Are active speakers worth it now?

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. 

I've enjoyed active speakers as my exclusive choice to live with for 23 years now. For the first 11 years I did the diy conversion of passive speakers. Using my own choice of amplification and active crossover. So my choice of amp. I tried lots of different amps because different amps made a difference. I tried a few different active crossovers because active crossovers make a difference. It was a good sounding system that impressed everyone who heard it.

Then 13 years ago I had a mishap with my active crossover. In a pinch with no music I resigned to buying a cheap pair of KRK Rockits to tide me over while i got my Accuphase active crossover repaired. I managed to find a used pair of KRK Expose E8B for a couple of hundred more than the Rockits i was looking at buying. For sale 20 miles from where I live. For sale at 20% of the retail price for the pair. I bought 'em. Not knowing whether I'd be convinced by a 8 inch woofer after living with a 15 incher for 11 years.

Got the Exposes home. Positioned them just to the outside of my diy activated Altecs. Never played the Altecs again. Not one song. Not one second of music.

I've used the Exposes for the last 13 years and I have never experienced a speaker which mirrors(or Exposes wink) the components which precede them in the chain so faithfully. After living with them for 13 years I still couldn't tell you what they sound like because they sound like everything you put in front of them. The same way that the image in a mirror faithfully reflects what is put in front of it.

I'd love to have better speakers than the Exposes, but I think that any complaints I'd have about the Exposes reflect more on the rest of the system. By the way, I'm completely won over by my system. No complaints. My last upgrade was a new cartridge(Audio Technica ART20) and that launched my system into another circle of satisfaction. The KRKs are far from the limiting factor. They blossomed with the introduction of the ART20. Just grew wings and took off.

So to go active you can diy. Choose the amps. Select amps which suit the drivers. Choose the active crossover. Experiment. The results can be excellent. Or you can find a well thought out pair of off the rack highly accomplished studio monitors which redefine your understanding of high fidelity. Or have none of that and hope that your amp plays well with your passive speakers. I was on the passive speaker and amp merry go round for 30 years. I'll never go back to passive. If I ever wanted to upgrade from the Exposes I would diy active (no DSP) using the Accuphase active crossover and some of the great amps I have lying around. There are some incredible drivers around now and I would start from scratch. Choose all the drivers myself and diy activate.

@erik_squires Kali Audio Independence and Low Pine Series. KEF LS50 Wireless, KEF LSX II LT and CODA Wireless, Palmer Orbit, Klipsch 5/ 7/9, 

All the above can be gotten for $1500 and below and sound fantastic

For me the right question was:

is active speakers+active subs integrated are worth it if we know how to optimize them in a room ? 

The answer was : Hell yes !

Edifier use class D with very good effect at one important  condition.

If you go plug and play, the result is and will be mediocre...( anyway as i already said optimization, mechanical,electrical,acoustical,DSP, is absolutely mandatory for  any system/room.)

If you optimize the Edifier system/room the result is very good....

I spoke for those listening in near-field conditions...

My cost is so ridiculously low even taking into account my optimization devices ( many LPS, many filters+buffers, tube pre-amp, galvanic isolator, DDC, many Schumann generators,  add a dac + headphone amp+low cost various headphones, i cannot be happier with a system lower than 1000 bucks...

I dont count my main headphone the AKG K340 + Sansui Alpha amplifier dedicated to it...

Class D  is one of the greatest innovation in engineering audio...

I think an important factor is the mindset of the buyer.  My son is very impressed by my systems, but it is just 'too complicated' for him.  He can digest tons of info on ski equipment, but not audio.  Just a fact.  So when he wanted a system for his new home, all of my suggestions were ignored (and I was advocating a one box system!).  He decided independently on a pair of KEF LS 60's.  He loves them and they don't sound bad.

Note this decision was not due to savings on PC's, interconnects and components.  He simply wanted it simple.

Now I just need him to stream directly to the app vs bluetooth!  He can hear it.