Powered speakers show audiophiles are confused

I spent the first 10 years buried in engineering and didn’t get to hob knob with celebrities like some have on this topic :-) ... just a bit envious, though I have been star struck a few times since but back to the topic at hand.

If you don’t mind your amplifier and speaker adding something to the music that was not there in the recording, then by all means go with the Pass amp and passive speakers. You have to like what you are hearing. If you want a improved level of accuracy, then you need to get rid of the passive crossover. If you want the absolute lowest distortion possible in a given form factor, then you will need to ditch the Pass amplifier as that requires a tight integration of amplifier, driver, enclosure and more than a "hint" of advanced signal processing. If you want a single speaker that can adapt to your environment, your mood, or your music, more than just simple equalization and time alignment, than that is going to require an active speaker and that is what you will start to see more of. Active speakers are in their infancy.

Where it is going to get complicated is "deciding" where an active speaker ends, and where a room correction system begins.

@donavabdear 

Paradigm and Anthem are the perfect example of a company that should really make speakers and amps and crossovers made for each other.

I didn't realize you were driving your surrounds with Anthem. I already own many of the Paradigm/Anthem active speakers and of course agree that they are made for each other. I don't think it matters if you use gen 1 or 2 in a surround system. Maybe a fun comparison to run your mains in 2 channel stereo mode and swap the solid state Anthem out with the BHK tube amp and compare the differences.

@thespeakerdude. Where it is going to get complicated is "deciding" where an active speaker ends, and where a room correction system begins.

Amen !  Especially as DSP marches on to even better and better levels of problem solving.  

Brad

@lonemountain ,

It is one area where we think the ATMOS standard / specification is insufficient and lacks the framework for future extensibility, tuning, and features.

ATMOS provides a rough definition for the dispersion pattern of speakers depending on where used, but it is fixed, without consideration of actual pattern, cutoff, dispersion versus frequency, etc.  For an extensible object oriented speaker system, there should be much better ability to define the speakers and eventually the appropriate algorithms to maximize the "experience".   Though ATMOS is object based, those objects are assumed to be fixed in terms of what they are with a fluffy definition.

@thespeakerdude 

It is one area where we think 

You are stepping into an area that borders on fiction. You have NO system any one is aware of, no creds, and now "we"? Is we invisible too? Post a link to your think tank.

ATMOS provides a rough definition for the dispersion pattern of speakers

Really? You actually have an Atmos system that isn't invisible??? Details? Is this something you read about too? LOL.

eventually the appropriate algorithms to maximize the "experience".

When you have some pics to post of your atmos system you will actually have an experience, it should be better than a chatroom I hope.