Why are we so passive?

Flrnlamb, Most of the crossoverless types available are full range single driver type systems.. Using like Lowther, and Fostex drivers for example.. To get extreme lows or highs some systems will keep the important midband which is mostly the meat of the music and where most find music to fall apart or be its harshest or not detailed enough, and then simply add an active subwoofer, or even Tweeters to extend the range out further from the top or bottom.

has anyone mentioned price? owning a nice amp and being able to upgrade spkrs w/o having to replace amp is a waste of $$. it does not make sense to re-purchase amp everytime you want to change out spkrs. as noted above, tubes in a spkr cabinet is a heckuva challenge as well

Veroman
has anyone mentioned price? owning a nice amp and being able to upgrade spkrs w/o having to replace amp is a waste of $$."

Not sure, the statement seems like it is cancelling itself out..

But anyway, Active Tube speaker systems is fine, you put the amps on the rack, not in the speakers, again the reason some are very confused it seems.. You could turn any speaker you wish to be an active speaker if you wanted, you would have to get in them, disconnect the Passive crossovers completely and run direct to the drivers, and then of course have an electronic crossover capable of all the settings you would need in front of the amps.. Again this would not be a conventional or simple way, and is not necessarily the most cost effective, however can be done...

maybe i am unclear on precise definition of term 'active speaker' in regards to OP. i asumed active was describing speaker with amp built in. if so, i meant to say that if one wanted to upgrade speakers one would have to purchase an entirely differnt built in amp as well which would increase overall cost. is it just me who has this confusion as i see that some are defining the term differently. i see marketing that uses 'active speaker'to mean speaker 'with built in power supply'. ala 'active subwoofer'. i think this term may be used in different contexts to mean different things?.

Are you confusing the issue? Active speakers have amplifiers and active subwoofers do, too.

Kal