Are Active/Powered speakers the future?

[carewser]

I believe powered/active speakers are the future as they incorporate the power amplifier and preamplifier (or integrated amplifier) all within the speaker enclosure, all they need is a source like your phone/tablet and voila! Glorious music. No more mixing and matching huge separate components, no more worrying about power/impedance requirements, no more sweating the interconnects and cables (especially if you have bluetooth). Of course resistance to such things will come from just the kind of people that inhabit this site (audiophiles) as many try to control every tiny detail in the audio chain and think that even the slightest change in that chain makes a difference but i'm not one of those people and I really don't think most people are, they will just see the convenience and hear the ever improving sound quality. I think speakers like KEF LS50 will be looked back upon as the speakers that changed the market the same way the Bose Acoustimass system popularized subwoofers to the point now where for people like me, they are a must have

What sayeth thou?

 

[aac]

Active/powered (mono) speakers are the present, not the future.

 

[MarkWinston]

Regardless what some might think, DSPs, digital crossovers and a properly paired up amp by the manufacturer will produce a more accurate sound. No need for all this external eq, you buy perfect sound straight out of the box. Imagine a Blade with dsp, digital crossover and a matching amp, buy it, run room correction and bam!

 

[Purité Audio]

That speaker/s already exist and they do produce a better sound purely through the application of intelligent engineering.
Keith

 

[jasonhanjk]

The common failure of active speakers are damaged cap or component due to overheat. There are however good engineering designs to overcome these issue.

 

[carewser]

My point was, that active/powered speakers represent a very small portion of the speaker market today but that segment will grow to the point where eventually active/powered speakers will be normal as passive speakers slowly die off

 

[Purité Audio]

Advanced digital actives allow the incorporation of features which creates more accurate reproduction, better by design.
Keith

 

[Frgirard]

I believe powered/active speakers are the future as they incorporate the power amplifier and preamplifier (or integrated amplifier) all within the speaker enclosure, all they need is a source like your phone/tablet and voila! Glorious music. No more mixing and matching huge separate components, no more worrying about power/impedance requirements, no more sweating the interconnects and cables (especially if you have bluetooth). Of course resistance to such things will come from just the kind of people that inhabit this site (audiophiles) as many try to control every tiny detail in the audio chain and think that even the slightest change in that chain makes a difference but i'm not one of those people and I really don't think most people are, they will just see the convenience and hear the ever improving sound quality. I think speakers like KEF LS50 will be looked back upon as the speakers that changed the market the same way the Bose Acoustimass system popularized subwoofers to the point now where for people like me, they are a must have

What sayeth thou?

The client will make the future. the client want manage and choice the power amp, the cable

The active crossover is the best way to build speakers with flawed transducers as Cabasse in the 80's and Neumann in the 20's.

The dsp is the best way to design a crossover with few means and sell for a high price.

I use kh420.

In my former job, we used dsp to manage the regulation of cooling equipment.

 

[Tonygeno]

The common failure of active speakers are damaged cap or component due to overheat. There are however good engineering designs to overcome these issue.

Class D amps

 

[Zensō]

My point was, that active/powered speakers represent a very small portion of the speaker market today…

Is that true? I guess it depends upon which segment of the market you’re referring to. In both the larger consumer audio market and the pro market, passive speakers are nothing more than a tiny blip.

 

[DVDdoug]

I've never been good at predicting the future but each active speaker needs a power outlet and for home theater I think most consumers will reject that, especially with the ever-growing number of channels/speakers. The subwoofer is normally active but that's one speaker and the placement isn't as critical.

 

[BrokenEnglishGuy]

what about passive speaker without crossover? bw nautilus if my memory not fail me, it have a external crossover

 

[carewser]

Is that true? I guess it depends upon which segment of the market you’re referring to. In both the larger consumer audio market and the pro market, passive speakers are nothing more than a tiny blip.

Huh? The overwhelming majority of speakers are passive. The pro market (recording studios which use active/powered studio monitors) are a tiny percentage of all speakers sold and while some manufacturers like Audioengine, Edifier, KEF, Tannoy and Kanto make both passive and active/powered speakers, active/powered speakers are still clearly the minority of all speakers sold

 

[carewser]

I've never been good at predicting the future but each active speaker needs a power outlet and for home theater I think most consumers will reject that, especially with the ever-growing number of channels/speakers. The subwoofer is normally active but that's one speaker and the placement isn't as critical.

Not sure why you think plugging in speakers will turn people away but when they see that they don't need a separate amplifier (which requires plugging in anyway) to power their speakers i'm pretty sure that alone will sell many people on the design as it saves space and money and defeats the need to match components as they are already perfectly matched. By the way, each pair of active/powered speakers only requires one power outlet as one speaker is the master and the other the slave

 

[Sancus]

Huh? The overwhelming majority of speakers are passive.

Other way around. The overwhelming majority of speaker purchases are sound bars or smart speakers/wireless bluetooth speakers. The passive speaker market is dying and the only thing keeping it going is home theatre enthusiasts, really.

 

[Zensō]

Huh? The overwhelming majority of speakers are passive. The pro market (recording studios which use active/powered studio monitors) are a tiny percentage of all speakers sold and while some manufacturers like Audioengine, Edifier, KEF, Tannoy and Kanto make both passive and active/powered speakers, active/powered speakers are still clearly the minority of all speakers sold

Sonos, Bose, KEF, plus the massive number of portable Bluetooth, soundbar, and "smart" speakers make up a large majority of the speakers sold.

 

[carewser]

Other way around. The overwhelming majority of speaker purchases are sound bars or smart speakers/wireless bluetooth speakers. The passive speaker market is dying and the only thing keeping it going is home theatre enthusiasts, really.

True, soundbar/subwoofer setups have exploded in popularity but I wasn't talking about home theater I was just talking about home audio systems

 

[LTig]

True, soundbar/subwoofer setups have exploded in popularity but I wasn't talking about home theater I was just talking about home audio systems

Young people buy BT speakers for their homes to listen to music. I tried to give my nephews a pair of active studio monitors for free and none took them because they preferred BT speakers like Sonos. And I have to admit that in a sparsely furnitured room with lots of reflecting walls a simple JBL Charge 3 positioned at the front of a bookshelf or board sounds quite nice and room filling. Better would be something like the Naim Muso.

Point is you cannot say these are not home audio systems.

 

[Zensō]

And really, when it comes down to it, neither active nor passive stereo systems are the future. Like it or not, the near future is likely to be dominated by headphones (more specifically true wireless IEMs), mono or narrow 2-channel compact portable speakers, soundbars, and various surround/spatial audio systems.

 

[Robin L]

What will drive the market is convenience, ease of use, looks. Sound doesn't really drive the market. Lots of folks use powered speakers, seems to be the default, a self contained sound producing thingy that'll buy your groceries. So, yeah, there will be broader implementation of powered speakers, they are already in an expanding market niche.