Pros and Cons of built-in amps?

Well you can read on line what people say about active speakers - Telarc Here is an excerpt: "We feel like we're finally hearing the detail of our work for the first time," says Telarc president Bob Woods of the installed ATC monitor system. "As a professional studio product we've never encountered anything quite like it.

All that comment speaks to is Bob Woods' lack of experience with better systems. It means that whatever their previous system was (?) was much worse than their new ATC system.

Had Bob Woods or Shadorne experienced lots of other state of the art systems, they would have a different reference point from which to judge the ATC active speakers.

I am not, by the way, trying to belittle ATC speakers because they are quite good (I've listened to them on numerous occasions). They also make some good drivers, my ProAc Response Five's use the ATC midrange dome. But, there are many more high res and capable systems out there.

A limitation: The amplifiers built in to the ATC speakers are not in the same league as amps from Chord (and many others). I would hope that even Shadorne would admit that. A company like ATC would have to literally team up with a company like Chord in order to start to compete with the very best. And even then, I don't thing going active at midrange and high frequencies would be able to equal the best passive systems.

It's also not true that the active systems are necessarily more revealing and accurate. A passive system with the right speakers and Chord electronics will be very neutral.

However, your idea that studios want a colored sound with greater prescience or other gimmicks added to the playback chain could not be further from the mark.

Actually I was told this by the Tannoy factory rep on their pro monitors vs. home speakers.

Dave,

So you don't like ATC. I hear you loud and clear and you are quite entitled to even go as far as to hate them. That is fine - and it is OK with me - many people don't like this kind of sound. A forward sound that can "make your ears bleed", as some people have described on other threads - to each his own. However this thread was about active speakers (those with built in amps).

So just because others (like Bob Woods or David Gilmour or George Massenburg) disagree with you (and happen to like active speakers) does not necessarily make them hindered by misguided beliefs or inexperienced.

They prefer something else to what you prefer. If you could understand this fact (people differ in what they like) then you could become a much better audio dealer. Instead of forcing your dogma on your customers, you might learn to acknowledge their preferences. You could probably sell more products and have happier customers...just a thought - it might not be too late to learn listening skills and to learn that what is the best is often in the eye of the beholder...

I think CDC has the right idea...studios value different things from home audiophiles and his point is an excellent one...."horses for courses" is what I understand CDC is saying.

Dave,

So you don't like ATC. I hear you loud and clear and you are quite entitled to even go as far as to hate them.

WOW! You actually don't read do you. Here's what I said.

I am not, by the way, trying to belittle ATC speakers because they are quite good (I've listened to them on numerous occasions). They also make some good drivers, my ProAc Response Five's use the ATC midrange dome. But, there are many more high res and capable systems out there.

I tend to agree with Shadorne on this one. Two members of my family were crack studio musicians (you would know their name and I wish to remain anomimous in this site) and I grew up around all the great studios of the world. Rarely do I see most "touted" reference consumer electronic products (Wilsons, Quads,...)--I do see a lot of ATC gear, both amped internally or externally. Studio engineering requires precise feedback from the listening experience, from individual passages up to the entire track.