An active electronic x/o need not necessarily contain opamps, or ic’s as well. As an example, my First Watt B4 is free of both, and it’s use in a bi-amped speaker system can make for a better product than almost all non-bi-amped speakers using speaker-level filters.
I am a former Infinity RS-1b speaker owner (high end dealer Brooks Berdans personal pair), and I consider my current Eminent Technology LFT-8b/GR Research OB/Dipole Sub speaker combo, bi-amped via the B4 (sort of---the Sub is self-powered), to be considerably better than the RS-1b, and they were the special-order Cardas-wired version. The RS-1b outboard x/o was, claims to the contrary, rather shoddy, as was the structure of the panel, ridiculous at their price. The wooden panel wing needed a brace added from its top edge to its base to keep it from swaying in the breeze---a few wood screws held the wing to the base, sort of. Ridiculous! The Emit and Emin drivers were good, but the way they were employed left something to be desired; different frequency ranges appeared at different heights, for one thing. The best part of the RS-1b was its servo-feedback bass system, each enclosure containing six 8" servo-controlled woofers. Really punchy! But the GR Research OB/Dipole Sub, also a servo-feedback bass system, with two 12" woofers mounted in an H-frame, is a whole lot better. IMO, of course!
