Are active speakers worth it now?

Is an active system worth the price of admission? In my opinion it is, but, just like with subwoofers, an active system is only as good as the integrating abilities of the person whom is implementing it. Going active makes the system more complex, not as complex as most people seem to think, but it is no longer plug and play. With an active system you are now the speaker designer, but instead of designing a speaker you are designing a merger between your speakers and your room, and you are already doing this if you are still using subs along with the miniDSP.

My recommendation, not that you asked for it, and assuming you only use your center speaker for movies and television viewing, would be to leave the passive crossover between your mids and tweeters in place for the time being and add a mid-bass cabinet to the left and right channels. I believe you will get more bang for your buck running active in the sub-bass to midrange region than you will running active from midrange to highs.

Having an active system is just another tool in the tool box in the never ending journey/battle of integrating your system and room into a single entity, and in my case enabled me to bring more life out of my system than I ever thought was possible.

All these conditions would have to be met for me to consider it:

1. electronic components are replaceable with any replacement
2. supports multi-channel
3. each speaker has an amp and does not require a cable between them
4. each speaker is dsp capable
5. support for the software or app does not expire, rendering it a brick like B&W subs
6. separate enclosure for the electronic components

I get a chuckle out of people who object to the inability to change the inbuilt amp and then proceed to tell us of their multi-amp journey. Not that the multiplicity of amps failed. Just that it reads like an attempt to get around the deficiencies of passive crossovers by changing amps(and I will guess without information: Speakers as well).

If the declaration that passive is the way is bundled with a revolving door of amps(and possibly speakers as well), I just see the folly of passive speakers being celebrated. 

Quality of integration of components including amp and speakers will largely determine the quality of end results.  If one is not sure, one can “take a chance” and experiment or just leave it to the SMEs ie  product’s engineers to do it right. 

Nothing trumps actual long term experience with any component.  This thread rife with strong opinions without ownership.  And hearing something at a show is as informative to real world delivery as speed dating.

Fervent hope is that everyone finds perfect…. for them.  Pontification sans actual ownership, weak at best.  Just rid myself of a Mercedes.  Not my car.  For others, perhaps perfect.  But the perspective was from actual ownership.  Cheers