The active speakers club

[ID.]

Can't offer any personal experience when it comes to actives but...

You should give them a go sometime PP, you might be pleasantly suprised.

Don't expect a huge difference compared to passives but many actives have a touch more clarity and a bit more dynamic range. Not a massive improvement but as they say every little helps.

The surprising clarity and dynamic range are what I've particularly noticed with my Fostex PM0.4n. My wife agrees that they aren't as good as my DB1i, but commented on the clarity. They've certainly piqued my interest in more expensive actives. I also wonder whether I would have gotten onto an upgrade kick so quickly if I'd gotten their bigger brothers, the PM0.5n, instead of B&W685s when I first bought my hifi.

 

[plastic penguin]

Can't offer any personal experience when it comes to actives but...

You should give them a go sometime PP, you might be pleasantly suprised.

Don't expect a huge difference compared to passives but many actives have a touch more clarity and a bit more dynamic range. Not a massive improvement but as they say every little helps.

Thanks for the suggestion. Perhaps when I can no longer be bothered with knobs and flashing lights.

Meantime, should I need improved clarity I would just buy a better pair of speakers. So much easier than wholesale changes IMO. :rockout:

 

[JMacMan]

Can't offer any personal experience when it comes to actives but...

You should give them a go sometime PP, you might be pleasantly suprised.

Don't expect a huge difference compared to passives but many actives have a touch more clarity and a bit more dynamic range. Not a massive improvement but as they say every little helps.

I'd agree. I heard my Naim SBL's in both passive and active mode when I bought them new, and there were noticeable improvements in dynamics and resolution by going active - albeit with multi boxed separates amps + separate Xcrossover, it was a very expensive option/upgrade.

I've also AB'd my B&O V1-40 TV, which is fully active, against my 9000ES Sony amp/Naim SBL speakers, using my mac as source with ALAC files, and streamed to an Apple AE, connected via Toslink optical for the Sony, and an ATV3 via HDMI for the V1-40 - so a 'pure' digital wireless transfer, not relying upon the DAC's in the Apple products.

Using matched (measured with SPL meter) volume levels, and on the exact same music, there is a subtle but worthwhile improvement in again, resolution and dyamics over the ES Sony/SBL system. Of course, if you're talking soundstaging and imaging etc, and bass weight and extension, that's another matter entirely, but for small scale works, solo piano for example, I actually preferred the rendition/reproduction of the music through the V1-40 due a greater insight and hence enjoyment, of the musical performance, such was the advantage of active to my ears.

That it came from what is a TV for goodness sake, v's a relatively high end HiFi system worth many thousands more, was a bit of an eye opener, I can tell you!

Certainly I'd say the likes of Mackies, Genelecs, Dynaudio, Event Opals etc, are all worth checking out as regards makers of affordable and high quality active speakers, with a very professional background behind them, and as regards the sales environment where one may purchase them.

JB

 

[plastic penguin]

ZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz

 

[ID.]

ZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Sorry to bore you PP, and here I thought we were in the active speakers club thread. God forbid people should talk to you about active speakers. If it really bothers you so much, I'm not sure why you are in here and continuing to reply as the objective of the thread is.

NOTE FOR THREAD CONTRIBUTORS:

This thread is intended as a place to exchange information about active speakers and their application as part of home A/AV.

Please be collaborative, as objective as possible and refrain from emotional/personal bias.

Exchange of technical knowledge and explanations are encouraged, as well as pictures of actives (in your set-up or generic).

Anyone who is interested in actives is welcome!

This will be a useful, civil and positive thread with a touch of healthy pragmatism. There will be no fighting. Please join in.

 

[plastic penguin]

ZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Sorry to bore you PP, and here I thought we were in the active speakers club thread. God forbid people should talk to you about active speakers. If it really bothers you so much, I'm not sure why you are in here and continuing to reply as the objective of the thread is.

NOTE FOR THREAD CONTRIBUTORS:

This thread is intended as a place to exchange information about active speakers and their application as part of home A/AV.

Please be collaborative, as objective as possible and refrain from emotional/personal bias.

Exchange of technical knowledge and explanations are encouraged, as well as pictures of actives (in your set-up or generic).

Anyone who is interested in actives is welcome!

This will be a useful, civil and positive thread with a touch of healthy pragmatism. There will be no fighting. Please join in.

I didn't contribute on here to talk about active but thought I'd share my brief experience (from the previous page)

"Can't offer any personal experience when it comes to actives but...

One of the best amps I've heard, many, many moons ago (circa 2004), was AVI Laboratory amp. Amazed how compact it was, while the sound was very dynamic -- as it had 150 watts per channel it could power most speakers with ease.

Pity they stopped making it."

 

[ID.]

.

 

[DocG]

Oh, I get it, PP! Strange as it may seem, this thread is not about AVI; the brand has been mentioned, amongst many, many others. But it is not the core of the thread. That's what the misunderstanding is about.

:cheers:

 

[bluedroog]

A quick question to active owners and in particular those of experience with the Event Opals. It seems the most popular solution is to use something like an M-DAC or Benchmark as a pre-amp, has anyone tried actives with a valve pre-amp as I am curios to try this? It seems like tubes and actives are at the opposite ends and tent to attract different users. Thanks.

 

[byakuya83]

Can't offer any personal experience when it comes to actives but...

One of the best amps I've heard, many, many moons ago (circa 2004), was AVI Laboratory amp. Amazed how compact it was, while the sound was very dynamic -- as it had 150 watts per channel it could power most speakers with ease.

Pity they stopped making it.

ZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz

 

[byakuya83]

Upcoming V series from Kef:

http://www.kef.com/html/gb/showroom/vseries/v300/v300/index.html

Separate speakers or soundbar plus wireless sub.

 

[ID.]

A quick question to active owners and in particular those of experience with the Event Opals. It seems the most popular solution is to use something like an M-DAC or Benchmark as a pre-amp, has anyone tried actives with a valve pre-amp as I am curios to try this? It seems like tubes and actives are at the opposite ends and tent to attract different users. Thanks.

No personal experience (so you may want to ignore this completely), but one of the better demos of speakers on youtube seems ti¥o feature a tube pre with active Fostex monitors

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1fgYjEy_B0&noredirect=1

I believe there's also someone on head fi who matches Adam A7Xs with a tube dac.

http://www.head-fi.org/products/adam-audio-a7x-powered-studio-monitor-7-inch-150-watts/reviews/8674

Provided you like what tubes can bring, it looks like matching them to a very revealing monitor can achieve good results and may create a good balance. I am looking at matching Adam Audio A7X with a Luxman preamp, which although solid state, has a more lush, full bodied sound that the Benchmark.

 

[fr0g]

A quick question to active owners and in particular those of experience with the Event Opals. It seems the most popular solution is to use something like an M-DAC or Benchmark as a pre-amp, has anyone tried actives with a valve pre-amp as I am curios to try this? It seems like tubes and actives are at the opposite ends and tent to attract different users. Thanks.

No personal experience (so you may want to ignore this completely), but one of the better demos of speakers on youtube seems ti¥o feature a tube pre with active Fostex monitors

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1fgYjEy_B0&noredirect=1

I believe there's also someone on head fi who matches Adam A7Xs with a tube dac.

http://www.head-fi.org/products/adam-audio-a7x-powered-studio-monitor-7-inch-150-watts/reviews/8674

Provided you like what tubes can bring, it looks like matching them to a very revealing monitor can achieve good results and may create a good balance. I am looking at matching Adam Audio A7X with a Luxman preamp, which although solid state, has a more lush, full bodied sound that the Benchmark.

A DAC should accurately convert the digital signal into (hopefully) the same analogue signal that went into th ADC. Any talk of "more lush" or "full bodied" is a polite way of saying it isn't working as it should and actually distorting.

If you prefer a different presentation, surely it is better simply to get an equaliser, rather than a broken DAC?

 

[davedotco]

A quick question to active owners and in particular those of experience with the Event Opals. It seems the most popular solution is to use something like an M-DAC or Benchmark as a pre-amp, has anyone tried actives with a valve pre-amp as I am curios to try this? It seems like tubes and actives are at the opposite ends and tent to attract different users. Thanks.

No personal experience (so you may want to ignore this completely), but one of the better demos of speakers on youtube seems ti¥o feature a tube pre with active Fostex monitors

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1fgYjEy_B0&noredirect=1

I believe there's also someone on head fi who matches Adam A7Xs with a tube dac.

http://www.head-fi.org/products/adam-audio-a7x-powered-studio-monitor-7-inch-150-watts/reviews/8674

Provided you like what tubes can bring, it looks like matching them to a very revealing monitor can achieve good results and may create a good balance. I am looking at matching Adam Audio A7X with a Luxman preamp, which although solid state, has a more lush, full bodied sound that the Benchmark.

A DAC should accurately convert the digital signal into (hopefully) the same analogue signal that went into th ADC. Any talk of "more lush" or "full bodied" is a polite way of saying it isn't working as it should and actually distorting.

If you prefer a different presentation, surely it is better simply to get an equaliser, rather than a broken DAC?

It is not 'broken', it is working 'as it should', as it has been designed that way.

What it is not, is audibly and measureably transparent which is a different matter entirely.

It is a basic tenet of this forum that non transparent components are acceptable, praiseworthy even, if they bring the listener closer to the musical performance. Or put another way, since no system is perfect, you chose the system that gets closest for your specific requirements.

Would I use a valve pre-amp of any kind with active monitors, no probably not. But, then again, I am considering a valve headphone amplifier as I like the way it puts the musicians at a slightly greater distance from me, which I rather like.

 

[fr0g]

It is not 'broken', it is working 'as it should', as it has been designed that way.

It isn't Hi-fi then.

What it is not, is audibly and measureably transparent which is a different matter entirely.

Yep, that would be "Hi-Fi"'

It is a basic tenet of this forum that non transparent components are acceptable, praiseworthy even, if they bring the listener closer to the musical performance. Or put another way, since no system is perfect, you chose the system that gets closest for your specific requirements.

Would I use a valve pre-amp of any kind with active monitors, no probably not. But, then again, I am considering a valve headphone amplifier as I like the way it puts the musicians at a slightly greater distance from me, which I rather like.

If you say so. My point being, if you prefer a different "presentation" then buying a source that gives it with every piece of music is not the way to go.

 

[davedotco]

It is not 'broken', it is working 'as it should', as it has been designed that way.

It isn't Hi-fi then.

What it is not, is audibly and measureably transparent which is a different matter entirely.

Yep, that would be "Hi-Fi"'

It is a basic tenet of this forum that non transparent components are acceptable, praiseworthy even, if they bring the listener closer to the musical performance. Or put another way, since no system is perfect, you chose the system that gets closest for your specific requirements.

Would I use a valve pre-amp of any kind with active monitors, no probably not. But, then again, I am considering a valve headphone amplifier as I like the way it puts the musicians at a slightly greater distance from me, which I rather like.

If you say so. My point being, if you prefer a different "presentation" then buying a source that gives it with every piece of music is not the way to go.

Everything you say is quite true, I have not said otherwise.

As I clearly said, "It is a basic tenet of this forum that non transparent components are acceptable, praiseworthy even, if they bring the listener closer to the musical performance", these are not necessarily my views. My own thoughts on what is and what is not hi-fi are a little more complex than that.

When listening to headphones I find I get a very 'closed in' effect, a couple of valve head amps that I have tried place the music and the musicians slightly further away, subjectively quite pleasing. I consider this to be a difference in presentation, nothing more.

 

[AlmaataKZ]

Gents, please do not drift too far off topic. Let's try to keep the thread more focused.

 

[chebby]

KEF X300a review posted today...

http://www.whathifi.com/review/x300a

 

[AlmaataKZ]

Lots of soundbars are being introduced lately and some (many?) of them are active. It looks like sounbars and not conventional speakers are what may increase the share of active designs in the market.

 

[chebby]

http://www.whathifi.com/news/kef-launches-wireless-x300a-desktop-speakers

http://www.kef.com/html/gb/showroom/digital_music_solutions/x_300a/x_300aw/index.html

 

[AlmaataKZ]

http://www.whathifi.com/news/kef-launches-wireless-x300a-desktop-speakers

http://www.kef.com/html/gb/showroom/digital_music_solutions/x_300a/x_300aw/index.html

excellent!

 

[Ajani]

http://www.whathifi.com/news/kef-launches-wireless-x300a-desktop-speakers

http://www.kef.com/html/gb/showroom/digital_music_solutions/x_300a/x_300aw/index.html

excellent!

Agreed. That's a really smart move from KEF and hopefully this is just the1st of several wireless active options from them. It's especially smart as it means that they have their own alternative to the likes of Dynaudio's XEO, for far less money (albeit with a rather different feature set).

Very tempting.

 

[Willferox]

NOTE FROM MODS - you'll probably get more response on a separate thread. Created one for you here:

www.whathifi.com/forum/hi-fi/audiolab-8200dq-better-than-rdac-with-tt

 

[byakuya83]

http://www.monitoraudio.co.uk/products/asb-2-range/asb-2/

New product from Monitor Audio; fully-active, Airplay compatible soundbar with HDMI.

 

[chebby]

Focal SM9 review...

http://www.whathifi.com/review/focal-sm9