A thought that could improve the acceptance of active speakers

[sigbergaudio]

Hi! For a 2 (or presumably 3 if we add a center) channels, you are absolutely correct. It’s really the surround/immersive sound environment where things become more difficult.

Appreciate the thoughts and civil discourse folks!

Yep. And it's fully possible to have active LCR and then the rest passive. Best of both worlds.

 

[sigbergaudio]

There is a significant switch towards actives. Wireless speakers are also actives. Multichannel above 5.1 is still complicated, but in many houses it's not uncommon to have electrical sockets in the 4 corners of the room.

I'm happy to hear there is a significant switch towards actives, since that is what we make.
Yes the newer the home the more sockets, at least here in Europe. And some bigger system people already have like four powered subwoofers spread across the room, so they need sockets for that.

 

[Steve81]

Yep. And it's fully possible to have active LCR and then the rest passive. Best of both worlds.

Excellent point! Personally I’m satisfied with good 2 channel audio (with adequate low end reinforcement of course). I leave immersive audio to the theater.

 

[Snoopy]

Active speakers are absolutely going to be the future. But looking at a nice amplifier that's something else too.

Or we might as well go a step further and integrate Atmos Setups into the walls and ceiling. Absolutely invisible. It would match the mostly empty rooms that people seem to like these days

Matching to that LGs new TVs with wireless video streaming where you don't even need hdmi etc anymore.

Furniture? Minimalism... Everything goes to the wall.

Let's go one step further. Apple's new 3D headset with some fancy audiophile headphones with a 7.1 mixer plugin

I'm all for active/class D and streaming but there will always be room for the old school stuff.

I see turntable setups with build-in streamers with active speakers that come with room correction as a real possibility..

 

[Palladium]

I'm all for cutting cable clutter, but Hi-Fi speakers of all sorts simply isn't a big market in the grand scheme of things.

 

[MCH]

My only problem with active speakers is when they are too big and become a hassle and expensive to ship to repair if needed. Solution: electronics easy to pull out by user. Is it possible? Does it already exist? I don't know.

 

[Steve81]

I'm all for cutting cable clutter, but Hi-Fi speakers of all sorts simply isn't a big market in the grand scheme of things.

It’s not. I’m imagining that it could begin on the high end where people are willing to pay for the novelty, and eventually trickle to the mass market where scale would make it affordable.

 

[Steve81]

My only problem with active speakers is when they are too big and become a hassle and expensive to ship to repair if needed. Solution: electronics easy to pull out by user. Is it possible? Does it already exist? I don't know.

We have hot swap components on servers, just as an example.

 

[Snoopy]

My only problem with active speakers is when they are too big and become a hassle and expensive to ship to repair if needed. Solution: electronics easy to pull out by user. Is it possible? Does it already exist? I don't know.

Absolutely a issue if you spend more money. Especially once the warranty is over and the speaker maybe not even in production anymore because there have already been several new versions.. especially if things get more difficult with master and slave speakers and room calibration where you might need a matching subwoofer etc.

And with enough channels a passive system might still be way more economical.

 

[sigbergaudio]

My only problem with active speakers is when they are too big and become a hassle and expensive to ship to repair if needed. Solution: electronics easy to pull out by user. Is it possible? Does it already exist? I don't know.

Yes it does exist. We explicitly think about this to counter this argument.

Replacing our amplifiers: 8 machine screws and cable with clip on connector. Even if you've never held a screwdriver before I'd be genuinely surprised if you managed to spend more than 5 minutes.

Replacing a driver: 6-8 machine screws and two cable connectors. No soldiering or other difficult operations.

1. You may send it in so we do it for you of course
2. You may also do it yourself without losing warranty, we will ship you replacement part(s).
3. You may also have a local shop / engineer do it if you're not comfortable doing it yourself. We will pay the cost of the replacement job, and still of course without losing warranty..

 

[TonyJZX]

i appreciate that some companies care about long term serviceability

but this is not generally the norm.. for sub $500 units from m-audio or edifier just about any of the stuff that's reviewed here, inc. big names like JBL KRK etc. I dont think serviceabiity is a thing.

I would go further to say that any returns under warranty are swapped out... and the faulty ones largely... landfilled???

also:

4430A - Genelec.com

Looking for exceptional sound over IP? The 4430A offers power, audio and loudspeaker management via a single standard CAT cable, delivering unrivalled flexibility, cost-effectiveness and simplicity of installation.

www.genelec.com

this is the only model i know.... i dont think they are even that expensive for the unique tech you get (ie. $1,000)

i'd love to see something from someone else

 

[sigbergaudio]

Here in Norway we have a forced 5 year warranty on electronics. The vendor/manufacturer can claim it's only 2 years, but as long as it's a product that one would expect to last longer (which is almost all electronics), you're forced to accept returns and fix it by law.

I'm not sure if the consequence of this is that the poor quality stuff simply isn't imported to Norway, but my general impression is that the failure of electronics (in general) is exaggerated. I can't remember a single audio related electronics device failing on me in the last 25-30 years, and very few other electronic appliances as well. I can remember a washing machine dying after like 12 years. I have logitech active speakers originally bought for my computer that I'm sure has to be at least 15 years maybe 20, still going strong in my sons room. And they were like 100USD.

Not saying stuff never breaks, sometimes you get a bad unit. But you have regular threads on this forum and others implying you're lucky for active speakers to survive a few years and then you just have to throw them away. I don't believe that to be true at all. It's closer to the opposite. If solid state electronics like amps survive past the first few years (so not dying from poor assembly or heat issues), they often last basically forever.

 

[mhardy6647]

For the back to the land types -- a wind-up generator (like those little emergency radios CCrane - and others - sell) might be a nice touch. One may get one's daily workout prep'ping for a session to listen to, say, Beethoven's ninth symphony, or a German opera.

Heck, we've got an 1885 Estes pump organ in the church building our congregation uses in the summertime.


One may see the foot pedals in the photo above.

And when one really wants to rock 'n' roll, a sturdy assistant can pump 'er by hand.



If anyone wishes to hear the ol' girl in action, I made a little video at the rededication after it was restored in 2017. Click on the image below to watch the video on Flickr.


DSC_9396 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

PS The "pipes" on the top are just for looks -- like parsley.

Wait -- what was this thread about?
oh, yeah -- power.

 

[Littletycoon]

It’s not. I’m imagining that it could begin on the high end where people are willing to pay for the novelty, and eventually trickle to the mass market where scale would make it affordable.

It begins on the lower end of the market, think sound bars, wireless one box speakers, then moving on to a bit more sophisticated, think sonos, kef wireless, bw formation, wisa enabled speakers. It currently is still slow at the "audiophile high end" (whatever that may be) that consumer group holding more back (focussing more on the potential drawbacks). But that's only a matter of time as technology progresses.

Studios seem to be vast majority active, so if its good for them its good for me

 

[ozzy9832001]

Both of my sets of speakers are active. Just easier that way. Less wiring, less interfaces, less likely to have some sort of compatibility problem.

They'll always be a market for the passive and active sides of things. I think active will become more popular as time goes on because people want simple.

 

[krabapple]

I'd rather prefer just a power cord and use wireless transfer of audio data. This would make a multichannel system much easier to install.

I get it, but it's not really reducing the number of physical connectors compared to old school multichannel, is it?


Old school 5.0 system: 1 power cord to source, 5 output wires to speakers. (add 1 power cord and 1 wire if using subwoofer, though AFAIK wireless subs do exist)

conventional powered 5.0: 1 power cord to source, 5 power cords to speakers, 5 output wires to speakers

wireless powered 5.0 : 1 power cord to source, 5 power cords to speakers

What we need are directed energy beams to supply power to target devices.

 

[Deleted member 21219]

Right now, I have separates. In a pinch, if anything craps out, I can go to the Pro Shop two miles away and replace it.
If you make an active speaker that allows me to do the same thing .... and I don't really care how you do it .... then active speakers will be acceptable to me.

Until then ..... nope.

Jim

 

[LTig]

I get it, but it's not really reducing the number of physical connectors compared to old school multichannel, is it?


Old school 5.0 system: 1 power cord to source, 5 output wires to speakers. (add 1 power cord and 1 wire if using subwoofer, though AFAIK wireless subs do exist)

Here I must install the output cables from the source to each speaker, which is a major hassle for surround speakers in a multichannel system.

[..]
wireless powered 5.0 : 1 power cord to source, 5 power cords to speakers

Here I just connect each speaker to the nearest power outlet. In my rented flat this is much more convenient as I have enough power outlets on each wall.

 

[Littletycoon]

I get it, but it's not really reducing the number of physical connectors compared to old school multichannel, is it?


Old school 5.0 system: 1 power cord to source, 5 output wires to speakers. (add 1 power cord and 1 wire if using subwoofer, though AFAIK wireless subs do exist)

conventional powered 5.0: 1 power cord to source, 5 power cords to speakers, 5 output wires to speakers

wireless powered 5.0 : 1 power cord to source, 5 power cords to speakers

What we need are directed energy beams to supply power to target devices.

You forget the amplifier inbetween (and additionally the dolby/dts decoder, but is not always (mostly not) taken care of by actives). So at worst the same amount of wires, at best half the amount of wires, with those wires being more tidy (mostly electrical sockets).

 

[Steve81]

What we need are directed energy beams to supply power to target devices.

Sounds like another use for the microwave.
Edit: not the appliance