Why are hi-end active monitors not more popular?

Genelec 1032As and a 1094 Sub.

An awesome setup. Of the really high end pro studio monitors Genelec seems to have less crossover to audiophile market than ATC - not sure why. ATC, Quested and Genelec invaded the US starting some twenty five years ago and replaced many of the older horn systems as main monitors in the highest end studios (at last loud could also sound good - not just a PA speaker). Genelec also garnered a respected position early on for near fields in most studios.

Can't think why Genelec and Quested never made much of a dent in the audiophile market, as ATC has done. Perhaps it has something to do with "nice" and "accurate" simultaneously? Or the Pink Floyd affect? Or Genelec simply do not provide the requisite audiophile wood veneers?

I'd be interested in your perspective.

First off, being a huge PF fan, I am surprised I missed something - your reference to the PF affect? Clue me in (I might just need a memory prod ;-)

Now for my perspective (for what that's worth...)
Focusing on Genelec as an example - just 'cause I've been following them for a while:
It seems to me that in the beginning, Genelec never intended to market to consumers, so they just didn't spend any time there. No dealer network was ever formed, no marketing, no nothing really...
It'same with most hi-end Pro mfgs - or even most Pro mfgs at all for that matter. With the exception of Manley (who's not very high-end but would like us to think otherwise), you don't see Grace, Avalon, Neumann, Apogee, Neve, SSL, etc. etc. etc. offering up any product to the high-end consumer. The market is simply perceived as too small. Which it probably is when you stop and think about it.

Next, as you made reference to, most pro speaker mfg's (certainly Genelec) are not so overly concerned with aesthetics. Coming from Finland, Genelec are bound to take a minimalist 'function over form' approach. So things like 'your choice in finish' just ain't gonna come from the Finnish. :-)

Lastly, at first glance Genelecs (like most high-end pro gear) are far from inexpensive. I think people not so in the know probably suffer some serious sticker shock when they see a 'pair of speakers' that are two-ways with a 10 inch woofer selling for $5-6K - not taking into account that it's actually a pair of monitors, amps and cables...

Genelec appears to have assumed that their true market would know and understand the application of their product. And it certainly seems to have worked for them over the years. The 1030 and 1031s quickly became the replacement defacto standard 'you gotta have a pair of these' small reference monitors that the Yamaha NS-10Ms and Rogers LS3-5As once were. Or, showing my age a bit, the not so small JBL 4311Bs.

In summary, I think the audiophile community simply got left out of the loop. And those in the community that found there way in front of a pair of Genelecs, etc. either got it, and became small footprint advocates, or didn't get it (or want to get it) and shunned the brand/concept as either 'too clinical' or elitist (ironic when you look at stuff like Wilsons, IRSs, and Plasmatronics (age again), etc.) Either way, the whole conversation above about the "nice", tinker, and social factors notwithstanding, they found themselves somewhere outside of the seemingly exclusive club of high-end pro audio, preferring to stay in the world of extremes in application, wild theory, debate, and aesthetic design.

To go on and just be wordy as heck again (I really have to get a grip on this run-on thing...)
In more recent years, Genelec did start to realize they were missing a whole market that could be a great source of revenue for them. They started selling 'Home Theater Packages' and even have in-wall speakers now. They seemed to me to market in the high-end demo's but never really explained their mission or concept, or research the target segment they were shooting for - so few fish bit. Think back to IBM's big mainframe days applying their existing marketing dept. to sell PC platform products... (read OS/2.)
So that untapped market remains mostly untapped still by continued in-the-box thinking / marketing strategy.
To argue the contrary, some friend of my next door neighbor apparently has an 8000 sqft home with dedicated theater, etc. etc. and supposedly, his whole house is like a Genelec theme park (along with Crestron Pro and others.) So evidently there's at least one HT/SmartHome design/construction company in the area that is placing the stuff.

I've gone on so much now, I don't even know - did I answer your implied question?
:-) or :-( if you're tired of my blather...

Peace!
C

Chuck,

What you say makes sense and matches my observations too. Active designs are a hard sell outside the pro world or outside of cheapo computer satellite speakers. People just don't understand the tremendous advantages in separating the audioband and reducing IMD distortion from hard to drive bass frequencies. Since a lot of the practices are based on long standing tradition it will take time to change.

The PF reference is to David Gilmour's Astoria studio and to James Guthrie's Tahoe Studio...if you read Sounds on Sound or Mix magazine then I am sure you can get info on the speakers they use...even a google will probably find these details.

The PMC AML1 and the larger three ways are fully active and not just "activated". The ATC active amps do let the side down a bit. The bryston amps and crossovers however do not and the PMCs are a much better bet because of it. Though they are much more expensive. I have the PMC MB2-XBD-Active.

Part of the reason that audiophil community does not aware of the benefits of active studio monitors that profirms are offering far less retail margin to their dealers as it is accustomed in the high end retail sector, at least this is my experience. High end retailers stuck to sell high-end priced boutique components with huge margin to make their living - which is, I think, a far act on their behalf.
There are so many high priced and highly coloured systems, which are providing nice, musical, wet, technicolor, etc sound. I think part of the problem, that very few people actually goes to concerts, and even more, that they accept the fact that at home impossible to reproduce accurate sound of live event-so they go for one coloration among many compromises.
What is fantastic in studio equipments, that they really designed to produce accurate sound as much as possible. I have a studio monitor, designed in the late seventies. It is so closer the sound of "raw" concert ( and I listen almost exclusively classical music) than the nice, polite,musical sound of my earlier more expensive system with audophile spekaers, amplifiers and bunch of highly expensive cables. Even my friends, who come to listen to blues and rock music are amezed that my relatively inexpensive system could provide such a dynamic and powerful sound with body and warm without giving compromise to transient speed. That is mostly due to the combination of three way model (including 30cm woofers) actively driven by 3 inbuilt amplifiers. There are many good solution around, but I think, the best and most effective way is to have active monitors.