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

@kota1 Also as far as wireless I assumed you and the man on the video were talking about transmitting the main signal vie RF or bluetooth to the speaker from the wireless transmitter that is a far different story than using a code like FM Play or a format like that using wifi for Roon of something like that is very different than sending the entire spectrum of music via a transmitter and receiver via RF. 

@thespeakerdude Were these wireless connections RF or were they a coded signal like bluetooth or the like. I can't imagine such a cheep circuit in an RF transmitter with no compression. And of course the FCC is squeezing wireless microphones into oblivion with it's huge sale of RF spectrum to large companies and outlawing people with hundreds of thousands of dollars or wireless equipment that just happens to be in the wrong block. The FCC during the last administration was very cruel to people who owned equipment like churches and performing arts buildings that needed good RF. 

but in blind tests no one can tell the difference,

That is a  dead end discussion because people buy what sounds good to them, not what won the blind test shootout. If it turns your crank fine, go get an ABX Comparator from Van Alstine and go for it.

The things I mentioned in confusion are not scientifically valid 

See the above, no one makes buying decisions based on scientifically valid. You mention beryllium tweeters, it seems that mattered "to you". Fine. It hasn't been blind tested against every other tweeter material in the world, so what?

I think there is some science behind the fact people generally prefer a smooth flat in room frequency response. You can look that one up to confirm.

 

I think you can make almost any room sound good, but not if you have already picked the speakers. Some speakers will be near impossible in some rooms. It's the science of acoustics that makes that possible. The art part is appealing to likes and dislikes.

Is an artificially generated set of reflections from additional speakers any less real than the artificial reflections in a room from 2 main speakers?

@kota1 

I know people don't buy on scientific specs but when you go into a boutique stereo store  there is pressure to appear that you enjoy the finer things in life and to validate your own confirmation bias which stereo stores and magazine marketers are very good at. The psychology of stereo buying and wine tasting are the same, think about that in stereo listening along with wine tasting blind tests don't pass the test but the built up to the psychology fallacies are easy see in retrospect.

"people generally prefer a smooth flat in room frequency response. You can look that one up to confirm." Sorry brother, one of the golden rules of acoustics and studio architecture is that no one prefers a flat room. The speaker DSPs put out a flat curve, this is very simple subtraction and addition to simply make the curve seem flat and the DSP marketing people have let most everyone to think flat is good sounding it's not. Even if there is a good article on Google that says flat it good that doesn't mean it's true, I know that they can't write anything on the internet that isn't true but it does happen some times.

@donavabdear

I know people don’t buy on scientific specs

Actually there is a group like this at ASR, not my thing but for some hobbyists its fine.

when you go into a boutique stereo store there is pressure to appear that you enjoy the finer things in life

No, it depends on the store. I recently went into a store like this to buy a replacement remote for my Marantz, the guy just gave it to me! Immediately I became a fan.

Sorry brother, one of the golden rules of acoustics and studio architecture is that no one prefers a flat room.

I am sure you have a link? I don’t want to go there in this thread but the white papers are available if you look (Toole, Olive, AES, etc).

The speaker DSPs put out a flat curve,

No, most speakers that I have seen vary.

So, after all of this conjecture do you even know what the FR in your room is?