A hard look at the effect of cables

I am just curious, if multiamplification is such an obvious advantage, why don't I hear more on this site about Meridian speakers? Specific execution by that brand, or not as great in general practice as in theory? Or is it marketing psychology - being hard for folks to drop the big bucks on two speakers and some wire instead of boxes and boxes of gear from different manufacturers, each with their own individually smaller price tags, but adding up in the end to the same or greater cost? Or, if everybody owned Meridian products, what would there be to talk about on the gear side of the hobby when the manufacturer has done nearly ALL of the fooling around for us? Just wondering.

Hi Greg, beyond 1MHz; I think that's the next 'new' thing we'll be learning.
High bandwidth good.

Ps: Actually there are a few manufacturers who offer wide-bandwidth amplification devices. Amazongly, there has been little marketing bull about this, so as you imply "however much the marketing bull* there's always room left for more".
Watch out for the next big thing in audio: GHz reproduction!

if multiamplification is such an obvious advantage, why don't I hear more ..... Just wondering.

Knownothing,

I think you have nearly answered your own question...a lot of it is established marketing psychology whilst some of it is historical in origin. The High-end audio industry is more akin to the fashion clothing market than pure engineering. Industrial design is an important aspect of most products and may often determine their success - after all these things sit in people's homes.

There is also a "value network" established between individual component makers that can be "matched" by the consumer/dealer to create unique combinations. You are obviously unlikely to hear an amp manufacturer or a passive speaker maker endorse Active designs, as this is promoting a competitor's product...and currently there are far far more individual component makers than there are "Meridians".

The reality is that individuality is also extremely important to high end customers and the existing approach allows for mix and match for clients, just like women's clothing: women dread the thought of turning up to a ball wearing the same gown! Funnily enough, men are comfortable in these situations wearing identical tuxedos....not so, however, for audio!!! The value network is similar to Apple iPod success...the accessories market is a big part of why it is attractive to sell iPods...people keep coming back for incremental purchases.

Active designs have had somewhat greater success in professional circles where transparency and how a mix/master translates is more important, but it has been far from a cakewalk; studios also like to differentiate from each other - a kind of gear arms race - my gear is better than yours - it can't be better if it is the same - so most often "custom" designs are made, even with active speakers. However, in this market there is a greater need for engineered accuracy to help remove a little of the guess work when an audio engineer works in one studio or another (often with a new combination of gear). Although an alternative, still popular, is for studios to simply stock or rent dozens of various reputed speakers (all diffeent sounding) simply to allow clients to hook up what they are already familiar with for near field monitoring.

As for the "obvious advantages" of Active Speakers...yes, purely from an engineering perspective, the advantages are indeed quite obvious.....but most people regard integrated multi-amped active speaker designs as too narrow a "straight jacket", restricting the freedom to mix and match for sound, which is the main reason many people pursue this hobby - it is one of collecting, experiencing and trading...and dare I say it fashion too!

Is it really that difficult for a cable to carry a full range signal? I don't know much, but this is the first I"ve heard of this.

Also, I've heard substantial, significant changes with new cables (speaker and interconnect, but not power cables so much) with what I think is pretty high end gear that is well matched (check my system). Cable changes have almost always made a bigger impact on the sound in my system than changes in digital front end gear.

Power cords haven't though, and that, I still don't understand why. I keep seeing and hearing how this PC sounds like this, or that, and I can't hear any difference. I've still gone ahead and tried different highly rated cords, and am keeping them, but they just haven't panned out the way speaker or interconnect cables have.

Guess I have a wacked pair of ears...