Why active?

Technological revolutions come quickly. And when they do, they utterly change our world. Compact discs replace vinyl. DVDs supersede videocassettes. Hard disk recording makes tape obsolete. Now the same kind of revolution is transforming loudspeakers.

Active technology is the most significant audio advancement in decades; maybe the most important technological milestone since the invention of the loudspeaker.

Like other cutting edge technologies, active speaker systems started out prohibitively expensive, priced out of reach for all but high end systems. Now the electronic engineering expertise and manufacturing efficiencies make active sound affordable and reliable for all.

You will be blown away by the results. Below find out why:

Active sounds better: Active technology is a major breakthrough in audio quality. It brings loudspeaker boxes out of the dark ages by applying precise electronics to areas of speaker design that used to be handled by crude passive devices.

• Phase-accurate electronic crossovers with sharp slopes instead of wads of coils and capacitors (that can "eat up" as much as 30% of an amplifier's power output).

• Automatic phase correction & electronic time correction that would otherwise require expensive external delay units.

• Precise equalization to get the smoothest response from each transducer - the equivalent of a perfectly-adjusted parametric equalizer for each speaker component.

• Servo-control of the low frequency transducer. Since the woofer and its amplifier module can "talk to each other", the amp can tightly control cone motion. You get incredibly tight, accurate bass.

• The right amplifier for each transducer. External amps have to be designed as "one size fits all" devices to handle an unknown speaker load. Their performance with a specific transducer has to be compromised in order to handle anything that may be connected to them.

Active also eliminates some of the physical problems inherent in passive + external amplifier systems.

• No bulky runs of speaker cable (which can also add sound-compromising impedance variables, depending on their length and gauge).

• No danger of short circuits because of frayed cables or poor connections at the speaker terminals.

• Easier to integrate: Inside each speaker is usually the equivalent of two or three beefy power amps, an electronic crossover, and a delay unit; in other words, a whole rack of bulky electronics.

Active is more reliable: Active technology gives speaker designers control of variables that are unpredictable with passive speakers + external amps.

• The internal amps can be precisely tailored to their transducers' impedance and output characteristics. The results are ultra-reliable amplifier modules that "know what to expect" and therefore are much less susceptible to failure.

• The inbuilt speaker protection circuitry wouldn't be possible with passive systems (remember, active speakers have sophisticated electronic control of the amp's output behavior). Transducers can be driven to their maximum un-distorted output, but not into dangerous ranges where they're susceptible to burn-out. The result is bullet-proof reliability.

• But to hedge your bets against the unexpected, the whole amp/electronics section of our active speakers is easily "field-swappable" just in case.