Powered speakers show audiophiles are confused


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.

128x128donavabdear

OMG, I'll bet it will take the "ones" to the "plus ones". I hope you can post before and after graphs. I am all for 

simpler, more reliable, efficient, consistent and precise active loudspeaker system.

Now you have a matched system, nice.

Ya, I don't know why I didn't think of crossovers as moving and changing per impedance, frequency, amplitude. I never read that part of the documentation of the Genelecs, I never had that thought. Again if a speaker had an active crossover that changed per the electronic principles of the way the amp looks at the driver and a speaker crossover that doesn't which one is better? Hello McFly!! What an obvious question it's why the more I work on the Genelecs the better they get. Before and after graph would be great but there will never be an after graph for me this is more of a journey than a destination. 

I do not buy Active speakers.  Sorry.  The active part gets broken well before the speakers do, and often the expense pushes them into the parts bin. Also, the majority of "Active" speakers are powered with cheap D-Class amps that don't work very well.  I might change my mind if the active speakers come with replaceable amplifiers that can be upgraded.

@big_green_jelly_bean 

Bryston has active speakers with an outboard crossover so you can use any amp you like. Best of both worlds. 

 

@donavabdear

this opens up the ability for the amps to drive the drivers differently at low levels among other things.

 

The information linked is not stating different operation at low levels. It is stating that the analog portions of the active circuit use low signal levels as opposed to "speaker" levels. 

w.r.t. Using the Genelec software, don't you have the Lyngdorf incorporated in your Genelec system? GLM Grade will have better tools for analysis of individual speakers allowing you to better tune their position and if you incorporate acoustics, allow you to measure and tune those as well.  However, you need to pick whether the GLM software or Lyngdorf is going to do the room correction including timing and level.

 

Ya, I don't know why I didn't think of crossovers as moving and changing per impedance, frequency, amplitude.

Well they better change with frequency and impedance or they would not work :-). Much of the work in driver design the last decades has been to ensure linearity w.r.t. voltage so this is not as much of an issue as previously, but see my points previously w.r.t. linearity. Moving the crossover to the signal domain whether digital or analog solves the issues of non linearity of the driver interacting with the crossover, but not the inherent linearity issue. Many of Genelec points, point to the greater ease, flexibility, and consistency possible with an active design.

You also have the issue of the driver parameters changing with time as they heat and cool. This is more important for professional speakers as they are more likely to run at high levels for extended periods, but as @lonemountain stated, that market is not resistant to active speakers.