Powered speakers show audiophiles are confused


17 of 23 speakers in my studio and home theater systems are internally powered. My studio system is all Genelec and sounds very accurate. I know the best new concert and studio speakers are internally powered there are great technical reasons to design a speaker and an amp synergistically, this concept is much more important to sound quality than the vibration systems we often buy. How can an audiophile justify a vibration system of any sort with this in mind.

128x128donavabdear

What is the "pure" speaker/amp/speaker wire chain you are using @invalid? I would be interested to find out.

I never said I was using a pure chain, just saying active isn't the be all end all. There are pitfalls to it just as well as passive. In theory they are better but in practice I haven't heard a powered speaker system I have really liked, I've heard a few active systems where the passive crossover is bypassed that sounded good, but not one that the speaker manufacturer provides the amplification.

@invalid 

So, I agree, there are tradeoffs in everything. Can you give us an example of a "pure chain" in theory?? I am sure it exists, but how do you know what to match with what? Is there a checklist somewhere? 
I am not busting your chops, TAS, Stereopile,What HiFi all give out awards and prizes for individual components, what about how to match them??

See if you like Andrew Jones take on active vs passive(about the 2:00 min mark he gets on a roll) The way he describes being able to match a class D amp for the bass driver and then class A/B amps for the midrange and tweeter because you get rid of the limiting factors in a passive network sounds pretty "pure" to me. After watching this video he makes a VERY strong case for the advantages (both SQ and price point) for active:

"The ($750 active) speakers are so good they can do justice compared to the same speaker in the passive version matched with $4500 of electronics" (6:00 minute mark)