DSP vs. active analog crossover vs. passive analog crossover. What is your take?

Forget the rules.

https://twitteringmachines.com/kii-three-and-bxt-breaking-all-the-rules/

Or not.

https://www.genelec.com/1236a

I've heard some of these systems but to expensive for me. I have a simple 3 way passive  fairly large Bookshelf but I don't for a minute think it can compare with what these companies are now doing. DSP crossovers, fully active, complete integrated systems, this is the future.

@tannoy56 wrote:

... if I had learn anything from the past, there is no substitute for large drivers.

Indeed - there’s no replacement for displacement, as they say.

Cool speaker setup of yours, btw. Wasn’t aware Tannoy made this line/type of speakers. Should be both potent and very well sounding. Down the line I’d definitely go with a (Lake-based) DSP cross-over, as has been suggested.

@kingharold wrote:

I use a DEQX DSP which uses PCM coding, not DSD. DEQX is coming out with a new line of DSPs, supposedly this quarter. I wish they would use the DSD, but I doubt it. Whatever they use I am looking forward to upgrading.

Drool inducing new upcoming line a products. Wouldn’t mind a Pre-8 lying under the Christmas tree in the near future..

I use Bill Fitzmaurice designed HT Tuba folded corner horn bass bins driven by 15" woofers which at 200 Hz cross over to Oris 150 horns with AER BD3 drivers. The Oris AER combo plays the range from 200 Hz up to 8 kHz where Fostex t900a bullet tweeters take over. Thanks to DSP the system is remarkably flat from 25 HZ where the output is identical to that of the 1 kHz reference output up to a little over 20kHz. The roll off below 25 Hz is typical for a horn loaded woofer.

I place great value on the system being fully horn loaded. Horn bass is the icing on the cake. It lends a smooth continuity and rightness to the SQ that I don’t feel is achievable by hybrid systems mixing horns with other bass alignments.

Kudos, absolutely agree on your assessment of horn bass and its contribution to the overall sound. I use a pair of tapped horns myself (i.e.: MicroWrecker). How many THT’s have you implemented?

Considering that Mobile Fidelity got away with sneaking a A/D conversion and a D/A conversion into their Original Master LPs for fifteen years perhaps analog purist aren't as able to hear digital processing as they have believed themselves to be.

DSP uage in its different varieties of functions and the assessments of it has a tendency to be very unspecific - i.e.: the context of its implementation is unclear, and typically the statements are rather heavily theorized and not coming as much from personal experience.

In this particular context the big win of omitting the passive cross-over (with a DSP acting instead, actively, as a XO) is something it would seem few have experienced and can actually comment on. 

I think this is an exciting area of discussion and practice for audiophiles.

There's no clear winner among all of the choices.  Convenience matters a lot.  I run passive crossovers with my main speakers, but active to my sub which right now is only for home theater.

I've been toying with a supreme 3-way center channel build.  Fully active crossovers. 

My take is that this is a hobby and you should focus on what you want to learn and how much of your system do you want to build vs. buy.  How important is it for you to have separates?  After a lifetime of buying into the all separates mentality I've given up.  Separates are not actually better. 

I got to hear the original B&W Nautilus driven by a ridiculous number of Krell amplifiers and crossovers. It was not all that. 

Enjoy the hobby, but don't obsess or think any particular way here is THE way.