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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
brewmasterdon
68 posts
 

There are some great new/refined technologies coming in early 2021 that will be game changing for active speakers/speaker manufacturers, however I have little faith that the audiophile community will be willing to except or adopt them. Fortunately for me there are millions of music lovers around the world that actually buy audio equipment because it sounds great and don't get all hung up on details that continue to hamper audiophiles and their ability to further enhance they're own musical enjoyment because of pre-conceived ideals & perceptions. Personally, I wish the OP luck, I don't have the energy and will spend little of my time trying sell to a dying population segment who are not willing to accept that new technology can be superior.


Cheers

xboom
24 posts
 
Active speakers can sound really good.
Many yrs ago, I was scouting for a pair of new speakers and tested many brands and models. Finally settled for a Yamaha HS80 (about USD500/pr). At lower volume, it sounded as good as Harbeth LS5 with separate pre and power combo, same music used. I kid you not!

This yr, I feel that the HS80 is not giving me the dynamics slam as I crank up the volume due to the limiter feedback protection circuit. So I researched a bit and bought a pair of Neumann KH310A speakers. Cost about 7x more but the immediate dynamics and sound stage and clarity are better. This speakers sound more like USD12000 speakers, and I can crank up louder before limiter circuit restrictions kicks in.
What makes these active speakers sound better is a power regenerator. I had a PS Audio but it blew. Now I’m using a UPS that can regenerate pure sine wave to power my gears. Works just as good, believe it or not. Make sure it is really pure sine wave and not sine wave simulated. The sound produce by AB amp speakers with the power regen sound like class A amp to my ears. It is really good, dark backgrounds, separation, soundstage, a bit of warmth, etc are all there.
So my suggestion is, keep the ears and mind open. Active speakers, especially the studio monitoring ones, can sound very good too. ATC, Genelec, PMC, HEDD, etc make very good studio speakers that are also suitable for hifi listening at a more affordable price, that otherwise needs tens of thousands of dollars.
BTW, I use a Macintosh C47 to run the speakers. A computer (for hi rez music), a AudioLab 6000CDT transport and a turntable are plugged into it. But the phono stage of the Mac I find only so-so, I prefer YBA, that phono was much better.
danvignau's avatar
danvignau
935 posts
 
B&W had an active speaker based on their DM 14/1400, the Active 1.  It sounded a bit better than my Phase Linear 400 on my stacked 14's and 1400's, but newer amps are better.  Currently, B&W has the 25 year old actual Nautilus four way speakers (not the numbered ones) still available.  It is functionally an active system (requiring eight channels of 350 wpc) because the B&W supplied crossover is between the preamps and amps.  I have not heard anything that I would swear sounds better.  I do believe this works better than speaker crossovers, and is noticeably more efficient.
invalid
1,185 posts
 
I like the idea of active speakers with the amplifiers and active crossover not inside the speaker enclosure, it seems like a better idea because you could isolate the vibrations better. A passive crossover can also be used in a line level position.
brxl
21 posts
 
I am using the el-cheapo Behringer DCX and DEQ (and cannot report any sonic inferiority, there is even a firmware patch for the audiophiles ;-) and since I wanted to toss some extra money at the task , the dbx venu360. 

Reason...I am constantly building speakers, no need for it, just pure ideas and fun.

Passive crossover do cost money if you want quality and higher order.

While that is offset by the need for 2nd and xrd amp once you have it (active xover and enough amps) it can't be beaten for flexibility. E.g. how is dialling back mid- level versus soldering in resistors? Or switching to a different xover type or order with a couple clicks vs. a lot of different value parts to be soldered/switched out? Same for time alignment, phase inversion at xover (actually that one is damn easy, but still soldering)..the list of plus(es) is long. 

Try to grab your input in the digital domain (CD dig out, SPDIF or AES/EBU from devices like the Raspberry pi). It works with sampling analogue, but I cannot see a benefit.

Cheers
brxl
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