10 Wonderful things and 10 bad things about the audiophile world.

@hilde45 
Here's a little cut and past of my studio speakers on some of the benefits of being powered in just the crossovers. A small part of the design.

The active crossover design offers multiple benefits:

• The frequency response becomes independent of any dynamic changes in the driver’s electrical characteristics or the drive level.
• There is an increased flexibility and precision to adjust and fine tune each output frequency response for the specific drivers used.
• Each driver has its own signal processing and power amplifier. This isolates each driver from the drive signals handled by the other drivers, reducing inter-modulation distortion and overdriving problems.
• The ability to compensate for sensitivity variations between drivers.
• The possibility to compensate for the frequency and phase response anomalies associated with a driver’s characteristics within the intended pass-band.
• The flat frequency response of a high-quality active loudspeaker is a result of the combined effect of the crossover filter response, power amplifier responses and driver responses in a loudspeaker enclosure.

There are so many reasons why powered and active speakers are the future the sports car analogy is one most audiophile understand. Everyone knows powered speakers are the future in every category of playback, I started a thread about how audiophiles were confused about powered speakers, 65k views later people still didn't have a clue. Yes you can put a "A"  or "AB" or whatever kind of amp you want in a speakers you just need big heat sinks (Pass did it).

Look at it from this point of view, today speaker cables cables are becoming some of the largest costs in a system, assuming that this is a proper use of audio money then why not bypass the cables completely. If there is merit in the idea that cables create such a huge deeper, wider, higher, lower, more accurate, tighter bass, blacker backgrounds, more musicality which is caused by hyper priced 1 meter speaker cables then why not do without cables all together just think of the musicality then wow. For that reason alone (if it is valid) designed powered speakers make sense. 

In life or in audio, there is always many roads to the summit of the mountain...

 Thanks hilde45 for the video ...

And for sure my little self powered speakers are impossible to beat for the S.Q. /price ratio scale ...

But there is no one solution for all in my book ...

@mahgister 
Here is a story about perception that I've never forgot. 
I was doing the production sound (recording the actors on stage) on the TV show "Bones" about 5 years ago. I was using an excellent sound package with all the very best analog recording equipment then making a long story short I switched sound package and used one with the very best digital recording equipment using the same microphones with my usual headphones recording the actors who's voices I knew perfectly in the acoustic environment that I knew exactly using the same boom operator who I had worked with for many years. I switched systems (which never happen to me before in almost 40 years of production sound). The first 3 seconds of hearing the actors voice made me a believer in digital. In production sound you have to be hyper critical and exceptionally careful about every aspect of the actors voice the digital signal was so much better. It was like looking down the grocery store aisle and seeing a beautiful girl then realizing that that girl is your wife, the reaction was honest.

Very informative story and i believe you ...

I never enter in this debate analog-digital...The brain work analog-digital-analog -digital in translation ...

But my audio system is dac based and i own only lossless files ...

Also there is more about sound than clarity and details so ....But in speech perception clarity and details win the race ...We must clearly hear what is spoken ...And for sure in music without clarity and details there is a problem ...

Tacet a polish musical company record all their albums with analog tube process and their sound is audiophile grade and rich in harmonic not agressive and i love it more than almost any other recordings ( save the one mic recording by Sound Liaison ) ... Even if i listen from a dac Tacet albums they distinguish themselves by their refined sound ...

The truth is our brain work in a digital-analog- analog-digital translation chain... Choosing one over the other is misleading save for special audio purpose ...

I must admit though that you have experience in audio which i had not at all ... I am only a not completely uninformed music listener ...Then i believe and trust your opinion  for sure ...This must be said ...

😊

@mahgister Here is a story about perception that I’ve never forgot. I was doing the production sound (recording the actors on stage) on the TV show "Bones" about 5 years ago. I was using an excellent sound package with all the very best analog recording equipment then making a long story short I switched sound package and used one with the very best digital recording equipment using the same microphones with my usual headphones recording the actors who’s voices I knew perfectly in the acoustic environment that I knew exactly using the same boom operator who I had worked with for many years. I switched systems (which never happen to me before in almost 40 years of production sound). The first 3 seconds of hearing the actors voice made me a believer in digital. In production sound you have to be hyper critical and exceptionally careful about every aspect of the actors voice the digital signal was so much better. It was like looking down the grocery store aisle and seeing a beautiful girl then realizing that that girl is your wife, the reaction was honest.

 

 

 

I should have recorded it, so i shall have to paraphrase his comment from yesterday: “ The Grateful Dead taught me achieving great audio quality was about more than great specifications “ John Curl at LA / Orange County Audio Society gala where he was one of those honored with an award.