Is active speaker the future?

In one respect, they are the present. Check out the speakers hooked to your PC or Mac. However, I'm assuming that this isn't the part of the speaker market to which you refer:

Active, digitally corrected speakers from companies like B&O and Lyngdorff probably represent one of the few opportunities to get measurable benefits (i.e. flat in-room FR) from a big dollar speaker purchase. In this respect, they are IMHO actually a better mousetrap. However, it seems that most people spending this kind of $ on speakers (or at least the ones w/virtual systems posted on Audiogon) aren't convinced by this type of measureable benefit. It's just not the main focus for most audio hobbyists. Since I suspect that big $ purchases will come disproportionately from hobbyists, the answer to your question is no, it is unlikely that active speakers are the future.

They may be - in certain ways - measurably better, but for most people they're simply less fun.
Marty

I was very interested in active pro speakers and got a pair of Mackie ($1200 for the pair) . It is not that bad but could not beat an Arcam reciever biamping Harbeth M30. It did play louder with good control but transparency was poor. It was missing a lot of texture and subtle spatial clues. I could not hear the benefit of this approach. It is an uneven match up in terms of cost, ATC 20 would be more on even ground

S.G.R.

Active done properly.

Glai wrote: "I could not hear the benefit of this approach. "

It would be hard to attribute any audible differences to the difference between active and passive speakers since the speakers, themselves are so different. A better test would be with a pairs of PMC or ATC speakers where the identical speaker is available in both configurations.

Kal

Q: "Meridian are well known for source but not well known for amp and speakers."

That is news to me. With Meridain, I would not call the speakers active, rather the D/A converter and amps are built into the speakers and they are fed a digital line signal. With Meridian, you kind of need to buy their whole system (your current amps and pre will not be needed). Meridain's system is about the best I have ever listened to and it really is world class, imo.

On another note, would you consider electrostats to be active since you need to plug them in?