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Do active speakers interest you? Also, let's talk directivity

Hey all. Don't think I've ever made a thread here. This is a super interesting community for me. I'm an audio professional, a mastering engineer and music educator. I'm someone who differs from much of the pro community, in that I don't see a difference between "pro" systems and "high-end" systems. 

There is one way they often differ, and that is in terms of directivity. Home systems are more frequently omni, while and studio or live sound requires directivity.

This was definitely the case in the 70s, back when audiophiles still had parties :D 

It's very hard to set up a directional system to fill a large room evenly unless you use a line array.

But let's be honest. Aren't we mostly sitting and listening, and hoping for a good image? We aren't expecting every spot in a big room to sound exactly the same for every guest. Personally, my social life is 95% virtual now and I am generally listening in my mastering room. I have a high end system in every room in my house, but my wife uses the living room system more than me (and she has better taste in music, so it's nice to learn about some new artists when she decides to put something on from he collection).

Anyway, I'm designing an active system. Though the cabinet is not large, with a combination of Hoge's principles and active electronics, we will achieve accurate response through to 20hz.

The reason to choose an active crossover is very obvious. Sending power directly to each driver allows us to use a very low sensitivity woofer, which thus plays much deeper than expected. We are using a ported woofer and a sealed midrange/hi cabinet, which are not sold separately. An interesting feature is the the very low-crossed ribbon tweeter carrying all of the high midrange and treble

It's an 1800w system, aimed at both the professional and home market. I'm curious, does this sound interesting to anyone? We are intending to have a prototype ready by 2022, so it is a ways off.

Part of the directivity concept is also dealing with room issues. Cancelling the rear energy of the woofers can help. I am inspired by Bruno and Merjin (whatever  his name :P). a big part of our concept has to do with advanced acoustic materials, which I don't want to discuss too much, as I don't think anyone else has thought of it or connected with that maker, yet

Curious to hear people's thoughts!
128x128mehtayoungs
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,541 posts
 
Hey mehtayoungs, you are certainly speaking my language. The group of audiophiles I grew up with 40 years age were very much into directional speakers. Klipschhorns which have been around for 60 some odd years are directional. I use dipole linear arrays which are extremely directional and yes the image I get in very nice. 
If you mean active speakers as in the amp is installed in the speaker I am not a fan as it limits your flexibility. If you mean bi or tri amped absolutely go for it. As for ported subwoofers I prefer sealed enclosures. We have excellent drivers that with a little digital EQ and some power will go flat to 20 Hz in small enclosures no problem and they keep going unlike ported enclosures which just fall off a cliff. I also hate port noise which can be obvious with certain synthesized very low notes. Please check out my system page and tell me what you think. Don't pull any punches. You might see something I missed or do not know about!
djones51
4,947 posts
 
Active generally means amp in the speaker if the speaker employs DSP there will also be AD/DA conversion. There are some that have the amps and active crossovers in a seperate box. This is why I don't think these types of speakers will appeal to very many old guys like me but I see them as the future as living spaces get smaller and people look for simplicity. This is one old guy who went active and will never look back.
twoleftears's avatar
twoleftears
5,318 posts
 
Have you looked at/heard Dutch & Dutch speakers?  They're a good example of price/performance as your competition.
djones51
4,947 posts
 
Dutch & Dutch, Kii,  GGNTKT, Grimm,  Nubert  and others. The are gaining in popularity especially in Europe. 
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,541 posts
 
The Europeans prefer more compact systems.
@djones51, aesthetically you want to limit the number of AD/DA conversions. If you stay digital up to the amps you can do all the processing including crossovers in a digital preamp and do one DA conversion just before the amps. The only kicker is that if you do vinyl you have to do an A/D conversion after the phonostage. 
I do not like my serious listening over the wireless network. It is just not reliable enough and drop outs drive me nuts. I want everything hardwired. I use Sonos units for background music. Then I do not care as much.
There are multi channel digital preamps for theater use but you can use the channels with crossover for bi or tri amping. 
Is the OP's up coming system interesting to anyone? It is not an easy sell. Complete systems have not done well in the audiophile world at least in the States. We couldn't sell Meridian systems to save our lives.
Somebody must be buying them because they are still alive. They must be popular in Europe. The are a bunch of active wireless systems out there now but they are not for serious head banging. ( The Pixie's Bosa Nova is playing now:)))
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