Why are hi-end active monitors not more popular?

i mention this because so called "accurate" active monitors, may be more inaccurate than one believes.

Absolutely! Active monitors and all speakers are almost always the least accurate component in most high end systems. Speaker accuracy is orders of magnitude worse than most electronics and digital sources. Electronic signals can travel through 100's of amps in mixing boards etc. and hundres of feet of wires on teh way to the end user and yet the accuracy can be very well preserved....speakers are simply not in the same league....good point!

Only headphones come close to the accuracy of modern electronics...but then the sound is inside your head and how realistic is that???

hi bob:

where is the evidence of the sonic superiority of active monitor speakers. if the speakers were electrostatic or planar magnetic, that would be a different case.

the issue seems to be panels vs cones rather than active vs non active speakers.

the issue seems to be panels vs cones rather than active vs non active speakers.

Ah yes that could be a whole other thread. A two camp battle I suspect.

My comments are restricted to the advantages of active acoustic suspension speakers over conventional passive two way, three way and four way acoustic suspension designs or basically any system where the amp is working all the way from 20 to 20Khz to drive a transducer...that is all.

"As far as actives go, no one on this thread has been able shoot any valid holes in the science of why an active monitor is not a better solution."

It is not strictly about science or engineering, or humor.

Remember receivers? Another pre-packaged idea that supposedly would simplify and optimize the whole chain. Do they typically sound as good as separates? Are the parts as high of quality?

What is the next logical step for active speakers? Of course, package the DA inside the housing as well. Think those DAs are on the quality level of Lavry or Weiss? I know the little switching amps most use are not equivalent to Bel Canto or McIntosh, etc. from my experience.

Some studio microphones are heading this way as well. Integrated preamps and AD converters, so just plug it straight to a computer. Again, it is self limiting. Buy that stagnant system for a huge premium, and hope it can compete against the inevitable separate component advancements....

As I've already mentioned, to me the sound of the several active speakers I have owned and used *was not* an improvement over passive separates. And were considerably more expensive. What is the advantage in that?

Steve