Powered speakers show audiophiles are confused


17 of 23 speakers in my studio and home theater systems are internally powered. My studio system is all Genelec and sounds very accurate. I know the best new concert and studio speakers are internally powered there are great technical reasons to design a speaker and an amp synergistically, this concept is much more important to sound quality than the vibration systems we often buy. How can an audiophile justify a vibration system of any sort with this in mind.

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@mijostyn - seems like you are into woodworking as much as hifi. The only similarity between my system and yours is the Ekornes chair I have. I had one since 2005 that was just replaced with an identical one last year. Hard to believe there have been no changes is all that time. I still have the old one that I'll give to my son when he can move for less than the value of the chair. Only reason I replaced it was because I cleaned it too aggressively and wore out a small patch of leather near where my head sat and I didn't like the fabric I had custom made to fit over the top part.

I didn't realize you were that into digital. What % of the time do you estimate you listen to vinyl vs. digital, and do you still like vinyl better (assuming you have a decent pressing of the title)?

Lastly, I only disagree with one of your statements....perfection is defined as 100%. You can't move the dial. If you want to say perfection is greater that that, it is still a fixed number, like a weighted GPA taking AP classes into account. It's like that skit saying to turn the amp up to 11, and why does it only go up to 10. However you slice it, perfection is perfection, max is max.

mijostyn Thank you for the piano recording notes, I'll listen to them with nothing else going on, the house quiet, my wife sleeping, my mind at ease, no caffeine and my tubes warmed up. 

How do you feel about my point about my piano making sound from the hammers hitting the strings and speakers using electricity and vibrating cones. This piano has changed my view of what Hi Fi is because it's real and when you hear real in a room that was designed for the instrument it's not like a recording. 
mijostyn Also, I've only done sound all my life and I've come across an interesting thing. People that are really good at it are into other things like your woodwork, many of my friends and the people that I look up to in the industry strangely enough cook, or do something else that is creative and practical. I don't have any other talents I try to play saxophone but I'm simply not as gifted as a real player.
Thank you for telling your story.

If I had tools and skills I would be all over making room treatments and maple isolation racks. You can flip them on etsy, lots of stuff there, some nice, come meh:

 

 

kota1 Ya know rooms are weird concerning acoustics, the best studios I've been in have sounded really strange definitely not the dark room with perfect RT-60 dissipation, smooth reverb. One of the very frustrating parts of acoustics to me is that acoustics are probably still more art than technology and computer algorithms, it's frustrating to me because I used to work in that industry using all the tech I could think of.

 

Here's how to set up a room with regard to acoustics, hire a person with a lot of time and experience in small room acoustics and let him/her walk around clap and  talk about the music you like while walking around for a while then do exactly what he says. it's very likely a computer program will not agree with the acousticians notes. 

Look at it this way my beloved Steinway "B" grand piano is the definition of a phase problem the lid bounces the sound from the hammers hitting the strings, you get the direct sound then the bounced sound later from the lid = phase problem. But no that's how pianos sound, unless you take off the lid. Acoustics is an art not a science. Flat rooms sound awful.