Powered speakers show audiophiles are confused

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.

@mijostyn wrote:

@phusis , I am inclined to agree entirely. The best amps I have ever heard have all been Class A at least up to a certain output. These amps can not be put into an active speaker because of the heat they generate. They are forced to use Class D amps for this reason and I have yet to hear a Class D amp I would purchase. Even Class AB amps if run hard are going to generate enough heat to make an active speaker very uncomfortable.

Indeed. My main issue of sorts is buying into the notion of the degree of which amps of bundled, active speakers are supposedly "engineered" and specifically tailored to a range of drivers and their respective sections in ways that couldn’t as well be accommodated with an outboard solution. Finding outboard amps to properly fit driver sections in an active setup is perfectly realizable, and if anything such amps are more than up for the task (to a degree even that some may call "shooting sparrows with cannons," but different persons/businesses different benchmarks), arguably in some contrast to the core aspect of "tailoring" amps to drivers in bundled solutions and what it’s mainly about here: shaving off what’s believed unnecessary and down to what is merely enough - both because you can (that is, only to a certain extent compared to an outboard config.), for reasons of keeping expenses at bay, and also due to potential thermal issues with all that implies and the amp topology used. What’s left in regards to fitting an amp section with a driver ditto can as well be handled with the careful choice of an outboard approach, with even better amps and what fits a given listener’s preferences and specific acoustics to boot.

"Activeness" can be applied to any system just by the addition of the right processor like the new DEQX units or the Trinnov Amethyst. Then you have the ultimate control over what your system is doing. The DEQX Pre8 has a full two channel 4 way crossover. It will individually control 8 amplifier channels and apply room control to all 8 channels.

Yes. However, few operate with or are aware of active configuration as an outboard solution, and so in that regard certainly quite a few audiophiles are "confused." Or, they may simply not be interested in this approach if it has any bearing to them as a possibility and option. I’m not saying it’s something one enters lightly as a plug-and-play solution, and perhaps the mere thought of that challenge or obstacle even is what keeps many from giving it a try. With my preferences in speakers I would feel restricted with the range of bundled, active speakers out there, not that there aren’t very capable offerings among them like ATC and others.