The disappearance of the traditional amplifier

Some of us actually can hear, Bob.

I've significantly downgraded my system (cost-wise) while improving sonic quality also.

It's interesting you turned this into a cost issue since that isn't what it's about.

OTOH, field coils are making a huge comeback right now. Active speakers are not likely to see innovations like that since they are closed systems.

Historically, the vast majority of field coil speakers were indeed used in "closed" systems . . . such as radios, instrument amplifiers, organs and Leslie cabinets, etc. etc. This had the added advantage of the amplifier being able to use the field coil as a power-supply choke - effectively working to reduce the cost of two parts (choke and speaker magnet).

The main push for the adoption of permanent-magnet speakers came after World War II, with the demand for larger separate speakers for movie theaters and music production - many the very earliest examples of these at first had separate field-coil power supplies. The introduction of Alnico V as a magnetic material (itself developed during WWII) was the main reason that field-coil speakers were abandoned.

But as always . . . audiophiles have very fickle preferances, and while some may find it interesting and comforting to experiment continually with the amp/loudspeaker relationship, it seems to me that a significant number of posts here on the Audiogon forums is by people who are asking advice on trying to get this right -- maybe some of them would enjoy a product where this was already done for them as part of the product engineering.

Kirkus, can you elaborate on your opinion of the current Genelec's?

I happen to use the small 8020's (with a sub) in my video editing system, but often listen to music through them in the nearfield.

While nothing like the performance I get with my tube based audio system
I found them to be better than my previous very high quality passive mini monitors, I felt due to the Genelec's sculpted cabinet and waveguide tweeter.

I don't think that Genelec makes a bad speaker . . . it's just that as far as I can tell, the way they (and their knock-offs) implement the waveguide around a direct-radiating driver does not make really make it a constant-directivity system. Rather, it seems to simply to reduce the effects of the cabinet edge diffraction on the directivity. These are my rather informal observations based on hearing them in a decent handfull of studio control rooms, and measuring their response in two.

And while their idiosyncracies aren't really all that different from most direct-radiating studio monitors, Genelec specifically touts these features as making their monitors less sensitive to control-room acoustics and speaker placement, which I don't think holds up in practice. They also freely recommend most of their two-way nearfields and three-way mid-fields for horizontal configurations, which severely compromises the performance of virtually all speakers of this type. The result is that it's quite common to see Genelecs in a studio that give a very poor rendition of what the mix sounds like anywhere else.

I will concede that I do have some fairly strong opinions about both the environment and methodology of studio recording, and I feel that a true constant-directivity monitor (like the old JBL 4435) soffit-mounted in a competently-designed control room is the most neutral, consistent representation of what's actually on the master tape. Having a pair of good nearfields (NOT NS-10s) is a nice second perspective.

For a small home studio, relying solely on nearfields is frequently the only option, and the Genelecs aren't a bad choice . . . though I would personally prefer a pair of Meyers or ATCs. The main advice I would offer is to orient the monitors vertically, and keep your monitoring SPL as low as you're comfortable with. Also, pay close attention to your impressions when you take your mix to other systems, and adjust the monitor placement to get consistency between what you observe both inside and outside your studio.

Kirkus, you and I have similar ideas about monitors in studios. I use the High Emotion Audio S7- clearly the most revealing and neutral monitor to come along in a long time.

Regarding field coils, while the prior art was indeed integrated into cabinetry to reduce the power supply costs, modern FC systems usually have a regulated supply of their own. There are high excursion units now, beryllium-dome compression drivers and the like that simply did not exist 60 years ago. My understanding was the industry abandoned the art for the less expensive (and lessor performing) permanent magnet systems.

The reason I brought this up is that field coils are a rising star in high end audio right now and are an example of how having a closed system of amp and speaker will limit the ability of the end user to upgrade the system. If you recall the old powered Acoustats, the issue is similar- if you want a speaker that can play louder, or one that is **actually** full range (plays bass), or so on and so on, you have to change both the amp and speaker at the same time to get there.

Integrated systems have their place, especially when space is limited, but by definition they will never be state-of-the-art.