I am interested in active speakers but for now disappointed. When I run the passive speaker from my main system tube amp, instead of the amp in the active speaker, it sounds way better (Sony, Elac etc). But you can't stick my Atma-sphere MA-1 into a small speaker.
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17 of 23 speakers in my studio and home theater systems are internally powered. My studio system is all Genelec and sounds very accurate. I know the best new concert and studio speakers are internally powered there are great technical reasons to design a speaker and an amp synergistically, this concept is much more important to sound quality than the vibration systems we often buy. How can an audiophile justify a vibration system of any sort with this in mind.
Showing 3 responses by o_holter
thespeakerdude wrote: @o_holter I just searched a measurement of the MA-1 amp and the figure they arrived at was 10.5 ohms output resistance. There are very few speakers that will not experience a huge change in their output frequency response with this amp. You have become accustomed to or just like this change to the sound so I would not expect anything else to sound at all similar without an equalizer. Thanks for comment. Do you have the link to this measure? Having lived with my MA-1 amps for ten years trying different speakers I do know the importance if amp/speaker matching. My point is only that even with non-optimal matching, the small speakers I tried sounded better from the MA-1. This is a free test everyone can do, if they have a good amp. Before you pay for a pair of active speakers, check out how the passive speaker sounds driven from this amp, compared to the amp in the active speaker. You may be surprised. |
Earlier in this thread, thespeakerdude argued that my Atma-sphere MA1 amps wont be a good match for many active speakers (testing the passive speaker in the pair). He showed 1990s statistics of the amp performance. My amp is upgraded to mk 3.2 status with many component changes, so this is no longer reliable. But generally he is probably right. Active speakers are not designed for tube amps. My point was not that the small passive speaker sounded great with the Ma1, only that it sounded surprisingly much better, than driven by the amp in the active speaker in the pair. I tested two pairs of active speakers - Elac am50, and Sony SRS ZX-1, plus a passive pair, Aurum Cantus Leisure 2SE. In all cases the MA-1 lifted the speaker to new heights, even if the match was not optimal. I have not tested more expensive active speakers - there, maybe the story would be different. |