@ashoka --
Active, bundled speakers are often claimed to have "matched" amp-to-driver implementation, but much of this is a gimmick, I find. With active configuration the amp matters less, or the same amp will be given much better conditions to perform at its fuller potential not seeing into a passive cross-over, and so the matched nature is really less important vs. matching amps to passive speakers. Not that matching amps in active configs can't bring advantages, but it's been a cloak for some time now that some active speaker manufacturers have worn to make their endeavors appear esoteric. Give me a break.
In any case active means better driver control, and it translates - in the combinations I've heard - into less smear, better resolution and transparency. Passive by comparison sounds thicker, duller, more restrained and less immediate, but to other ears that's likely warmer, fuller and more pleasing/laid-back.
Most audiophiles (like in >99%) have been accustomed to the sound of passive speakers for decades - typically via hideously insensitive, smaller speakers - but passive speakers qua passive speakers as such have a rather easily discernible character compared not least to larger, more sensitive and active speakers, and that's something that most may likely never experience or acknowledge as a negative because by and large it's the same (passive) meal they've been served for years. As long as people are happy, to each their own and all that jazz, but active for just named reasons haven't been given due credit where it very much should.
... My question is which audiophile active speakers have better amplifier specifications.
Active, bundled speakers are often claimed to have "matched" amp-to-driver implementation, but much of this is a gimmick, I find. With active configuration the amp matters less, or the same amp will be given much better conditions to perform at its fuller potential not seeing into a passive cross-over, and so the matched nature is really less important vs. matching amps to passive speakers. Not that matching amps in active configs can't bring advantages, but it's been a cloak for some time now that some active speaker manufacturers have worn to make their endeavors appear esoteric. Give me a break.
In any case active means better driver control, and it translates - in the combinations I've heard - into less smear, better resolution and transparency. Passive by comparison sounds thicker, duller, more restrained and less immediate, but to other ears that's likely warmer, fuller and more pleasing/laid-back.
Most audiophiles (like in >99%) have been accustomed to the sound of passive speakers for decades - typically via hideously insensitive, smaller speakers - but passive speakers qua passive speakers as such have a rather easily discernible character compared not least to larger, more sensitive and active speakers, and that's something that most may likely never experience or acknowledge as a negative because by and large it's the same (passive) meal they've been served for years. As long as people are happy, to each their own and all that jazz, but active for just named reasons haven't been given due credit where it very much should.