@erik_squires Wrote:
Active Speakers Don’t Sound Better
They do at my house!
In my experience, when I horizontally bi-amped my speakers with an active analog crossover design by the same manufacturer (of the speakers) it brought my speakers two notches above the passive crossover in sound quality. There were lots of improvements with an active crossover, four that stood out the most were better dynamics and transient response in the bass, highs were cleaner and better delineated, the sound was more live sounding then recorded. All amplifiers and active crossovers are external of the speakers. In my opinion, amps inside speakers is not a good idea because the amps are subject to all the vibrations and air pressure and stray electromagnetic fields from the drivers inside the speaker cabinet. I guess I’m not a passive guy. LOL See here. 😎
A bit of history for the fun of it, the first powered and active speakers from JBL 1959-64 Hartfield and Paragon see here.