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.

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For the record @kota1, while I have generally respected Magico, I lost some respect for them looking at their crossovers:

  • Foil wounds inductors on an iron core? That is just about the dumbest thing I have ever seen. Foil inductors are already sort of dumb, but a low frequency coil foil wound on an iron core? That is just pandering.
  • Worse, is one of those crossovers is from a $70,000 speaker. For $70,000 for speakers, they could afford a 2 layers PCB instead of being cheap and going single layer. Even the PCB in the much cheaper PS Audio speaker is double sided. Why is double sided important? Strength and reliability. The connection soldered on both sides of the PCB (and the connecting hole) is much stronger which is important with heavy parts.

@thespeakerdude

Are you for real? The small copper foil in the Magico XO costs more than the entire PS Audio XO, including the PCB (which is about ¼ thickness of the Magico PCB).

And what is wrong with a copper foil inductor??

@mheinze 

+1, the Magico crossovers are designed in house and custom made by Mundorf in Germany, ($$$) not some factory in Shenzen.

@mheinze, lets start with the only thing definitive better about a wrapped foil inductor. It is more mechanically stable. Does it make any difference in the real world? No, because the inductance modulation is orders of magnitude below even the best drivers non-linearities. A lower DC resistance is claimed for equivalent gauge, but does that come with downside?  Due to the large difference in winding diameter, there is more variability in the magnetic path, which if you put a core in the center can lead to more non-linearity. When used with an iron core, there is also more shielding due to the foil structure which can also cause non-linearity. Finally a foil wound inductor has greater eddy currents which are frequency dependent again adding to non-linearity. Mundorf has most the most excellent word salad, "For High-End mid and high frequency applications, they are particularly distinguished by their 3D-like staging, their harmoniously dynamic vitality and detailed performance, If you want truly distortion-free but multifaceted and all-musical beauty, you may consider copper foil coils as first choice for your bass coils."  What they don't have is anything to back it up. You love measurements @kota1 , where are theirs?   

@mheinze, the issue is strength of the solder connections in a potentially high vibration environment (or just shipping). Single layer boards are far more prone to soldering failures and delamination. The difference in cost is pennies per square inch. $70K, I expect better quality PCBs. Even if you only put traces on one side, a double sided PCB with part pads on both sides is more reliable.

Mundorf has built themselves a nice business selling very expensive parts, most values likely in very low volume, but with very healthy manufacturing margins. As evidenced by this comment, that impresses some people which is likely a major reason Magico goes that direction. Consider it part of the marketing budget. One of the crossovers I posted is from an equally well like $100K speaker.

@kota1, are you deeply knowledgeable about PS audio manufacturing? Your statement is erroneous.


Which is why PS Audio makes a point of buying local whenever we can. For example, we use our local economies for our chassis, paint, circuit boards, fasteners, sub-assemblies, packaging, etc. In fact, with few exceptions, everything we make (other than Sprout) is mostly made in the USA. The few components we buy overseas, like our top covers and heat sinks, are simply unavailable in the US.

@thespeakerdude Appreciate your reply. I look forward to hearing your speakers in Munich's high-end show in a couple of months. What is the name of your brand?
Until then,  if you don't mind, I would give Magico and Mundorf the benefit of the doubt. It sure looks like they know what they are doing. BTW, while visiting the Magico factory a few years ago, I remember seeing these impressive XO boards with massive copper traces and a substantial soldering point. I didn't get the impression there will be any physical compromises there.