2. speakers
  3. 1262215273

Is active speaker the future?

I know at least Linn and Meridian are making active speakers and they claim that it sounds much better than passive speakers. Linn and Meridian are well known for source but not well known for amp and speakers. The truly dedicated famous speaker maker like Rockport, Wilson Audio and JM labs only make passive speakers.

CD player is dying and digital source player is changing so fast. Speaker hasn’t had any fundamental change for a long time. Active speaker is not new, but will it be the future of the speaker and will we see light on/off or lcd display on most of the speaker?
yxlei

Showing 2 responses by kr4

kr4's avatar
kr4
3,704 posts
 
The market responds to demand and not necessarily to objective analysis. As is demonstrated by Hifitimes' response, most audiophiles reject active loudspeakers and, thus, the majority of speaker manufacturers accommodate that. OTOH, it is interesting to see that some, e.g., Focal and Dynaudio, do offer active speakers in their professional lines.

IMHO, audiophiles are hobbyists who like the mix/match and playing with all the variables. Active loudspeakers, regardless of their advantages, deprive them of the fun.

Kal
kr4's avatar
kr4
3,704 posts
 
Glai wrote: "I could not hear the benefit of this approach. "
It would be hard to attribute any audible differences to the difference between active and passive speakers since the speakers, themselves are so different. A better test would be with a pairs of PMC or ATC speakers where the identical speaker is available in both configurations.

Kal
More to discover