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

Hey all. Don't think I've ever made a thread here. This is a super interesting community for me. I'm an audio professional, a mastering engineer and music educator. I'm someone who differs from much of the pro community, in that I don't see a difference between "pro" systems and "high-end" systems. 

There is one way they often differ, and that is in terms of directivity. Home systems are more frequently omni, while and studio or live sound requires directivity.

This was definitely the case in the 70s, back when audiophiles still had parties :D 

It's very hard to set up a directional system to fill a large room evenly unless you use a line array.

But let's be honest. Aren't we mostly sitting and listening, and hoping for a good image? We aren't expecting every spot in a big room to sound exactly the same for every guest. Personally, my social life is 95% virtual now and I am generally listening in my mastering room. I have a high end system in every room in my house, but my wife uses the living room system more than me (and she has better taste in music, so it's nice to learn about some new artists when she decides to put something on from he collection).

Anyway, I'm designing an active system. Though the cabinet is not large, with a combination of Hoge's principles and active electronics, we will achieve accurate response through to 20hz.

The reason to choose an active crossover is very obvious. Sending power directly to each driver allows us to use a very low sensitivity woofer, which thus plays much deeper than expected. We are using a ported woofer and a sealed midrange/hi cabinet, which are not sold separately. An interesting feature is the the very low-crossed ribbon tweeter carrying all of the high midrange and treble

It's an 1800w system, aimed at both the professional and home market. I'm curious, does this sound interesting to anyone? We are intending to have a prototype ready by 2022, so it is a ways off.

Part of the directivity concept is also dealing with room issues. Cancelling the rear energy of the woofers can help. I am inspired by Bruno and Merjin (whatever  his name :P). a big part of our concept has to do with advanced acoustic materials, which I don't want to discuss too much, as I don't think anyone else has thought of it or connected with that maker, yet

Curious to hear people's thoughts!
128x128mehtayoungs
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,226 posts
 
The Europeans prefer more compact systems.
@djones51, aesthetically you want to limit the number of AD/DA conversions. If you stay digital up to the amps you can do all the processing including crossovers in a digital preamp and do one DA conversion just before the amps. The only kicker is that if you do vinyl you have to do an A/D conversion after the phonostage. 
I do not like my serious listening over the wireless network. It is just not reliable enough and drop outs drive me nuts. I want everything hardwired. I use Sonos units for background music. Then I do not care as much.
There are multi channel digital preamps for theater use but you can use the channels with crossover for bi or tri amping. 
Is the OP's up coming system interesting to anyone? It is not an easy sell. Complete systems have not done well in the audiophile world at least in the States. We couldn't sell Meridian systems to save our lives.
Somebody must be buying them because they are still alive. They must be popular in Europe. The are a bunch of active wireless systems out there now but they are not for serious head banging. ( The Pixie's Bosa Nova is playing now:)))
djones51
4,947 posts
 
you stay digital up to the amps you can do all the processing including crossovers in a digital preamp and do one DA conversion just before the amps.


I stay digital all the way to the speakers. 
genesis777
112 posts
 
I sold off all of my separates and I'm looking for active speakers to replace them. I'm finding out there isn't much to choose from.
djones51
4,947 posts
 
Where are you looking genesis?
mehtayoungs's avatar
mehtayoungs OP
15 posts
 
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
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