Why do passive speakers still exist?

[tmtomh]

I just got a new power amp for my passive speakers. I’ll be happy to consider actives for my next audio system upgrade - but am not planning on doing so for at least a few years: when it becomes unnecessary for reviewers to mention self-noise/tweeter hiss from actives because manufacturers have finally taken that issue seriously in a consistent way across brands and up and down model lines, then I’ll be much more interested in shopping for actives.

My true ideal - which I’ll probably never pursue because of cost, hassle, and relative lack of options - is passives with no crossovers, powered by external amps controlled by an active crossover.

Absent that, though, I acknowledge the technical benefits of actives but they don’t currently compel me.

 

[DSJR]

Which actives hiss again? It's the cheap beer budget bargain basement CHEAP JBL's and so on I believe!

Audiophiles (especially the audiophool version) LOVE to mess around and play with the gear on a road to nowhere - but they don't care as the music is the tool to listen to the equipment so the 'journey' is all, trying to 'hear' amps driving various passive speakers, playing with wires and so on.

Active all-in-one speakers as reviewed here, remove all this fuss and bother and one far eastern poster on a Facebook group I belong to much preferred the passive option because he could play with amps of different prices and cachet potential. The fact that this particular make of three way speakers NEEDS the active crossover to better blend the mid dome to the bass and especially tweeter (as told be sternly by the designer many years back), totally went over this chap's head and in fact the far eastern purchasers and disciples of this brand in the far east regard the fancy veneers on offer as far more important should speak volumes here I reckon. Oh, and having listening rooms more fancy than any control room I've ever seen with the gear set up almost as a shrine between the speakers themselves. If they saw how many studios appear to be in terms of wires everywhere and so on

 

[tmtomh]

Which actives hiss again? It's the cheap beer budget bargain basement CHEAP JBL's and so on I believe!

Audiophiles (especially the audiophool version) LOVE to mess around and play with the gear on a road to nowhere - but they don't care as the music is the tool to listen to the equipment so the 'journey' is all, trying to 'hear' amps driving various passive speakers, playing with wires and so on.

Active all-in-one speakers as reviewed here, remove all this fuss and bother and one far eastern poster on a Facebook group I belong to much preferred the passive option because he could play with amps of different prices and cachet potential. The fact that this particular make of three way speakers NEEDS the active crossover to better blend the mid dome to the bass and especially tweeter (as told be sternly by the designer many years back), totally went over this chap's head and in fact the far eastern purchasers and disciples of this brand in the far east regard the fancy veneers on offer as far more important should speak volumes here I reckon. Oh, and having listening rooms more fancy than any control room I've ever seen with the gear set up almost as a shrine between the speakers themselves. If they saw how many studios appear to be in terms of wires everywhere and so on

I agree it's important to be specific and not overgeneralize - but I believe it's not the case that self-noise/hiss has been an issue only in "cheep beer bargain basement" actives.

 

[richard12511]

Active speakers are often much more expensive to hook up in a home theater/multi channel music environment, which hurts their budget appeal(imo).

While a $300 pair of active speakers might generally sound a bit better than a $300 pair of passives, it's not really fair to compare the two, as the passive is generally much easier and cheaper to use. To use passive speakers, all you have to do is buy amplification, which comes free in the $200 AVR you need anyway. Actives are usually quite a bit more expensive to hook up, since they come with their own amplification.

 

[richard12511]

Which actives hiss again? It's the cheap beer budget bargain basement CHEAP JBL's and so on I believe!

All the actives I own hiss(Genelec 8030c, 8351b, JBL 308p), though some are worse than others.

 

[richard12511]

Do active have any natural performance advantage besides frequency response and bass extension? These are diminished when we have to use the speakers in real rooms and with subwoofers. So I don't see any real inherent performance reason to choose active over passive or vice-versa.

Damage protection is a big one.

 

[mhardy6647]

Exactly.

There is almost no hifi. There is consumer grade like Bose and Google and professional like Genelec and JBL.

Well, there's KEF, right?

I agree it's important to be specific and not overgeneralize

Indeed. Remember, all generalizations are false, including this one.

 

[raistlin65]

Don't know if this was mentioned, but for home theater, imagine not only have to run a wire with the audio signal, but also making sure that each speaker has access to an electrical outlet.

Passive is just easier with mulitchannel audio setups for most people.

And better WAF when you don't have two wires going to the speaker

 

[Helicopter]

Well, there's KEF, right?

That is true, along with a bunch that probably just are not ASR recommended like Klipsch, Audioengine, and so on.

I was thinking narrowly like Revel, Elac, Focal, JBL. I know there is some stuff there, but I mean MSRP $1k to $20k and designed for your living room or listening room.

 

[Helicopter]

Don't know if this was mentioned, but for home theater, imagine not only have to run a wire with the audio signal, but also making sure that each speaker has access to an electrical outlet.

Passive is just easier with mulitchannel audio setups for most people.

And better WAF when you don't have two wires going to the speaker

I was assuming that is what the comment about XLRs was about. Agree. Not to mention a roll of 16awg lampcord will get the job done for 30 bucks.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Well, there's KEF, right?

Sure but their active designs are restricted to two quite small models.

 

[Rockfella]

My analysis shows:
22% of speaker companies make active speakers.
88% of speaker companies make passive speakers.

Thanks for your relentless analysis.

 

[andreasmaaan]

IMHO, it is because there is too limited a selection of active speakers suitable for domestic application.

@Kal Rubinson I'm curious: What do you mean by "suitable for domestic application"? In terms of functionality, aesthetics, or something else?

 

[Kal Rubinson]

@Kal Rubinson I'm curious: What do you mean by "suitable for domestic application"? In terms of functionality, aesthetics, or something else?

Both. My wife does not like boxes on stands and I concur. Also, I need speakers which are compatible with a multichannel setup using file playback from my servers.

 

[StefaanE]

For the time being, active speakers, with their controls in the back panel and their XLR inputs, are mainly for engineers.
I use the Neumann KH-120 on the pre-out of my hifi amplifier, but I had to build RCA / XLR adapters myself for that.
For active speakers to become popular, they need wifi, bluetooth, RCA and mini-jack input, and a remote control to turn them on/off and set the volume, like a TV set.

That’s precisely what my Nubert X-8000RC’s have, in addition to being able to link wirelessly to form a stereo couple. With Bluetooth (Apt-X HD and AAC), 2 coax and 2 toslink S/PDIF, 2 USB (one with an ARC dongle), RCA and XLR/AES inputs, one doesn’t need a pre-amp (or DAC) anymore. Each of the 4 drivers has its own 210W amplifier, and they come with a nice remote that allows switching between the inputs, in addition to controlling the volume and the tone. To me, they sound absolutely great, and they handle amirm’s test tracks with aplomb.

 

[Chrispy]

It's not even close to the time in consumer setups for active speakers to make passives not exist outside of subs. I'm mostly invested on the passive side of things....my active subs are more numerous than active speakers, but passive speakers far outnumber the actives. Then again I wasn't particularly aware of actives for much of my audio life either....and only own one pair of active speakers I picked up a coupla years ago, altho several active subs for almost 10 years. If I were starting over today, I'd consider actives more for a 2ch setup than multich....my house doesn't have all that many outlets for one....

 

[thewas]

By the way, passive loudspeakers are nowadays in sales only dominant in the decreasing and ageing hifi/highend hobbyist scene, the average consumer nowadays buy rather bluetooth and wireless speakers as it can be by various sales charts like https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers...tronics/172563/ref=zg_bs_unv_e_3_3236453011_1

 

[raistlin65]

By the way, passive loudspeakers are nowadays in sales only dominant in the decreasing and ageing hifi/highend hobbyist scene, the average consumer nowadays buy rather bluetooth and wireless speakers as it can be by various sales charts like https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers...tronics/172563/ref=zg_bs_unv_e_3_3236453011_1

Yeah, but they also love soundbars. So I don't think you want to go there

 

[thewas]

Yeah, but they also love soundbars. So I don't think you want to go there

Yes, but this is what the current market is.
By the way soundbars can be quite well and impressive sounding like the Sennheiser Ambeo or big Yamaha YSP sound projectors who use DSP sound steering with several drivers, only then they cost four digit.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Yes, but this is what the current market is.

Yes but it is also a different market.