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.

donavabdear

@mijostyn , I don’t think I missed your point earlier, you made a rash generalization about all active speakers that I started my reply with in the previous post (in italics) and like you said, it failed.

This reply about no active speaker attaining absolute sound is interesting. What about the active line array speakers they use at live performances???

OK, I agree you can’t the absolute sound from ANY speaker using a recording,

I think you may want to check out the Avante Garde Active, Horn Loaded speaker system. They look CRAZY good and must sound even better. If you like the speakers the new amps they designed for them are just as interesting:

 

@mijostyn - I didn't know that there were true lazy-boy type recliners that are sold as Stressless by Ekornes. I thought they were all minor variations of mine that have separate ottomen. Now I get the batteries or power cord need. I guess they are more for theater type seating in a row where more than one chair with a separate ottoman would look very strange. 

@kota1 Great example, when I hear my active Genelec system it is always striking when the first note hits the transient quickness of even a soft note is odd compared to a normal system. Also in the article they mentioned current amplifiers not "class D" funny. Class D has some obvious advantages over class A but the potential for class D is higher than any other format and I think everyone would admit class D is getting better faster than any other amplifier type. 

@mijostyn I'm talking about best practices in speaker design I don't care about a speaker someone bought at Walmart. As an audiophile you want to buy the system with the best sound quality, when you consider a speaker / amp designed for each other there is no question.

Consider the question, is it better to buy an expensive speaker then power it with an amp that was not made for that speaker no matter what the cost? Clearly the answer is no. Are you saying the answer is yes? 

 

When Magnepan comes out with a powered speaker, maybe I’ll be interested.  Until then, yawn.

 

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