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Are active speakers worth it now?

I've been paying attention to recent reviews and product announcements for active speakers.  Mind you, I'm a convert, I think active speakers are the right answer for many, but I'm a conditional fanboy.  For me it's conditional on the overall value. 

In the residential high-end ATC has long been a darling of audiophiles, and of course many studio monitors are active.  Recent reviews for the Grimm, Focal and Dynaudio active in Stereophile make me hopeful this trend will continue, but at what cost? 

That question is literal.  Admittedly these speakers have amps built in so that is one less component and cables to buy, but ahem, those prices leave me unimpressed.  I'm just one minor voice though, so I ask you, A'goners, if you've been thinking of going fully active like me and what do you think of the price/performance of the marketplace, both in the pro arena and residential high-end?  Do these prices say "bargain" to you or "simplicity for a price?" 

erik_squires
mapman's avatar
mapman
23,600 posts
 

Vanatoo.  Affordable and sound great. 

celtic66
1,935 posts
 

I’ve literally a stable of passive and active ATCs.  Frontline actives are 50 ASLT.  Every individual who has sat down in front of them has been gobsmacked by their attack, dynamics, sound stage and separation of vocals and instruments.

If there is one con, it would be that everything need be right or everything will be wrong.  To each his/her own.  Worth every penny to me.  Cheers

willywonka's avatar
willywonka
474 posts
 

There are several brands of active speakers I really like. I've never bought any of them because I want the freedom to choose the amp I want and not the hassle of taking the speaker apart and shipping it back for repair when one of the amps fail. Also many now come with their own DSP and you are forced to use it. I recognize many have amps that are very well matched to the speakers and sound very good. These combinations can sound very good especially in the case of ATC. I think its really personal preference and you can't go wrong either way. The first active speaker I heard was back in the late 70's and was the Active Large Advents. I thought they sounded excellent.

inna
8,240 posts
 

ATC are pro speakers not audiophile speakers.

mashif
471 posts
 

ATC has many models, Active and Passive, some designed for Pro Audio and some for residential use. The cabinets and finishes are different. The Pro line has black paint and completely different driver layout until you get to the 50s. The sound quality is pretty consistent across the line. It just gets bigger and better as you go up. 

I have ATC SCM50 Passives and like it that way. But I have options. I can swap out the back panel and install an amplifier pack, converting them into active. I believe that currently costs about $8k. You could certainly spend a lot more on an amplifier but would it be superior to ATCs matched, hand built amps designed specifically for that speaker? 

So for me, if I wanted to upgrade my amp, I would probably opt to just go active. In that sense, it’s a bargain. But my longer term plan is to biamp them with a tube amp covering the mids and tweets. 

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