Self-powered speakers: any good?

there are some great powered speakers, such as ATC that cost a fortune.

If you can find some of the Paradigm Active 20's, or 40's which are rare, they sound very good at a more realistic price.

The current Quad powered speakers are not that bad.

ATC powered speakers are very good and quite expensive

audioengine 5 's are excellent, just add a subwoofer and you can rock!

ATC, right.

I'll jump on the ATC bandwagon. But also wonder if the dual squeezebox/Duet/Touch approach will be error proof. I have a Duet (one) and love it. But the idea that you will hook up a separate Touch to each speaker, via the built-in DAC and outputting only one channel and insuring the timing is going to be exact. . . I am not so sure how well that will work? Not saying it won't, but it would concern me that the tiniest timing difference would create huge problems.

Added to that, if you would be considering the ATC speakers, I really don't think you would want to be using the built-in DAC on the squeezebox.

Call in an electrician and my guess he can run a cable (speaker, interconnect or other) down through the floor and over to the other side of the fireplace to hide the cables. If you are going to do that, have him run all the cables you may have want to use so you are covered for the future.

The Dynaudio MC15's or Focal CMS Series are ones to consider as well.

disclaimer: we are a Dynaudio/Focal dealer

I believe there are reasons why this technical approach will yield only modest results.

The champ of all self-powered speakers I've ever heard are Event Opal. Event company is mostly oriented for pro audio near-filed studio monitors but Opal has truly high-end performance for the price paid. They're self-powered with over 400 continueous watts each. From musiciansfriend.com or from B&H you can get free shipping.

If you use passive speakers, you can run really small speaker cable. If you use powered speakers, you have to run an ugly power cord to AND an interconnect. Not sure how active speakers simplify the cabling. I know - I have powered speakers. Plus, wouldn't you have 2 AC cables, one for the SB and one for the speaker plus some short interconnect?

I think powered speaker are better the passive speaker in theorie. I do not own powered speakers. But let me explain. A true powered speaker would have an amp for each unit, unless 2 units take care of the same frequency. But if you have a 3 way speaker a powered speaker would have 3 amps. The great advantage of that is the filter can be made with really good components without it costing the world. Normally filter components like Jantzen caps can cost a lot this is because the have to deal with the high voltage and amperage. But in an active system the filter only has to deal with a line level signal meaning the caps the coils etc can be a lot simpler. So a high quality filter for an active system would if I had to guess cost less then half of what it would cost in a passive system. Also if the manufacturer know what he is doing he can design the amps so that they match what the driver needs.

But sadly there are not that many brands that are willing to take the risk and market active speakers for the consumer market.

The distinction between *powered* speakers and *active* speakers needs clarification. Powered speakers have built-in amps—they do not necessarily have multiple amps and active crossovers. Active speakers utilize active crossovers and an amp for each bandwidth/driver. The amps may be external (active/not powered) or internal (active/powered). The terms powered and active are too often used interchangeably, because most active speakers are powered, and the better powered speakers are active.

Ojgalli you are right. But if a powered speaker is not an active speaker then I think it is a bad design.

Meridian offers excellent powered speakers with superlative results. They are quite expensive however.

Thanks for all the ideas. Alas I had not considered the timing issue - that two SB Touch's, one for left channel and one for right channel - might not time properly. Sigh. I think I'll try it anyway. I own Audioengine 5's for my bedroom so I can experiment. (The 5's strain when trying to fill my living room but I can test the timing issue.)