why not use biamped studio monitors?

Very good question - I am thinking the same thing. The amps are matched to the drivers, flat frequency response, highly accurrate. It appears to me that if one wants to hear what is on the source a studio monitor is unsurpassed. Furthermore, the amps make sense - usually a higher powered amp for the low end than the high end. The specs on the tri powered speakers are phenomenal. Of course they do not look as good as typical audiophile speakers - which fit in nicely with home furnishings - but for myself I am only after the sound - if the speaker looked like a mossy rock and sounded great, I'd be happy. Hope to hear from folks who have listened to these - particularly any negatives - would be nice to have an objective reason (i.e. a specification or measurement comparison) for any negatives - not just that they are "less musical."

That's exactly what I do in my bedroom system: Tannoy AMS-12A active monitors (12" dual concentric driver, two 180 Wrms MOSFET amps and electronic crossover in each cabinet), fed by Bryston BP-26 line stage which is in turn fed by two sources (turntable's in another set-up): modified Teac VRDS-25/Lavry Black DA10 DAC and modified Sony ST-S555ES tuner. And it's all powered by a Torus RM20 isolation transformer/surge protector.

Glorious (but neutral) sound. Highly recommended, although I've only ever seen one pair of AMS-12A on the used market and I bought them.

Cheers,

Joel.

The main negative is you get what is on the source - that is the main goal of monitors - mistakes in recordings and mixing are more obvious as that it what these speakers are designed for (low distortion and high dynamic range). You can hear all kinds of detail and where bits and pieces have been spliced in a studio. An over compressed pop recording will sound harsh and unpleasant but a good recording will shine better than ever. Bass response is usually tight and detailed or "thin" and without the usual warm lush or richly harmonically distorted sound that is more prevalent in consumer designs, depending on your tastes this can be less enjoyable.

A second negative is that many of these monitors are designed for near field listening with narrow dispersion. These are not well suited to a domestic environment where you want great sound over a wide area (rather than one spot). A few are designed with wider dispersion such as the Genelec's and their 8050A model which IMHO is one of the best imaging speakers period.

Finally - studio monitors vary a lot too - just like domestic designs - so you can find lush and distorted bass heavy active studio monitors also - bass sells in five minute demos and A/B's - although this is less prevalent than in domestic audio. The problem with distortion and harmonics in the bass or "one-note bass" designs is that all tracks sound the same in the bass - even if the sound is overall a pleasant coloration in a A/B test against a "thin" or accurate sounding speaker. An easy way to identify one of these speakers is to play a variety of music and observe which speaker plays the bass with the greatest variation in response rather than which speakers "sounds nicest". There is an incredible amount of detail in the bass but it is all but inaudible on the most popular "small box big sound" speakers. (Since harmonic distortion and group delay or resonance can only be added then the best speakers add none or as little as possible and allow you to hear what was actually recorded and intended by the artist/producer/engineer).