pippin;638883 Wrote: > Generally speaking, it's mainly size and volume/power. And quality at > low volume/dynamic range. > There are two main advancements: > > 1. You've got stronger magnets which means you can get the same Power > out of smaller speakers, they can especially be flatter. > > 2. With active speakers and class D amps you don't need passive filters > but you can have a separate amp per channel with an actively controlled > frequency response. This means you can use much smaller boxes. Also, > you've got much less losses, both of this means you need much les power > because you don't have to overbuild all your components. > > Generally speaking you were able to tune a speaker to any sound you > wanted already 15 years ago. But because passive filters are so much > more limited than active ones you had to make sure you don't have big > inequalities in frequency response of your chassis. Which means you had > to over-size them. > Same for amps. Since you want to stay away from extremes you need to > over-build an amp, this of course gets worse due to the higher losses > in the speaker and the filters. > But, because you want to stay away from extremes this hurts your low > volumes. > > As if my experience you can get similar results at a quarter of the > volume, these days.
The active speakers clearly bring some advantages but many of them (at least on the affordable end) are not my taste - LEDs, knobs, and no grilles. I wish more manufacturers (particularly those based in North America) would simply offer active and passive versions of speakers with similar aesthetics - or take the modular approach to crossovers like Linn. I almost purchased a active Linn Tukan based system when I bought the Paradigm Studio 20s I'm looking to replace. They were tiny speakers and sounded brilliant - just no real bass to speak of. -- esbrewer Server: 2.4GHz Intel iMac w/ MacOS 10.6.5, SBS 7.5.2 Sources: SB Touch, NAD C542, NAD T515 Amplification: NAD C720BEE Loudspeakers: Paradigm Studio 20 (v.1), SVS SB-12 Plus Headphones: Grado SR60, Etymotic ER4P http://www.last.fm/user/esbrewer ------------------------------------------------------------------------ esbrewer's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=12409 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=88582 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
