Powered speakers show audiophiles are confused

@oddioboy , welcome to the forum. I think you articulated what I was thinking much better than I could:

"So the question is, can making an active speaker give control over system variables such that you can improve one of those 3 things in ways no separates ever could? The answer is yes. A rather resounding yes."

This is not to say passives are a resounding no, just a different approach with a different set of tradeoffs. My system started with a pair of Active 40’s which are internally biamped. Then it went to 5.1, 7.1 and then when I added wide channels for 9.1. Then when Atmos came along I figured out how to get 4 more active speakers mounted on tall stands. I never had to buy more amps, buy more racks, buy more speaker wire. I did have to buy additional power conditioners for all the outlets needed but active speakers let me grow my system just easy as buying a new speaker and it was very space and cost effective.

Now you take the benefits of active and put them in a stereo system and you are grooving. When you take 7.2.4 (or more) and put them in an atmos system it is radical. The entire room comes alive watching a movie like Dune or a ZZ Top concert. @brianlucey made a very astute observation when he said good atmos needs cohesion. A good active speaker has cohesion designed into it with the amps, drivers, crossovers and cabinet designed as one cohesive system, Multiply that same cohesion across 11+ active speakers in a carefully treated and calibrated room and it sounds incredible to my ears.

If you have time would you post your virtual system and maybe a few pics?

In the context of what I wrote passive speakers are a no. It is not a different approach, it is a handicapped approach.

Thank you for the welcome but I don't intend to engage enough here to where I would feel the need to detail out my system and post pictures. 

@oddioboy , I agree with you, do you have a link you can post to an article or reference that kind of summarizes the active and passive comparison? How did you manage to come to your conclusion? Remember, the topic of this thread is about confusion re: active. Anything you can post that would address that issue (which I also agree with) would be helpful. Thanks.

I am not here to be an encyclopedia @kota1 and looking at other topics I could post a thousand articles and it would not sway some people. I will give you a nibble. You can work from there. This is but one simplistic technique in active drive: 

https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01103598

@kota1  what does a Grammy winner have anything to do with sound quality, the Grammys are usually a joke.