"You might consider active speakers since at least one of the components (the amp) comes along for the ride.
Bob_reynolds (System | Threads | Answers | This Thread)"
Going with active speakers would almost certainly be a huge downgrade in sound quality. There's just no way around it. The OP is considering a Ayre/Vandersteen combo. What kind of amp in a powered speaker would be the equal of an Ayre V-5? No active speaker that I know of, at any price, has an amp that can even comes close to it. When you ask the question, who is the best designer of solid state amps and preamps Charles Hanson is going to be at the very top of the list. There's only a small handful of designers in the world that are in his league. Now look at the speaker. What active speaker is on par with a pair of Trio's? Again, there isn't one. Like Hanson with Ayre, Vandersteen is one of the worlds best speaker designers. Vandersteen speakers are all time and phase correct. Its not easy to design a speaker that way and I'm pretty sure there's only 2 companies left that build speakers this way. Vandersteen and Green Mountain Audio. Thiel died and the company is no longer making speakers and Meadowlark went out of business a few years back. You really can't substitute a Vandersteen with any other speaker. Powered speakers are going to come up way short in comparison to what the OP is considering.
