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Is active speaker the future?

I know at least Linn and Meridian are making active speakers and they claim that it sounds much better than passive speakers. Linn and Meridian are well known for source but not well known for amp and speakers. The truly dedicated famous speaker maker like Rockport, Wilson Audio and JM labs only make passive speakers.

CD player is dying and digital source player is changing so fast. Speaker hasn’t had any fundamental change for a long time. Active speaker is not new, but will it be the future of the speaker and will we see light on/off or lcd display on most of the speaker?
yxlei
hifitime
715 posts
 
Hopefully not.
bar81
791 posts
 
They have been doing it for a while and it hasn't mattered so it is extremely unlikely.
kr4's avatar
kr4
3,680 posts
 
The market responds to demand and not necessarily to objective analysis. As is demonstrated by Hifitimes' response, most audiophiles reject active loudspeakers and, thus, the majority of speaker manufacturers accommodate that. OTOH, it is interesting to see that some, e.g., Focal and Dynaudio, do offer active speakers in their professional lines.

IMHO, audiophiles are hobbyists who like the mix/match and playing with all the variables. Active loudspeakers, regardless of their advantages, deprive them of the fun.

Kal
hifitime
715 posts
 
Besides personal component matching,one major problem would be vibration isolation.Tube and solid state amplifier components have microphonic problems from vibration.That is one reason Wilson Audio,Orpheus,along with other speaker manufacturers use isolated crossovers of some sort.
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