No
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?"
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- 89 posts total
@theophile wrote:
Few seem to understand the importance of the amp-to-driver interface and how it can be significantly improved upon actively. As you imply, finding the right amp (and speaker) passively can be an arduous task the difficulty of which is exacerbated by the interference of the passive crossover itself, and so the proclaimed "freedom" of choosing an amp of will is really about what’s forced upon you as a necessity to try and find the proper match. Outboard actively a much broader range of amps will actually mate well with the speaker due to the easier load presented to them, and the question then is more about sonic balance/matching/synergy than a core functional matter of things with an amp that can actually drive the speakers in a fairly uninhibited manner passively. Bundled active speakers aren’t all the same, and what’s new/modern isn’t necessarily of the highest shelf quality-wise. ATC has been mentioned as pro world tested active speakers that last many years without the need of servicing, and it’s worth mentioning here they’re old-school in their approach with class A/B amps, analogue active filters and excellent, heavyweight driver designs that are basically the same after more than 4 decades, all of which is no doubt part of the reason for their long-term reliability, not to mention their great sound quality. Speaking of old school (and yet groundbreaking at their time) the class A/B amps and analogue active filter section in my own active speakers by a dutch manufacturer is identical to their 75lbs separate box solution, with one of its most prominent features being "Dynamic Damping Control" (that "measures the loudspeaker cone movement via extra sensor cables, that is then compared to the amps input signal which, if discrepancies are found, is then corrected"). It houses +20lbs high efficiency horn-loaded planar magnetic drivers (originally a Philips design), 25lbs 15" woofer/mids, quality electronics like large RIFA output caps, etc. - not some cheap crap that’ll blow up in a few years. This is very high quality stuff built to last (in a pro environment) and sound great - in a domestic setting as well. This however is far from the norm with bundled, active speakers, and it’s why generally I’d go with the outboard active solution. However before anybody sneers at every all-in-one active design for being inferior compared to an outboard active or passive ditto, do yourself a favor and back it up with some actual experience, and don’t be surprised if your findings go on to challenge your preconceptions (if you’re willing to admit them), whichever of them are at full display, as well embracing older gear/designs. @celtic66 wrote:
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- 89 posts total