Active Speakers Better? No, per Michael Borresen

Erik

I agree with you I wish more people understood what they were buying.  

At ATC, we build both active and passive of nearly every model from 2 way to big high power three ways.  Understanding the advantages of an active system is not well understood out there in the market but should be. Reasons to NOT like it are usually baseless, such as "you can't service the amps if they are installed inside a speaker" (silly as ATC amp packs bolt on and off and are can be sent to us for service without the entire speaker coming along- its usually easier to send us a amp pack then a standard 3-5Ru rack mount amp).  Or other reasons like "plate amps don't last that long" which is also completely untrue, I have so many active ATC speakers on for 15- 20 years for 18 hours a day its crazy.  If they all broke I would be buried in service.  Reliability doesn't really enter into it as I think most well built gear lasts a lifetime now.  Unless you are talking about cheap active, thrown together low cost contract speakers with amps inside that are built for price.  That's a different story but it has nothing to do with being active.  

Again, being in the studio business as well as home audio in active and passive I see both.  Studios have issues with passives and outboard amps more often than issues with actives because of the constant connections and unconnecting and the additional part and pieces that need adjusting.  Connectors are a huge issue in reliability.  Users at home have issues with outboard amps ( of various brands) than active set ups (of various brands) from my direct experience 

I think its marketing that has convinced everyone they need to buy amplifiers and if they don't all hell will break loose.   Somehow something is being taken away or somehow something is lost when its really the reverse. Wire and caps and inductors are added between amp and speakers that doesn't need to be there.  I think what's taken away with passives is imaging and a significant amount of your money.   

When I see someone saying they like the ability to change the sound of their system, that's totally fair and okay.   That IS the single best reason to stay passive, not performance or reliability.

Some people want it to sound like it's supposed to, the way Fleetwood Mac decided or Tom Petty or Lenny Kravitz.   ATC enables you to get that, and you cannot get that with passives.  You can get close, but not "there".  Realism is what drives Billy Woodman- or should I say "low distortion", the doorway to realism. 

Brad   

Phusis is right, you can build your own active.  This would make sense if you want to DIY.   If you have the ability to adjust crossover point, slope, output level and driver phase, you have it all.  JBLs M2 was an attempt to build a system that could be "tuned" on site for best performance.  Its a good idea, except fiddling by different users renders many of these expensive systems far from target without some regular checking.  There are many examples of good M2 demos and spectacular M2 "that's awful" misses.   Its also a very difficult system to calibrate and set up, and is beyond the ability of many dealers to put together on site.  When Peter (from JBL) sets it up or someone like Nate Kunkel, and the system is left alone, it can be spectacular.

Brad   

Bryston uses the same type of approach, active speakers with the crossover and amps external giving you some flexibility:

I think ATC has the right idea in reducing complexity while they increase performance.  At least it works for someone who wants high end performance but doesn't have the time or desire to DIY.  That being said, I would not expect that type of buyer to be plentiful on Audiogon forums.

Brad 

kota1, I missed your comment about my post asking if I was a designer or engineer?  Forgive my oversight.  I am neither, I am the ATC importer to the USA for the last 20+ years.  Before that I worked at JBL as in charge of theater and installed sound.  In both roles, there was/is a lot of interaction with the engineering department about "why" they do things a certain way.

Brad