Do active speakers interest you? Also, let's talk directivity

Where are you looking genesis?

So glad I took the plunge and posted my concept here. Loving the feedback.

Mijostyn, active has nothing to do with whether the amp is installed in the speaker or not. It refers to whether the crossover is before or after the power stage. Having an active crossover at line level and then using each amplifier channel's full potential for only the frequency bands that the driver should receive opens up so many doorways as a designer that is doesn't make sense to do it any other way now.

As consumers, we like to select components. That's the fun part. And frankly, 95% of powered speakers have absolute crap amps. I get the resistance to letting the speaker designer pick your amp.

What is means in the best case scenario is a perfectly-matched and very convenient system. I have considered using an outboard processor, and then allowing the user to select their own amplification, but it's not a simple amp setup - you need two channels of 150 watts @ 8 ohm and 1 channel of 600 watts @ 2 ohm, with the gains very precisely dialed for the voicing to be correct. I would need to personally attend every time the system was set up :P

Unfortunately, the hifi industry is fickle as anything, driven by nostalgia and consumer trends rather than science. In general, passive systems with perfect separate amps are going to be more accessible than true high-end active systems. 

One thing you need to desperately avoid is a cheap active system, like the KRK Rokit or Yamaha HS series.Those are nearly fraudulent products, as they claim to have an accurate response good enough for professionals. As a mastering engineer, I can identify when a mixing engineer has used either of these systems - a KRK Rokit mix has blaring mids, a Yamaha HS mix is dull. Almost always!

Pro stuff just isn't cheap, and a whole generation of producers has been sold a lie that you can create great music without any dedication. That's a whole other story. I support the democratization of the music industry for sure, but there is a dark side to it as well, which is getting quite off -topic now.

Thank you for the feedback about sealed vs ported. This is a long standing debate. I believe in plugged ports, not open vents. My mentor, Barry Ober, is of the same mind as you. Zero reason to do a ported box in this day and age.

I'm not a stubborn person. One of my good qualities is that I'm very open to feedback. I have an alternate bass module design that is absolutely tiny. Active EQ is the ticket here. I have a 19hz response driver in sealed box with an F3 around 56hz. Just need to do some math and electronics design. This has been hugely beneficial, thank you all - back to the drawing board, as they say.

SynPar of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan is the name to follow in this case

This is a fantastic post, and based on your writing and description of your systems alone, I am intrigued.

I, too, have a background in audio engineering. As a young 20 something, I worked in Nashville for a couple of years at RCA Studio A and at East Iris Studios.

East Iris Studio A was a Michael Cronin designed room. In many ways, I had some of my greatest listening experiences in that room. I wish I had taken it in more back then.

The systems you are talking about designing would far exceed my price point, but I would love to see what comes of your ideas.

i really like my devialet phantoms (stereo pair) in a room where i don't want other components

lovely sound, tremendous bass response, very good imaging

I like the concept of active speakers, but worry about parts availability and maintenance. I also have a strong preference for sealed vs ported woofers. I think DSP will work better with flush to the wall drivers.