Going active... Am I mad?!

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matthewpiano

Well-known member
We have to get away from the drum banging when actives are mentioned and I mean the drum banging on both sides. They have to be considered as a viable option amongst other viable options and those options need to be viewed from a balanced viewpoint to help people like the OP make a decision.
 

Alec

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matthewpiano said:
We have to get away from the drum banging when actives are mentioned and I mean the drum banging on both sides. They have to be considered as a viable option amongst other viable options and those options need to be viewed from a balanced viewpoint to help people like the OP make a decision.

Not really. The OP wants powered speakers which may just so happen to be active. As it happens, this thread will now be useless to th OP as he had to get rude based on ignorance. I'm now being this way because he could have said "oh yes, right you are, thanks".
 
T

the record spot

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matthewpiano said:
We have to get away from the drum banging when actives are mentioned and I mean the drum banging on both sides. They have to be considered as a viable option amongst other viable options and those options need to be viewed from a balanced viewpoint to help people like the OP make a decision.

Couldn't agree more Matthew; it probably doesn't help that there have been two very similar threads in recent days that are pretty much saying the same thing, populated in the main by Copy-and-Paste content sourced from around the web and passed off as knowledge. The unwritten insinuation is that no matter what, actives are better and anything else is an also ran. I don't buy into that analogy.

Personally, I love actives, but I love my current setup and pretty much all of my previous ones. I can't be bothered with the evangelist approach on either side for that matter. I see the opposite of Max's take on actives on the Steve Hoffman forum with enough golden-eared guys on there and endless proclamations of the benefits of 2w SET amps and room sized speakers to make Ashley James froth at the mouth!

I've heard several actives to date; mostly Genelec, Yamaha, Roland and one or two others from KRK. The Genelecs were simply fabulous across the range. But good though they are, I never came back, sat down, switched my stereo at home on and suddenly felt I was "missing" something. Or that a "veil" had suddenly enveloped the music, or that I was being shortchanged in any way, shape or form. Not a bit of it.

So it's kind of depressing to see threads like these proliferating on the back of Max's thirst for knowledge or good natured desire for a debate. No disrespect Max, but you're better off talking to speaker designers like Ashley, AEJim, Dr. Paul Mills (Tannoy) or our latest contributor, Jack Oclee Brown from KEF. Those guys know their stuff, everyone else is just trotting out stuff they've previously mentioned or picked up off th einternet.

And beyond that? I thought John Duncan summed it up nicely - hifi companies want your money; no more, no less and they develop products that they hope will appeal to the market segment they've designed them for.

With that in mind, I'd like to thank Onkyo for developing the TX-8050. And there's a thread on that amp somewhere in here...
 
T

the record spot

Guest
Simply don't read it then. Nothing to see here, move on, move on, etc.
 

WishTree

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the record spot said:
Couldn't agree more Matthew; it probably doesn't help that there have been two very similar threads in recent days that are pretty much saying the same thing, populated in the main by Copy-and-Paste content sourced from around the web and passed off as knowledge. The unwritten insinuation is that no matter what, actives are better and anything else is an also ran. I don't buy into that analogy.

Personally, I love actives, but I love my current setup and pretty much all of my previous ones. I can't be bothered with the evangelist approach on either side for that matter. I see the opposite of Max's take on actives on the Steve Hoffman forum with enough golden-eared guys on there and endless proclamations of the benefits of 2w SET amps and room sized speakers to make Ashley James froth at the mouth!

I've heard several actives to date; mostly Genelec, Yamaha, Roland and one or two others from KRK. The Genelecs were simply fabulous across the range. But good though they are, I never came back, sat down, switched my stereo at home on and suddenly felt I was "missing" something. Or that a "veil" had suddenly enveloped the music, or that I was being shortchanged in any way, shape or form. Not a bit of it.

So it's kind of depressing to see threads like these proliferating on the back of Max's thirst for knowledge or good natured desire for a debate. No disrespect Max, but you're better off talking to speaker designers like Ashley, AEJim, Dr. Paul Mills (Tannoy) or our latest contributor, Jack Oclee Brown from KEF. Those guys know their stuff, everyone else is just trotting out stuff they've previously mentioned or picked up off th einternet.

And beyond that? I thought John Duncan summed it up nicely - hifi companies want your money; no more, no less and they develop products that they hope will appeal to the market segment they've designed them for.

:cheers:
 
A

Anonymous

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Alec said:
PLEASEMAKEITSTOPPLEASEMAKEITSTOPPLEASEMAKEITSTOP!!!!!!

As already said; dont bother reading/posting in this topic then

I'm not being rude; just blunt & straight to the point. It's the way I work and the way I find I get best results!

The post was put up to sk for advice/thoyghts; not for people to come on with active vs passive and what speakers are 'genuine' active and those that are powered. To me, with my knoweldge, they're both one & the same
 

Alec

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Nad_fanatic said:
Alec said:
PLEASEMAKEITSTOPPLEASEMAKEITSTOPPLEASEMAKEITSTOP!!!!!!

As already said; dont bother reading/posting in this topic then

I'm not being rude; just blunt & straight to the point. It's the way I work and the way I find I get best results!

The post was put up to sk for advice/thoyghts; not for people to come on with active vs passive and what speakers are 'genuine' active and those that are powered. To me, with my knoweldge, they're both one & the same

Someoen pointed out that one of the pairs of speakers you were considering are not active. In response, you were both rude and wrong. It's a bad combo. I do, however, know that many use the term wrongly interchangeably with "powered", adn thats fine unless the real definition really needs to be pointed out which, because of you and ooh, it did.
 
A

Anonymous

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John Duncan said:
Bringing this back on track... I heard the Epoz Maxis back to back with AVIs and PMC DB1-ASIIs, and I'd have bought the Epoz. Best balance of quality, enjoyability amd price.

Thank you JD; nice to see someone has heard these speakers.

Did you hear the Epoz's as a stereo set-up or as a PC/Mac set-up?

It'd be interesting to hear from those who've heard them on decent stands as a stereo set-up; my fear is that everyone will have heard them for PC/MAC music etc...

Others that have been mentioned elsewhere are Swan M@00 Mk II's and the ADAM's again (the A5X's in fact) & Focal CMS40; thoughts/opinions?
 

John Duncan

Well-known member
I heard them in the WHF test rooms on Partington stands, so a 'proper' stereo setup as opposed to a desktop config, if that's what you mean. Sources were a CD8X and, in the case of the Epoz, an iPod full of lossless, if I recall.

I can't speak for any of the others you mention, I'm afraid.
 
A

Anonymous

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[UNPUBLISHED JD]


RS, can you leave me out of your little sermans in future, please? I didn't start this thread or some of the others doing the rounds, preach to those that did.

Oh btw, the Yamaha HSM50s that you said are rich sounding are amongst the most aggressive and bright sounding active monitors known to man, they're the opposite of rich sounding. Google is your friend...
 
T

the record spot

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[UNPUBLISHED JD]

Yes, the 50s are, but seeing as I mentioned the HSM80s, I don't think it's me who needs to check his facts.

And please don't tell me what to write Max; accusing me of writing a "sermon" when you've had several days of doing just that is hypocritical.
 
A

Anonymous

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[UNPUBLISHED JD]

the record spot said:
Yes, the 50s are, but seeing as I mentioned the HSM80s, I don't think it's me who needs to check his facts.

And please don't tell me what to write Max; accusing me of writing a "sermon" when you've had several days of doing just that is hypocritical.
The 80s are just as bright and aggressive. Now kindly leave me out of any future "sermons". You've been misquoting me for a few days now and it really is tiring. Or if you absolutely have to talk about me, then can you please copy and paste what i've said so there can be no doubt that i've actually said it?

Cheers...
 
T

the record spot

Guest
[UNPUBLISHED JD]

ooh.. said:
The 80s are just as bright and aggressive.

Far from it, you're showing your lack of knowledge on so many fronts Max it's hard to keep up. Nice to see the real you coming out though.

ooh.. said:
Now kindly leave me out of any future "sermons". You've been misquoting me for a few days now and it really is tiring. Or if you absolutely have to talk about me, then can you please copy and paste what i've said so there can be no doubt that i've actually said it?

I simply replied to Matthewpiano's earlier post Max and put up my thoughts on what's happened on this forum in recent days with your double threads effectively around the same thing and the unwritten subtext therein. I contrasted that with the Hoffman forum.

I'm sorry you dont agree with my views, but if we have to put up with your little strand of active evangelism, I'm pretty sure you can put up with my take on life too. Live and let live. Twas ever thus.

ooh.. said:
Cheers...

And the same to you too Max.
 
A

Anonymous

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[UNPUBLISHED JD]

the record spot said:
ooh.. said:
The 80s are just as bright and aggressive.

Far from it, you're showing your lack of knowledge on so many fronts Max it's hard to keep up. Nice to see the real you coming out though.

ooh.. said:
Now kindly leave me out of any future "sermons". You've been misquoting me for a few days now and it really is tiring. Or if you absolutely have to talk about me, then can you please copy and paste what i've said so there can be no doubt that i've actually said it?

I simply replied to Matthewpiano's earlier post Max and put up my thoughts on what's happened on this forum in recent days with your double threads effectively around the same thing and the unwritten subtext therein. I contrasted that with the Hoffman forum.

I'm sorry you dont agree with my views, but if we have to put up with your little strand of active evangelism, I'm pretty sure you can put up with my take on life too. Live and let live. Twas ever thus.

ooh.. said:
Cheers...

And the same to you too Max.
I'll post some reviews elswhere for you, and we'll let them do the talking. And please stop criticising me? Thank you...
 

fr0g

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Active/powered... IMO it's semantics. Truly active speakers have active crossovers, but if the word "active" is applied to the speaker rather than the crossover, then you can argue that it is an "active" rather than a "passive" "speaker", rather than crossover.

An "active sub" has no crossover...what's active, answer, the subwoofer!

But back to the point. With £500 to play with and no desire for wires, boxes... Why not look at Audiopro living LV2?

http://www.audiopro.com/node/139

This is a swedish link, but it works out at just under asking price, and they are not only "true actives", they are also wireless, and by all accounts (a friend of a friend has some), very good.

http://www.fyndborsen.se/bild-ljud/hogtalare/satellithogtalare/audio-pro-living-lv.2-svart-lader-?stat=1

They also look great (subjectively).
 
A

Anonymous

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Thanks JD re the Epoz comments; good to hear they were heard as a full stereo set-up :) Really makes them interesting now!

Thanks FROG re the Living speakers as well; they're very attractive and get rave reviews as well. Just they seem to be non existant over hear (unless I've not looked hard enough) shop wise so demoing them will be an issue and I'd rather not buy blind!
 
Nad_fanatic said:
ooh.. said:
chebby said:
ooh.. said:
Any actives will have power cables and a cable running from one to the other, and if he uses an AEX there'd be no need for a DAC. I didn't think they were that expensive though.

The Aktimate Maxis would only need one mains cable, no seperate DAC, one signal cable (from master to slave unit) and could still have his ATV2 plugged in.

And it leaves £150 change from the budget.

And a 5 star review (when they cost £600 so probably 7 stars now they are £350 :) )

And a choice of finishes.

(And it has an integrated iPod dock and built in radio and remote control.)
All good, apart from the fact that they're not active :)

Do you know anything re the Epoz speakers?

http://www.aktimate.com.au/maxi.html

1st sentence; "active 2 way system"

Seriously; if you're going to poo-poo other people's threads trying to cause arguments please go do it somewhere else!

I think this is unfair. Ooh was only pointing out what's correct, & not causing arguments. Even I thought all powered speakers are active, until I learnt something new on this forum.

It was important for you to know the difference. Of course, your priority is convenience so both options will work for you. As long as you know what you're buying....

Ive heard the Audioengine A5 & they're brilliant for the price. Audioengine has now released A5+ which are supposed to be even better. Worth a demo.
 

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