Speaker of the year over at Twittering Machines.
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.
I have two amps (one 50w and one 125w) for 175 watts total per speaker. In essence each DRIVER has its own monoblock. Times 13 active speakers = 2,275 watts. There is no way it would have been practical to fit the individual amps (even if I didn’t use a monoblock for each speaker) in my room. Another benefit of active. Now, Anthem is Paradigms partner. Their 5 channel amp costs $3799. I would have needed 3 of them if I used one channel per speaker. I would have to use two channels per speaker to biamp, that means 26 channels or roughly FIVE of those amps X $3799 comes to around $19K. I am not even going to figure out what the speaker wire would cost, but it would be a lot. Another benefit of active.👍 |
I prefer and prioritize having just a left and right front channel with 2-way main speakers + 2 subs. That equates into 6 amp channels from 3 stereo amps with each channel dedicated and directly connected to its specific driver section and just short of 3kW in total per L/R channel (no different from what could, in principle, be done in a bundled solution, except for the need of subs). Sensitivity range from 97 to 111dB’s. Main speakers of my specific choosing, with no restrictions wrt. their size and segment. Subs of my choosing, DIY at that being 20cf. tapped horns aren’t readily available other than from Danley Sound Labs, let alone any domestic MFR. Amps of my choosing, with a pure class A ditto from ~600Hz on up and more prodigious power from class TD and A/B variants on down. Everything measured and tuned to my specific surroundings and sonic preferences. That’s the benefit of an outboard configured active setup, and something a bundled solution (from what’s practically available, certainly in the "hi-fi" realm), no matter how good, can’t replicate. |
@phusis , It seems like we are pretty much on the same page. |