I Was Considering Active, Then I Watched This ...

I wouldn't worry to much this guy has no idea what he's blabbering about. The amp doesn't "rattle" around in the speaker, dsp is upgraded all the time with software. Not all active speakers have the electronics in the speaker, Genelec has been making actives for a long time and still service 20 year old speakers,  most studios use active for a reason, they're more accurate and less trouble. 

djones51

Point well taken.
There seems to be a flurry of interest in active speakers of late, especially with all the reviews of the Buchardt A400. The industry seems to be changing and people don't like change. 

ATC, Dynaudio, Dutch & Dutch 8c, Kii Audio, Focal, Genelec, PMC, Meridian, Grimm, Avantgarde, Devialet, KEF...

The difference between dinosaur audiophiles like Guttenberg and tomorrows audiophiles is that Guttenberg would take a more expensive passive ls50 setup that has more gear than a better sounding active ls50 wireless for less $ just because he put it together.  90% of people out there can and do make strong cases why the LS50W’s are better than the passive ls50’s.  

Its funny that he thinks a company that pours theIr heart and soul out to build speakers, like ATC, is then going to skimp on the amplification or that there won’t be oversight in that area.  I think that most of the time, the people actually engineering and building the speaker can pair the amplification better than you can.  Also, opposite of what Steve said, the speaker designer can put out a finished product that achieves the sound they were actually trying to achieve.

I believe that active speakers with dsp are the future.  True audiophiles are first and foremost after exceptional sound.  People who make gear a priority over sound are not tomorrows audiophiles.  Once this technology is a little more ironed out, I don’t think there will be a question as to which way things will go.


Oh, and even though MBL (my favorite that I’ve heard) doesn’t do active (yet) they make all of the front end components too. So there ya go Steve, some of the if not the most incredible speaker manufacturer actually does know about amps and dacs too.  

And about amps failing... I do agree that the original ls50w’s had a horrible app and electronics (ie amp, dac...) that weren’t the most reliable.  The dynaudio xeos that I had felt like they’d last for a long time.

How many of us are using old amps that we bought used?  I bet quite a few.

People are selling 30 year old Classe or Bryston amps...  I’ve owned at least 15 different amps, all bought used, all of them anywhere between 5-15 years old whenI bought them.  I’ve not had one fail on me.

And dacs are to the point now where improvements from here are going to be minimal.  The Schiit gungir multibit I use is 4-5 years old I believe.  
So give me a dsp speaker or even analogue and give me well built, solid, reliable electronics...



I’d take any class amplifier with any amount of dsp with electronics inside the speaker IF it sounds better... wouldn’t you?

+1 Genelec