active speakers ?

[Craig M.]

It does though beg the question of how these more expensive passive combinations would compare to some of the better active designs around the £2k mark, I'm thinking Quested S8r, Even Opals and the 'Rock' by Unity audio.

I had ATC SCM19s driven by the ATC SIA2-150 amp. You couldn't even begin to compare the sound to the Event Opals, in every single way you could imagine the Opals were massively better. The ATC's were the best sounding passive speakers I tried in my room, but it literally took the Opals about 5 seconds to displace them such was the enormous improvement. The AVI ADM9.1T was also better than the ATC combination in almost every regard although it was a closer run thing here - possibly due to the overall similarity in sound (in terms of balance) the improvements weren't so obvious, but they were there alright. But the AVI's are a complete system so, as they cost less than my ATC speakers by themselves, the value for money bore no comparison. I don't have any experience of sub£1500 actives.

 

[gowiththeflow]

davedotco, thanks for your considered reply.

I was thinking about a comparison in terms of absolute sound quality and suitability for a domestic environment (living room), rather than comparable price. You have mostly answered my question though.

The thought that I had running in my head, was could I use a pair of stand mounted HS8's in my living room, instead of my current passive set up and obtain a performance equal to or better than a typical passive set up consisting of speakers similar to those I listed and a suitable amp?

The Event Opals look much less "domestic friendly" than the cheaper Yamaha's. I not sure I'd want them, even if I could get them passed SWMBO.

 

[davedotco]

davedotco, thanks for your considered reply.

I was thinking about a comparison in terms of absolute sound quality and suitability for a domestic environment (living room), rather than comparable price. You have mostly answered my question though.

The thought that I had running in my head, was could I use a pair of stand mounted HS8's in my living room, instead of my current passive set up and obtain a performance equal to or better than a typical passive set up consisting of speakers similar to those I listed and a suitable amp?

The Event Opals look much less "domestic friendly" than the cheaper Yamaha's. I not sure I'd want them, even if I could get them passed SWMBO.

The answer to your question, is, 'It depends'.

As I tried to explain above, it rather depends on what you expect a good loudspeaker to do.

There is a 'culture' in hi-fi. that sort of defines how recorded music should be played back in the home, and for many people this is best described under the old term, 'musicality'. A lot of speakers make no real attempt to be 'accurate' in a technical sense but are designed to take the 'recording', which we know to be (in most cases) an artificial construct and try and present it as a real musical performance.

When this is done well, we get a fine mixture of musical properties of the performance plus some rather nice hi-fi attributes like, for example, soundstaging or high levels of detail resolution, resulting in a nice listening experience. When it is done poorly, as I think is the case much of the time, we get the hi-fi attributes but poorly done, overwarm bass, sparkly enhanced treble and an overall layer of general hi-fi-ness that obscures the music and its values.

Studio active speakers are different, they make a much greater attempt at accuracy and handle matters of bandwidth and dynamics in what I think is a far superior way. What you will get with this type of speaker is a performance that is more dynamic and immediate with a kind of presence and 'slam' that is normally the preserve of hi-end hi-fi. Some people find this kind of presence and immediacy difficult and regard it as 'fatiguing', I tend to turn that around and describe a lot of hi-fi as boring and lacking involvement. Which you prefer is of course up to you, it is pretty clear I think, where my preferences lie.

Back to specifics, the HS8 is a formidably good all round speaker for £400, but it is just a £400 speaker. Better performance is available and in my experience the quality and value for money of these speakers peak around £2-3k. At the top of this range are some serious digitally controlled actives from the likes of Genelec and PMC while more conventionl offerings, the Event Opal, Quested S8r and even my current favourite the Unity Audio Rock, are closer to £2k.

In many cases, once you start to go beyond this kind of price point, you are paying primarily for output capability and bass extension, both of which can be a liability in home use.

Apologies for the length of the reply, it is an interesting and not entirely straightforward subject.