Opinions and recommendations on active loudspeakers

Theophile!  Wow, you should write a paper!  Very well put.  

The only thing that convinces some people that the idea of engineers endlessly fussing over mixes cannot be true is some pop mixes sound absolutely awful.  I have heard mix engineers complain bitterly from time to time about their work turned bad or even given to another engineer to "redo it".  Sometimes the producer or the people in charge change things for reasons of their own.  Most pop tunes are destined for FM airplay so sometimes the mix is set up for FM and only FM (loudness wars).  Many of Katy Perry's top selling songs are examples of that.  But some pop mixes turn out pretty good- there's some that are quite listenable.   Halsey's Badlands was mastered by Pete Lyman who does a lot of Indie work.  Interesting that on her wikipedia page for Badlands Halsey says it lacks a "proper radio hit".

Brad   

Thanks for the tip on Halsey. Actually I think many "audiophile" speakers can't handle new pop or r 'n b  etc. mixes because they are too coloured (together with the room). Especially in the bass/low mid region.

jon_5912:
Whoever told you passive crossover (a static device with lots of lots of loss through wire) offers more precise control than active crossovers (where the crossover is before the amplifiers; an electronic circuit with very precise control) has something to sell in passive crossovers!  

@lonemountain - it was Tom Thiel, brother of Jim Thiel of Thiel audio.  He hangs out in the Thiel thread sometimes.  He's long removed from the business at this point, Thiel no longer exists, he's not selling anything.  I'm a fan of both brands and it's funny because both designers have a fair amount in common.  Both were piano players.  I think I like listening to piano more than anything and both brands excel there.  Jim Thiel had wanted to build active speakers but since he was building for the home audio market he didn't because he didn't think he could sell them.  I assume ATC builds passive speakers for the home market for the same reason.  

ATC does build passive because some folks just want a passive.  We know this is the reality of the market.   But we spend a lot of time talking about active because its genuinely a step forward (and it costs the customer less for higher performance).  ATC active beats ATC passive on multiple technical fronts.

We have done demos at shows with the same speaker both active and passive right next to each other on the same source, using ATC amps (which have the same circuit design and output devices to the active system) and its a clear advantage to go active.  The image and clarity and resolution of details is dramatically different.  The "tone", meaning the spectral info, the sound character of the piano if you will, is the same.   SO active versions of speakers have better imaging, greater resolution of the finer details of the music than passive versions of the same speaker even with identical power behind them.