- Thread Starter
- #21
The points you're missing are why should the customer have to bother with handcrafted solutions, and why didn't the manufacturer continue to support their product beyond 10 years with replacement parts/plate amps? There are a multitude of alternative ways to solve the broken obsolete plate amp issue, and IMO the absolute easiest solution is to NEVER buy an active loudspeaker again - because I don't like being left high and dry and having to come up solutions on my own, with zero customer support from the OEM. I also don't appreciate you belittling the situation with your after-the-fact second guessing solution that doesn't solve the original points. You should feel free to do what you think is most appropriate when your active loudspeaker plate amp craps out - as it will eventually. Just don't belittle or second guess my solution(s) with your too late second guesses, and not expect my wrath in return.
BTW, one of the OEMs was a well known Harman company, and all three products were well up the product ladder for the OEMs.
You both got a point with the longtherm reability , that can be an issue in ten years . With everything inbuilt in an active speaker, including streaming options, who knows If it will work after 10 years? That issue is also true for separate digital streamers that might be obsolete in 5 years.Actives certainly have higher potential overall SQ but that doesn't always mean any particular design will take advantage of it. These paticular Kefs would seem to do that though.
There are also several downside to actives as well with the biggest (IMO) being tweeter hiss and reliability.
Hiss is usually nonexistent with any halfway decent equipment behind passives because the crossover will just eat low level noise. OTOH people lucky enough to have quiet rooms can hear hiss from even expensive active monitors.
The second is reliability. Most speaker manufacturers aren't also electronics manufacturers or software developers (Something a "lifestyle" speaker like the LS50W needs a lot of.) and it shows in their reliability and usability. Passives slowly age, but unless you over drive them, they are usually immune to sudden failure. The AIO nature of most actives also makes them a single point of failure while with passives you can have old or inexpensive backup electronics to swap in in case of failure.
Everybody will have their own personal opinions and risk tolerance but personally I wouldn't spend more than a few hundred dollars per unit on an AIO active speaker that isn't made by a company without a reputation for bulletproof reliability like Genelec or ATC. If it has external electronics I'd be more likely to take a chance on a startup or other newer entrant into the active market since a box of electronics is easier to repair or send back than a medium or large speaker.
FWIW I own both active and passive speakers - JBL 305MKII, Genelec 8010A, and Kef R3.
In passive loudspeakers the drivers can also break If there is a amplifier failure, it depends.
Anyway - having everything built inside the speakers such as Kef ls50 W is a very neat solution , and If it works as it should, a very userfriendly option to.
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