Passive vs Active...Again!
My wife and I have made the rounds and have listened to numerous speakers now, not as many as we'd like, but as many as we could within a 3-hour drive. We liked some both active and passive, but it seems most of the active speakers we saw are not that pleasing to the eye (eg: Genelecs).
Not having a dedicated listening room, our room itself is a big problem. We have lots of hard surfaces to deal with.
If we go with passive speakers and the associated gear to go with it, we will need to spend a whole bunch of money on acoustic treatments.
We have a ton of artwork as well and with already limited wall space, we would rather look at the art than a bunch of sound-absorbing panels.
So here's my question: Will active speakers, that may come in cheaper, with room correction software (DSP) be able to tame the sound to a pleasing level in my lively room, or do I go with passives and break out the Rockwool!
Just a side note, I had some Martin Logan Spires in a very similar style room, that was much larger with little acoustic treatments and they sounded pretty good. But in this house I don't have the room to pull the speakers 3 feet of the back wall.
I know there is no perfect answer here, but appreciate any feedback, thanks.
Active Systems like Passive Systems are imperfect ... A ' Passive System ' would be less expensive - generally - than a high tech Active System and DSP will not resolve all room issues. As for the walls 2D and 3D Diffusors could be integrated with a Modern Theme. A ' Cloud ' absorber and treatment around the L / R - Mains is a very effective minimal outlay for treatment. Integrating all the components into a room should give an aesthetic flair with sound being no less important. As @david_ten pointed out - re-thinking goals and priorities can be helpful. |
russ69 +1 now that's funny! :-) |
david_ten & rego - "re-thinking goals and priorities can be helpful"Great advice, thank you both! |
@high-amp You might want to look at a set of Swarm subs from Audiokinesis. They will allow you to get the bass right without room treatment or DSP. This is because they can break up standing waves that you would otherwise have with only 2 speakers that can make bass. Standing waves can cause a lack of bass at the listening position. The Swarms are designed to be as close to the wall as possible! Because of the increase you get inside the room boundary effect, Duke designed the speakers to roll off against that increase, resulting in a small sub flat to 20Hz. The ear tends to equalize according to what frequencies are present. If there is no bass the ear will cause that to tilt to the high end. So if you get the bass right the highs will be more relaxed. The upside of this is you can work with a much smaller speaker setup for your mains and they can be passive or active. |
