Unfortunately most loudspeakers don't come with the option to activate.
A DIY project is probably too cumbersome/complex for most.
-
Welcome to ASR. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!
Are active speakers still worthwhile?
- Thread starter fcracer
- Start date
A DIY project is probably too cumbersome/complex for most.
I think everything that is metal is forbidden.
The cables inside the tubes* are single so a cable like Romex should not be allowed in a fixed and certified system.
Obviously I am referring to the electric current.
A signal cable, telephone, Ethernet, etc. as long as it goes through its tube alone is exactly the cable we see every day.
*
All conventional multi-way speakers have the option to activate.
It's just a question of whether the effort to do so is worth it. That, is a variable.
Factory option or DIY? I know only of few loudspeaker with factory option. for the rest, I agree.
No .
- Joined
- Jun 24, 2024
- Messages
- 2,851
- Likes
- 5,030
Yep that stuff looks the same as smurf tube, except for the different colors. Romex is definitely not to be run in any sort of conduit, you run it in free air. That's why it's easier.
There definitely can be aesthetic advantages to passives. My current setup has two passive towers but the amp is in the corner of the room, not out front. The speaker cable goes from the amp, under the floor in the basement, and appears by the speakers. So, you can see two speaker cables and nothing else in front of you. Power cable for amp, Ethernet etc is all in the corner and not easily visible due to furniture. Very clean. If I had actives there I would have two thicker power cables going to an outlet in front plus other cables depending on the active design and what sources you are connecting. Much less streamlined.
For my main living room I love the streamlined look. I am currently scoping out a second listening space and considering actives there but that will not be a space where guests will congregate so multiple power cables and source cables will not be an issue.
In Italy (read it with Translate):
Impianto elettrico: caratteristiche e normative - 100 idee per Ristrutturare
Adeguamento o sostituzione dell'impianto elettrico? Scopri le differenze e tutte le norme di sicurezza da valutare prima di ristrutturare la tua casa.
www.100ideeperristrutturare.it
- Joined
- Aug 3, 2019
- Messages
- 1,723
- Likes
- 2,707
Kali Audio offers a passive option in its new, upscale SM series monitors, but the passive versions require very specific amplifiers in order to work as intended. At the low end, Behringer offered both passive and active versions of their "Truth" line of monitors for quite a few years but no longer does that. IOW, it's a pretty nearly non-existent marketing approach nowadays. I use passives for my ambience/surround speakers (driven by chip amps via a DSP unit) because that makes cabling less of a PITA and the role of those speakers in the system is relatively undemanding.
Yes, I use ones like that in my surround system with a Marantz 7704. But the remote has up/down volume buttons so I hate using it
I admit my problem with the Devialets is their modus operandi not them being active.
DIY, of course.
Voice commands?Yes, I use ones like that in my surround system with a Marantz 7704. But the remote has up/down volume buttons so I hate using it
Yes, I use ones like that in my surround system with a Marantz 7704. But the remote has up/down volume buttons so I hate using it
I admit my problem with the Devialets is their modus operandi not them being active.
I didn't understand that. The remote to the Marantz has up/down volume buttons? What does that have to do with the speakers?
Haven’t they “about to launch” for over a year now?
For active you just need these power cords: Retail Price: $6,440.00 for 1.5 m
Absolutely nothing, but it is the reason I do not use active speakers, as I explained in my first post on the matter.I didn't understand that. The remote to the Marantz has up/down volume buttons? What does that have to do with the speakers?
The point I was, obviously badly, making back then was that for me the undoubted benefits of available active speakers are not great enough for me to change because they are not great enough, IME, to compensate for the lack of the rotary volume control on the remote control of my amp and my passive speakers which I still like.
What I was trying to say is after a certain point ergonomics trumps pure performance for me be it hifi or cars or anything else.
I have 6 active speakers in this room but only use 4 of them in the 5.1 lash up for films
the other 2 I should sell.This is interesting because they actually do tend to be a fair bit flatter response in their active forms.
(though, from what I hear sometimes the level trimpots aren't quite where they should be...)
Yup.Haven’t they “about to launch” for over a year now?
They launched in Korea quite a while so. Still new but they've been around longer than people realize from the recent reviews. And I think they existed as an acoustics company before the speakers.With modern design tools like vcad, you can pretty much get yourself within the ballpark of only needing to modify a few caps and resistors which should only be a few dollars. Once you get it, the speaker filter is set for life.
I had a very nice, albeit complicated active setup where the filtering was done in my computer. It sounded great, but my was a pain to manage. Good DSP units were just out of my budget. Sometimes a cat would walk by and knock a volume knob out of place and then I'd have to whip out the measurement mic and get everything back into place. Of course this only a DIY active problem.
My life demanded a bit of simplicity so I converted everything to passive filtering. Didn't care for the initial leap of faith buying xover components but the extensive measurement and design process resulted in a great speaker.
Not bad for first passive speaker ever if I do say so myself.
Similar threads
