Powered speakers show audiophiles are confused

@mijostyn - I didn't know that there were true lazy-boy type recliners that are sold as Stressless by Ekornes. I thought they were all minor variations of mine that have separate ottomen. Now I get the batteries or power cord need. I guess they are more for theater type seating in a row where more than one chair with a separate ottoman would look very strange. 

@kota1 Great example, when I hear my active Genelec system it is always striking when the first note hits the transient quickness of even a soft note is odd compared to a normal system. Also in the article they mentioned current amplifiers not "class D" funny. Class D has some obvious advantages over class A but the potential for class D is higher than any other format and I think everyone would admit class D is getting better faster than any other amplifier type. 

@mijostyn I'm talking about best practices in speaker design I don't care about a speaker someone bought at Walmart. As an audiophile you want to buy the system with the best sound quality, when you consider a speaker / amp designed for each other there is no question.

Consider the question, is it better to buy an expensive speaker then power it with an amp that was not made for that speaker no matter what the cost? Clearly the answer is no. Are you saying the answer is yes? 

When Magnepan comes out with a powered speaker, maybe I’ll be interested.  Until then, yawn.

Toolbox

@toolbox149 , lets see if @sixfour3 will chime in about actively bi-amping maggies.

@donavabdear , No problem, glad you liked them. Since you like Oscar you should get the whole box. What is REALLY fun is I use Channel D's Pure Vinyl to make 24/192 PCM files of other peoples records. It is a great way to collect out of print recordings. The program has a built in 80 dB/oct  10 Hz rumble filter and built in pop and tic removal which is done prior to the application of  RIAA correction. I keep the raw files and apply RIAA correction, rumble and pop filters on playback. You can "render" the album by applying RIAA correction with or without the filters. The rendered file can be played back by anyone just like any FLAC or ALAC file. The only kicker is you need a phono stage with a flat output. (No RIAA correction)

I'm sure there are active speakers that surpass the performance of many of the passive speakers on the market. The environment of a concert tour is so different than what you will find in a home. We baby our equipment in comparison. These kinds of speakers are modular and are stacked to form very large linear arrays which works well in the bass and lower midrange but fails dismally in the treble because the tweeters are way to far apart. Ultimate sound quality is usually not the goal here. The finest concert system I have ever heard was used for Return to Forever's "Where have I known You Before" tour. It was a totally passive system performing in real 2 channel stereo. Stanley's bass played through a stack of bass cabinets 20 feet tall which was place right next to him center stage. It was a mind bending performance. RIP Chick. 

To me, everything you say about active speakers sounds like marketing. I do not hear any specs and usually do not see any.  All I see available for home active systems is little point source speakers. I do not like little point source speakers. They do not produce a convincing sound stage and they usually spray sound all over the place leading to more room interaction.