Are all passive speakers officially "retro"?

[Middle Earth]

Passive speakers and separates will never disappear

Usages have evolved and diversified, for sure, and that's normal.

You have now all-in-one electronics (streamer, preamp, dac ,amp) and also fully standalone active speakers with all-in-one electronics.

And more complete ones with DSP.

There is a wide consumer target for that.

But there are still many people who do not want all of these all-one-boxes because these ones :
- can get easily obsolete because of one sub piece becomes obsolete (outdated network protocol or streaming services or control application, outdated DSP, outdated amp, outdated dac,...)
- can stop working because of one sub component dead or malfunctioning (failed PSU, failed electronic, failed amp...).

One piece being outdated or broken makes the all system down.

And don't tell me that manufacturers of these all-in-one boxes will fully support and maintain these released ones for decades. This is not even possible from a industrial and manufacturing stand point.

They will provide new models and then people will have to buy new ones.

All in one boxes are representative of the consumerist era. Pretexting "easy integration" , it will force you to consume more in the long term.

While passive speakers can last multiple dozens of years. Who can say the same for PSU and amp modules??

Personally, I prefer not putting my eggs in the same basket, and have speakers apart from electronics, and have power amps apart preamps/DSP/DACs.

And selecting part/devices that suits best my needs/constraints/expectations for each domain.

And replace/upgrade a part whenever I need to.

And not even taking about "no one can excell in all domains".

But I truly understand the mass market orientation for proposing these all-in-one boxes.

Just not my thing

I am hard core on separation over integration
You can easily upgrade or replace separates
I just don’t like integration
Fortunately we can all get what we want

 

[ahofer]

The Verge's coverage of the WiiM amp release came up in my feed. I was surprised to read that it has "vintage audio hi-fi chops" since it just came out and streams over wi-fi.



Wow, okay, ignoring the assumption that there are basically no other streaming amps, this guy believes passive speakers are obviously outmoded. What pimply-faced zoomer teenager do they have writing this stuff?

Uh, hmm, it's Wes Davis, the Verge's weekend editor. He mostly covers tech and his LinkedIn resume goes back to 2007, so he is most likely within shouting distance of 40 years old. He's clearly quite aware of gadgetry in general, but also thinks passive speakers are simply old.
View attachment 329952View attachment 329953

Is he right?

If you base it on sales numbers, a casual answer is "no" based on random (but convincing) quotes about industry sales figures:



So how can an otherwise savvy guy come away with the impression that passives / separates are old-fashioned? Well, maybe he IS right. I'm 38 and out of everyone I know, I can name 2 or 3 people with any interest in separates.

It seems to me that the progression of the tech in separates/passives is proceeding as well as it ever did. But it's been discussed on this forum a lot, it's almost axiomatic that "audiophiles" are almost all old white guys. Whether or not you agree with Mr. Davis here, I can see where he gets it. The optics of the speaker separates category are those of something very "over".

This bugs me because 1) the less interest in the category, the less healthy it will be, and 2) it gives people the impression that good speakers aren't worth bothering with.

What do you think, is Wes Davis way off base, or simply echoing what is intuitive to the average reader of The Verge?

The Cambridge EVO would like a word.

 

[theREALdotnet]

During the recent Black Friday sales I got myself some Wüsthof knives and a new teak end-grain chopping board. Decidedly retro, I know, in the age of microwaves, frozen TV dinners and home delivery.

 

[kemmler3D]

One piece being outdated or broken makes the all system down.

And don't tell me that manufacturers of these all-in-one boxes will fully support and maintain these released ones for decades. This is not even possible from a industrial and manufacturing stand point.

They will provide new models and then people will have to buy new ones.

All in one boxes are representative of the consumerist era. Pretexting "easy integration" , it will force you to consume more in the long term.

While passive speakers can last multiple dozens of years. Who can say the same for PSU and amp modules??

Personally, I prefer not putting my eggs in the same basket, and have speakers apart from electronics, and have power amps apart preamps/DSP/DACs.

And selecting part/devices that suits best my needs/constraints/expectations for each domain.

And replace/upgrade a part whenever I need to.

And not even taking about "no one can excell in all domains".

I recognize and even agree with all these points, but in my situation actives were the easiest way forward because of WAF and the fact that my living room has a ton of electrical outlets everywhere, but nowhere to put external amps, really. So the reliability / failure penalty is just something I have to live with.

 

[DMill]

Passive speakers and separates will never disappear

Depends on how forward thinking we want to be. It seems like the technology now can already come close to bringing perfect fidelity (or at least audibly perfect) in a wireless, active speaker, using your smart phone as a source. And yes, I realize we may not be 100% there yet, but we are starting to get pretty darn close. That said, there will probably be many years where some are still embracing old school thinking and people who think the old way was better. Let’s use tube amps as an example, beautiful and visceral. Many believe they have an undefined quality even 50 years past their hey day. Same will most likely be true for passives IMO. I think it will be many years before passives are antiques. I’m not Nostradamis, maybe 20? With all of this said, I bought some passive speakers a year ago. Love em. I’d say buy what makes you happy and let your kids and grandkids worry about the rest of it.

 

[Galliardist]

OK. Let’s have the same conversation now about the internal combustion engine…

 

[JustJones]

How about the rotary telephone.

 

[Galliardist]

How about the rotary telephone.

Landlines?

 

[Blumlein 88]

How about the rotary telephone.

You mean like a wired telephone? Wired to carry analog signals?

 

[Blumlein 88]

OK. Let’s have the same conversation now about the internal combustion engine…

No really retro. External combustion engines.

 

[kemmler3D]

No really retro. External combustion engines.

Sure, you give up something in terms of horsepower, but you can't beat the reliability and repairability!

 

[Pearljam5000]

I think the Uber high end audiophile market will keep buying passives because they need/want a million different boxes and amps and DACs and tube rolling .
And they are "purists " they shiver at the thought of built in amps /DACs and DSP.
Like Magico M7/M9 for example that costs much more than any active and are 100% Passive .
And the low-hi hi-fi market will move mostly to actives Like KEF LS60

 

[JustJones]

Back to the future, in 110 years Audiophiles playing with passive speakers and tube amps

 

[Galliardist]

I think the Uber high end audiophile market will keep buying passives because they need/want a million different boxes and amps and DACs and tube rolling .
And they are "purists " they shiver at the thought of built in amps /DACs and DSP.
Like Magico M7/M9 for example that costs much more than any active and are 100% Passive .
And the low-hi hi-fi market will move mostly to actives Like KEF LS60

You forgot turntables, reel to reel tape decks...

I have passives. If I had to start again I would use actives with external active crossover and power amps, so my box count would increase a fair bit...

 

[mhardy6647]

I'd be the wrong person to ask to proffer an opinion on retro speakers...

 

[Emlin]

If you are going to leave that post up and tell me to lighten up about something that I truly find horrific, @amirm, please delete my account now.

 

[Galliardist]

The active crossover in 1952

In the archive of magazines mentioned earlier, I decided to try to find the earliest reference to active crossovers. By sheer good luck, the first magazine I clicked on at random contained an artic…

therationalaudiophile.wordpress.com

Guess what's retro?

 

[Pearljam5000]

The active crossover in 1952

In the archive of magazines mentioned earlier, I decided to try to find the earliest reference to active crossovers. By sheer good luck, the first magazine I clicked on at random contained an artic…

therationalaudiophile.wordpress.com

Guess what's retro?

Lol

 

[norman bates]

To be fair..............

A local pawn/jewelry store has been thin in the audio department for a few years.

I asked why, and the salesman pointed to a big bluetooth wireless speaker thing.
"That's what people are buying."

It saddens me.
But the newest klipsch amplified 8" looks really nice to me..............

Klipsch The Nines - Review & Measurements by Erin

Is that really a Klipsch speaker ? o_O Edit: Text data is up: https://www.erinsaudiocorner.com/loudspeakers/klipsch_the_nines/

www.audiosciencereview.com

may be a bit bright past 10khz though...............

 

[mhardy6647]

To be fair..............

A local pawn/jewelry store has been thin in the audio department for a few years.

I asked why, and the salesman pointed to a big bluetooth wireless speaker thing.
"That's what people are buying."

It saddens me.
But the newest klipsch amplified 8" looks really nice to me..............

Klipsch The Nines - Review & Measurements by Erin

Is that really a Klipsch speaker ? o_O Edit: Text data is up: https://www.erinsaudiocorner.com/loudspeakers/klipsch_the_nines/

www.audiosciencereview.com

may be a bit bright past 10khz though...............

Klipsch -- a bit bright?
Inconceivable.