Why are we so passive?

{Genelec Actives} Do they compare with my Cerious Ceramic speakers and Atma-sphere OTL tube amps? No.

I bet they don't. Two very different sounds. Both are good but serve a different purpose. Active speakers are definitely not for everyone.

To Ojgalli, I believe we all missed what you asked, Ha, and its pretty funny.. To your question on are they gimmicks or marketing " NO " They are a completely different design than any Passive if they are a real active speaker, and I think it should be pointed out too, that most will think an active speaker is one with an amp built into it, much like a subwoofer.. Which is yes an active speaker, only cause it has an electronic Crossover/filter, not a passive " Inductor, Resistor, Capacitor " Network, but yes there are some passive sub's as well... A true active speaker has nothing to do with the fact the amp is internal, as a matter of fact most of the time this would be costly and worse due to the heat restrictions and vibration in a speaker cabinet..

For example a 3 way active speaker would need 3 electronic stereo crossovers, no passive, thats what makes it active, and also this would mean it must have 3 stereo channels of amplification as well opposed to one.. or like I stated a subwoofer is a single channel and is crossed over, but its not a full range speaker and would be still considered active, but only for low frequencys.

This is why its pretty expensive to do active is mostly in part to the extra channels of amplification needed for a full range speaker opposed to a sub, and the electronic crossovers all separated such as ATC's actives, which is a reason their actives are like double or 3 times I believe the cost of the passive versions ATC builds.. In a way I totally believe Actives are far better, Or sometimes even better no crossovers at all like in a single driver full range system can be even cheaper with amps just feeding an FRD directly.

So don't get confused ACTIVE SPEAKERS do not necessarily Have AMps built in only, they have much more hardware in the initial design of building Electronic crossovers that are Far less loss over a standard " Inductor, Resistor, Capacitor " Type Bread board crossover you are use to seeing built into a speaker, and Actives can have all this externally of the speaker or built in, so both ways is possible and does exist.. And its also important to remember a True Active speaker again for example a 3 way Will Have an Amplifier channel powering the tweeter by itself, the Midrange by itself, and the woofers by itself after already being processed by an Electronic Crossover to feed each one, which means you need 6 Channels of Electronic crossovers(3 stereo L & R), and 6 Channels of amplification, which should really answer your question I hope of why they are not as common, or why should they cost much more... Yes the passive Driver devices "speaker cones " and the cabinets they are built into is virtually the same, but it stops there, the processing and amplification of the speakers is completely different from a Passive speaker, if its a true active system.

Lush, Agreed, but the few moments when we occasionally break free of our earthly trappings and simply hear the music are truly glorious.

Shadorne:
Very informative post.. yeah I kind of knew all that. It just irks me, like the new cd I purchased, John Mclaughlin's "Thieves and Poets" I think(?) and there in the background are those damn Yamahas... my favorite guitarist in the whole world with those Yamahas! Now if they were NS-2000's with the beryllium domes...

gmood1? What designs out there, that you can name off the top of your head are either "crossover-less" or have a "minimal" crossover, of some sort? I for one would appreciated a list.
I used to have Sonus Faber Electa/Minima Amators, which used a very simplistic crossover, and THEY WERE VERY VERY DYNAMIC for two way monitors! Infact, it really made me notice how much more "dynamically right" and exciting speaker sound can be. Infact, my Sonus speaker STOMPED my Thiel 2.3's into the dust, dynamcally! (Only thing with those speakers was that the sound "varied", depending on how the power fluxtuated at my home. The speakers sounded decidedly better durring the day, when power was low out of the wall, and sounded kinda dull at night, when power was high!...strange.)
I, to this day, tend to look for designs that offer this approach, maybe even "no crossover" at all.
Any considerations out there would be appreciated. I like to keep up on the stuff.