HIFI Speaker active crossovers ...

What I will use in biamp setup, has dual sub outs, crossed for Sub at 60hz/24 db for dual tekton 2-10 and 500/12db mid highs for a pair of bi-amp wired tekton double impact se upgrade with the actual tweeter BE upgrade.  
 

SS amp for mid bass and will get be getting an 85w/c tube amp for mid highs.

Unfortunately, I am still gathering all the pieces.. waiting on the subs and the tube amp.  But just the SS to DI/SE from a Gustard r26 using bt 96khz PCM input (qobuz) sounds really good. (Just dac pre-amp out.. waiting for my rebuilt vintage pre-amp I had heard 20 years ago and always wanted)

Still having issues with tidal dropping out often.. so far I have never had qobuz stream interruption . (24/96 mainly from qobuz) though my purchased 24/192 and dsd do sound better, especially at higher volumes.. to me anyway, higher volumes really showcase the amount of data getting put under the curve.

Had my old klipsch bi-amped with some older amps with this active crossover and just one sub and it sounded alot better than without xover and bi-amped..  the new setup should (had better) sound even better when I have everything.. else I’ll be selling some stuff..

For an active crossover to make the most sense, the speaker needs power amps built in. Historically, audiophiles have not wanted that. Maybe views are changing with a new generation.

Unfortunately there are some sinister reasons that active technology is not being used within the speaker industry. There are many conspiracies witthin the speaker industry and this is just one. There has been a collusion by the amplifier manufacturers and the speakers companies to ensure that the hifi marketplace is not monopolized by the speaker industry, if active technology was the only game in town. It was subsequently agreed that the amplifier companies would continue to market their mega expensive $50K amplifiers to the marketplace while the speaker companies continued to produce speakers using inferior passive technology. This would ensure that both sides would profit. 

Moreover the speaker companies had another secret motive. They did not want the public to interfere with the way their crossovers had been tuned. Crossover tuning is and has been a black art for a long time. No speaker company will disclose their transfer functions the same way food companies will not reveal their secret ingredients. The crossover plays a big role in defining the sound quality that a speaker produces and without it, there would be no way for the public to difefrentitate between different speakers. If, God forbid, the power to adjust the crossover got into the hands of the audiophile community, it would be game over for the speaker companies if audiophiles found that most speakers sounded about the same when their crossovers had been tuned similarly. 

Active technology would also negate the need for exotic expensive amplfiers since once you remove the passive technology, all speakers would be easy to drive. 

The hifi market is driven by profit rather than sound quality. That is the short answer. 

@mike_in_nc Wrote:

For an active crossover to make the most sense, the speaker needs power amps built in.

I don’t think so. The speakers below have an active crossover with no power amps built in and are excellent speakers. Also, my home audio speakers are actively bi-amped with no built in power amps and sound great. A speaker, with built in power amp(s), is called a powered speaker, active or passive is in reference to a speakers crossover topology. In my opinion, amps inside speakers is not a good idea because the amps are subject to all the vibrations and air pressure inside the speaker cabinet.😎

Mike

By far the most distortion in a speaker is caused by cabinet resonance and driver breakup, not because of passive crossover components.