@kota1 wrote:
My bias/snobbery is that matching an amp and a speaker is a crap shoot and happens to be the most profitable strategy for manufacturers (sell you two products amp + speakers plus an additional set of cables). I think it should go away, all speakers should be designed from the ground up as an active "system", sold as a one box solution, and reduce the risk of a mismatch. ...
There’s also attempts at profitable strategies from at least some of those making active one-box solutions. Not trying to downplay the advantages of going active, but the one predominant takeaway here is removing the passive crossover between the amp and speaker. All the hoopla on "matching the individual driver to an amp channel" has gotten old long ago, and while there are ways to optimize amp-driver coupling from a holistic design point-of-view that can potentially incorporate a broader range of facets, all the while also cutting corners, most of these are pebbles next to the single big rock of getting rid of the passive crossover. Indeed, one box solutions work around compromises as well - quite a few, actually - and to my mind they’re blowing up aspects on the importance of amp-driver integration in an esoteric cloud to cover up the all-too-obvious advantage of going active, which I’ve already mentioned, while effectively also discouraging those who’d like to venture in the direction of an outboard active solution. So, from my chair your highlighting the unfortunate mismatch between passively configured speakers and the amp(s) driving them really comes down to that introduced by the passive crossover itself.
To the DIY crowd, what is your opinion of this much speaker for the money, the JBL 4305P Studio Monitor. Could Joe Sixpack do better if I sent him off to shop for speakers, amp, preamp, and a DAC with the same dough? @phusis @ghdprentice what are your thoughts?
From a same-budget perspective and a select range of sonic parameters I’d say the JBL’s as a package are tough to beat vs a passively configured "adversary." However we wouldn’t be comparing apples to apples, and so many aspects can come to the fore as a deciding factor that can’t be boiled down to bundled active vs. passive on principle alone. Moreover, the JBL’s to some, i.e.: in a particular context, may be considered an acquired taste, if nothing else by virtue of their dynamic capabilities, waveguide-loading and the use of a compression driver which as an active package may come across as a more blunt, direct/open, and (in some regards) honest presentation that truth be told isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. My personal take and not least given enough options would be favoring the bundled, active package vs. a passive ditto - in named context. Optimally though I prefer the outboard active solution.
