Active Speaker Choice

Thank you djones51

Thanks mijostyn. I honestly DON'T have a bunch of room for separate components and cabling here. As much as I love all that stuff, I think for this particular place, active may be the best route to take here. 

Thanks Jon, Ya, my room really sucks! Lots of hard surfaces, big windows, irregularly shape, etc, etc, etc. I'd love to tinker around but that will cost a bunch of money. I was hoping to just spend once and get the full meal deal in one small package. Subs would add more cabling and take up more room in my case.

phusis, csmgolf, all good stuff gentleman. Between you and the others here, I can see I have my homework cut out for me. Thank you. 

djones51: Thanks for the info on the A700s' . I also thought the Buchardts' may not be for me. Your confirmation of that save me a whole bunch of time and money! I will check out the Devialets'.

jdbsi: I actually saw a couple of pairs of the Meridian DSP’s for sale here on AG, thanks. I will check out them out as well. Just starting a major remodel on my house so definetly have some time to shop. 

csmgolf

These look super interesting, but as you say, they look difficult to set up. Maybe to techie for me?

http://http//www.bambergaudio.com/products/series3/3tmw.php

verdantaudio. Boy, do those SA's remind me a lot of the Buchardt's. Even down to the specs, Ram tweaks (Buchartd's Master Tunings), and country of origin!

totem395, thanks so much for this, I will definitely check it out.

djones51, thanks for the heads-up on the XD60. This is one of the few lines that I can demo somewhat locally.

djones51, I sent you a PM

Hey Brad, I see you are an ATC dealer, but I don't see any SCM40's on your website. I have the option of demoing a pair these an hour and a half down the road from me. Have you heard these, is it worth the drive?

djones recommends Genelecs. I was fortunate enough to hear a pair of G3's this past Saturday and they sounded awesome at $1200 a pair. djones51 has the 8341's which are 3 times the price so I can't even imagine how much better they would sound over the G3's. Going to  demo some 8331's in a couple of weeks. 

Heck, just before I listened to the G3's I listen to a pair of Meridian DSP2500SE's and honestly, my wife and I (and the dealer) all though the little G3's sounded better the the Meridians...Go figure.

lonemountain - see above

djones51, thanks for the info.

murphythecat - Thanks, checking out ATC on May 22! Geithain sounds like a tough one to demo, especially when I’ve never even heard of it but sometimes those are the best ones! Have a good weekend.

I actually demoed a pair of $20,000 Meridian DSP 2500 SE’s and the three of us listening thought the $1600 pair of Genelec G3’s sounded better...go figure?

djones51 - you hade D&D and settled on the Genelecs?

steve59 & jdbsi - agreed, they were not set-up properly, but at $20K the DSP 2500 SE's are outta my price range.

celtic66 - going to hear the ATC SMC 40A's this Saturday at a demo price of $$11,189. which I could handle. These are in a wood grain though. So add in the white color to satisfy the WAF factor that gets me back up to $15K. Getting a bit pout of my league again... UGH!

Roger that, thanks Brad.

spoutmouzert - interesting, Geithains' have been mentioned here before.
I hope they sound better than they look!
Although, it seems many of the active speakers (Genelec, Dutch & Dutch, Kii 3 & particularly the Devialet Phantoms) all have that unique look of there own. 

luisma31 - thanks, I'll check it out.

fiesta75 - Can you please elaborate, I'm not sure how this works?

Sound expensive!
fiesta75 - steve59 Are you the same guys?

Hmm, anyway you could provide a detailed schematic on how to hook this all up in a 2-channel system? 

Thank you for the offer but l think this is getting too complicated for me. I have no idea what I would want.

At his time, I have decides against pursuing active speakers. Thanks to all who contributed to my post.

Thank you fiesta75, the search continues either way.

steve59 - Thanks. I did listen to some Genelec 8351's that sounded pretty good, especially for the price, but decided to pass. The ATC SCM 40A's sounded good (probably for a bigger room than I have) but I missed the demos that were on sale, so at over $14K and still needing a pre-amp, it puts them out of my range.
Actives are hard to find at dealers. I'm sure they don't want to sell them as they can't sell you all the accessories that go along with passives such as amplification, cables, etc.   

Someone mentioned these earlier in this thread, does anyone have any experience with them?

Bamberg Series 3 TMW Active Loudspeaker Review - HomeTheaterHifi.com

csmgolf - djones51, thanks very much.

I have since picked up an integrated amplifier, so the search for active speakers has come to an end. Thanks again to all that contributed to this thread, I have learned a lot!

steve59 - thanks, looking at KEF R11s and Martin Logan 60 xtis presently