while I am DEFINITELY an advocate of speaker manufacutes offereing ACTIVE multi amp designs for speakers, I must say it's going to have to be realtively intuitive and straight foreward for it to be so successful I think! DIY kits will have limited application of course. While the mass market really needs this as a step towards the future I think, if we are going to see any real sonic steps ahead in overall speaker performance!
I've long time said that the average PASSIVE speaker design that is common place out there, has basically seen most of it's limits I think! I mean unless we can come up with practical driver designs that are WAY MORE EFFICIENT AND SENSITIVE for increased dyamic transparancy and potential throughout the frequency spectrum, ACTIVE speakers are really the only way to move towards for improvments where Ithink speaker designs need to go! I mean, we pretty much have the ultra transparant, ultra detailed, ultra un-colored beautifully-soundstaging-thing down with speaker designs at the very best as it is now! Most high end speakers, I find, usually fail in ultimate terms in respect to dynamic transparancy. Active design speakers(even speakers with powered woofers) and ultra high sensitivity speaker designs have a HUGE advantage in this area, due to an efficiency and or sensitivity advantage.
I mean, if we doubt that the main area that needs to be improved on with speaker designs on the whole is dynamic efficiency, just ask yourself why someone like J Gordon Holt of STereophile mag claimed that the Active ATC speaker system at $90k "might be the best speaker system in the world" right now, and that "he's not heard better!"...?
So let's face it, ultra high efficiency/sensitivity active speakers, horn speakers, and powered speakers can do what others can't in the dynamics relm. "multi-amping" actively is most definitely going to help solve some dyanamics issues if done right. But then again I think history has proven that simpler sells better, and is less likely to dis-suade people from investing in something so complicated and demanding technically! If speaker manufacturers would more and more go down the road, at least offering more high end speaker designs with active self-powered woofers incorporated, things would improve dynamically for the masses. While I do see some of the so called "hi-end" speaker people out there doing the "active-thing", and even the powered woofer thing, I think there's a greater need for more and better designs from more manufactureres! It also needs to remain simple and practical from a number of standpoints for the consumer I think...even for the audiophile tweek!(whose likely to steer towards speakers that can accommodate their favorite matching gear and such.
Still, there's no doubt that "multi-amp" applications have their places, and since systems keep getting more complicated and involved with multi channel now-a-days, I can see that multi amping would have applications than ever to expand too. I do doubt however that most people want to get involved with so many amps and wires and connections and such. I think it's definitely better if you can put the amps in/on the speaker enclosures themselves. This alone makes for a simple marriage of digital active powered sub and woofer designs, and leaving the amp for the mid/tweeter up to the consumers discression. There's always compromise I suppose.
If they can keep it simple, practical, effective, modestly priced, and sounding fantastic, I think multi-amped speakers would have a future on a larger scale. I hope so...
