Are active speakers the best upgrade

I recently purchased a used active system (bi-amped with speakers) and can testify that the changes I hear are stunning. The biggest improvement is the entire system is less source-critical. This has allowed me to enjoy much more of my vinyl library without disappointment. The surface noise of generic vinyl pressings is greatly diminished. Music takes on a wonderful 3-D effect with a much wider and deeper sound stage. Any awareness that the speakers are the source of the sound is gone. The bass extension is almost frightening coming from such small drivers and enclosures. The last benefit is a feeling that the reproduction process is effortless.

Manufacturers such as Naim and Linn have been promoting the benefits of going active for quite some time. This is an interesting subject. I look forward to following the thread.

Happy listening, Patrick

Active eliminates alot of intermodulation distortion that happens in passive crossovers. Not to mention, with large woofers as the voice coil temperature rises the inductance changes, which in turn causes some phase shift, another advantage of active designs. Its amazing how few speakers companies are doing them since the advantages are so great. I suspect part of it is the marketability aspect-alot of audiophile's want to choose their amps and even more so if they are set on tube amps they won't even bother with an active system-since all the ones I've seen use ss (not that it has to be ss, but its for the better)

Have a listen to a Linn Aktiv system. 'Going aktiv', once you've got a good source, is the big upgrade that Linn advocates, and that Linn freaks swear by. Meridian takes it even further - straight from the digital source to the active speaker with built-in dac.

An active crossover system should offer much better amplitude control then a passive system. The active crossover design is speaker specific and will not transfer to different speakers. This is what the now defunct Waveform speaker line used. The tweaks hated these speakers. One question for them: If the Waveforms sucked then why aren't there any used speakers for sale?