set up a second large system. I would like to see how good I can make it work.