Ahofer, in the case of the Kef LS 50 active vs passive no question the actives are better.
In the case of a more expensive speakers there are more issues at stake.
You have to like the sound of the amplfication built into the speaker or in cases of actives with dacs then you have to like the sound of that part of the chain as well.
In our shop we never sold that many of the active Kefs because if you went with the passive R5 at $2,800.00 plus a Nuprimce IDA 8 a 100 watt integrated dac the sound of the better passive speakers was far superior and the money was more but not that bad compare active plus stands $2,200 + stands $400 = $2,600
Kef R 5 floorstanders $2,800 plus amp $1,000.00 no stands $3,800.00 factor in speaker cable and you are a bit further but the difference in the size of the image, bass response and overall clarity still points to the better speakers with the external amplifier.
So you have to factor in will the active 40 do it for you with the very clean sound of the built in ATC amplifiers or would you prefer the passives which you can flavor with a dac/preamp/streamer/amp of your choice such as the Naim Uniti Nova or the new Krell K300i integrated the actives will sound cleaner the passives may be flavored more to your tastes it will come down to a demo to see which way would be best for you.
Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ
In the case of a more expensive speakers there are more issues at stake.
You have to like the sound of the amplfication built into the speaker or in cases of actives with dacs then you have to like the sound of that part of the chain as well.
In our shop we never sold that many of the active Kefs because if you went with the passive R5 at $2,800.00 plus a Nuprimce IDA 8 a 100 watt integrated dac the sound of the better passive speakers was far superior and the money was more but not that bad compare active plus stands $2,200 + stands $400 = $2,600
Kef R 5 floorstanders $2,800 plus amp $1,000.00 no stands $3,800.00 factor in speaker cable and you are a bit further but the difference in the size of the image, bass response and overall clarity still points to the better speakers with the external amplifier.
So you have to factor in will the active 40 do it for you with the very clean sound of the built in ATC amplifiers or would you prefer the passives which you can flavor with a dac/preamp/streamer/amp of your choice such as the Naim Uniti Nova or the new Krell K300i integrated the actives will sound cleaner the passives may be flavored more to your tastes it will come down to a demo to see which way would be best for you.
Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ