Powered speakers show audiophiles are confused

One issue is that all speakers (that I am aware of) designed to be driven with an off the shelf amplifier have a cross over that cannot be bypassed to directly connect to the driver. Hence any external amplifier is handicapped by the crossover.

From several pages ago @lonemountain ​​​​.  However that's not to say you may not still have some larger passives in the drive circuit of an active speaker but they are part of an integrated solution.

@phusis when I said misfired it meant mismatched. The Parasound amp is very, very transparent but it didn’t have enough mojo to let that speaker outperform. The 230 is a passive speaker and I really like it. I didn’t know how much I liked it until I paired with the Carver AV505 from the A Series (on the TAS list of 10 most significant amps of all time). This is a BIG 5 channel amp and I only used two channels. The tracking downconverter is like a carburetor, it can move power to channels as called for. OMG, the soundstage opened from wall to wall, floor to ceiling. I was in shock as they never sounded like that before. That was basically luck on my part. For around the same price of that desktop rig I could have gone with these and got room correction too:

r these:

You're making it sound as if using external amps in an active configuration, certainly in my case, is a careless and crude affair, but that's really only assuming the worst of it while promoting your own business of an inboard solution as that which harbors the best of active. 

Careless? Not at all. Crude only in a comparative sense. I don't think you are understanding the variables that are available though for active speaker implementation. I don't expect a hobby implementation to compete with a large R&D budget so don't take offense. 

@thespeakerdude , do you work in the industry? I may have missed that, really enjoy your posts, thanks.

So what’s the difference in my Protools / Genelec Dolby atmos system and my personal system, both cost just under $200k, are in the same room but 90 degrees apart. My personal system has all passive speakers except the subs 2x 3k W each and the hybrid low frequency part of the Paradigm 9hs that have a 1.4K W amp in each cabinet. The personal system has tube amps and a tube preamp which makes that system sound much more pleasing warm and gives the music or movie a much more pleasing tone, I realize I have a lot of bass but wow is it fun. The personal system is much noisier than the active system even though I’ve spent my share of money trying to find the best boutique tubes there are. The personal system has about $25k of AC power regeneration with 2x PS Audio P20s and new power circuits in my home but still there is a little noise between songs. All the speakers have beryllium high frequency and midrange drivers these from Paradigm were much less harsh than the Focal speakers I almost purchased, I’m exceptionally happy with the mid and high frequencies. The bass is finally ok with essentially 4 subs. The Genelec system sounds awful in comparison it’s not warm and fuzzy the Sub is 1.1k W I think, it’s odd looking in a round cabinet made by Genelec also. This system is not harsh in general except when music comes on that is recorded harshly this system is instantly dynamic and all over the place. The Genelec system feels like a teenager that is about to have a nervous breakdown on one song and then turn into Ella on the next song. These speakers reveal every mistake the engineer or musician made, they are more unforgiving than forgiving, They remind me of Mr. Barcus in high school english they are a very hard task master but if you work really hard they are rewarding friends. I would never want to show the distribution people my movie on this system because it would show all my shortcomings in experience and taste. When someone calls a system “revealing” that often means a justification for the expense of the system it doesn’t mean that system is exceptionally phase coherent and time aligned perfectly. Actually the more revealing a system is means the worse it sounds for a much higher percentage of music or movies that aren’t recorded or mixed to the highest standards. In other words revealing systems sound awful most often