active loudspeakers
- Thread starter jackelsson
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Goldmund makes beautiful speakers. And I really like their concept of bringing a wireless, all-in-one system to this level of sound quality, craftsmannship and exterior design.
Is the one on the picture the Apologue Anniversary? Do you know whether they included a room correction into their models as well?
Of course, its their flagship and all 25 have been sold, IIRC.
The DRC is unlike another. Same software used in the CAD/CAM speaker design and development also does the DSP and the DRC which is based on up to 44,000 room and driver and crossover parameters. Total end to end solution. ROTEUS and LEONARDO. It was the doctoral thesis of a brilliant lady engineer and has been refined continuously for over 13 years.
I have been using active ATC 50s and now 100s for over 10 yrs. using actives is a cost effective way to achieve a very high quality match between power amp and speakers. There are lots of “technical papers” describing the advantages of active implementation so I won’t go into that here.
Power amps designed for passive speakers have to be over engineered to some extent to be capable of dealing with the vast range of speakers they could potentially be expected to drive.
Actives don’t give the hobbyist the chance to mix and match amps but that is one less decision to make, as far as I am concerned. It also made more funds available for source components, pre etc.
The anniversary amp/crossover packs ( not the standard amps) in my 100 are the same as the ATC P6 amp with out the box, at almost 20k gbp it is pretty capable.
ATC P6 amp
Power amps designed for passive speakers have to be over engineered to some extent to be capable of dealing with the vast range of speakers they could potentially be expected to drive.
Actives don’t give the hobbyist the chance to mix and match amps but that is one less decision to make, as far as I am concerned. It also made more funds available for source components, pre etc.
The anniversary amp/crossover packs ( not the standard amps) in my 100 are the same as the ATC P6 amp with out the box, at almost 20k gbp it is pretty capable.
ATC P6 amp
MartinLogan just announced a fully active line-array setup that looks awesome: http://www.martinloganowners.com/fo...Logan-announces-breakthrough-Monoray-ESL-line
I run a fully active set of MartinLogans myself, as I've been customizing my Monoliths for over a decade, and designed and built my own custom center channel. I use a DriveRack 4800 as the active crossover for the front speakers and to integrate the MidBass modules. Being able to fine tune the crossovers for the optimal in-room performance is an awesome benefit. Albeit at the cost of effort and required knowledge.
I run a fully active set of MartinLogans myself, as I've been customizing my Monoliths for over a decade, and designed and built my own custom center channel. I use a DriveRack 4800 as the active crossover for the front speakers and to integrate the MidBass modules. Being able to fine tune the crossovers for the optimal in-room performance is an awesome benefit. Albeit at the cost of effort and required knowledge.
Yes, I have.
The package is impressive, the speakers look good in white at least (IMO of course), they have a pleasantly medium-sized footprint: they are wide and fairly tall, but nothing untoward compared to normal dynamic speeakers—remember, these are horns!
I was impressed by the immediacy of the sound and the explosive nature of the dynamics. The coherence of the bass module with the rest was less impressive, however; nevertheless, there is a lot of room for tuning apparently, so this is probably just a secondary issue.
They can easily recreate a live event, (especially if there are not very many instruments involved) to plausible levels of power, dynamics, weight, and tonal accuracy—or maybe it's just that I am too easily sold by dynamics...
Regards
By the way, I have very fond memories of the active ATC 150s. I couldn't afford them at the time, even less so today, but they have always been on my dream list!
Thanks for your feedback. I listened to them twice (the semi active model ) with different gear and different room . I was a bit disappointed after the first listening ( upper midrange and HF a bit too forward. Consequently,unforgiving with average recording ). It was much better the second time with more space between them and a better listening distance. For sure dynamics and immediacy are their strengths. ATC are good but WAF is a no-go.
Kii3 and Dutch 8c are also on my short list.
Tough choice as home demo is impossible where I live.
Kii3 and Dutch 8c are also on my short list.
Tough choice as home demo is impossible where I live.
Forgot to mention: I listened to the actives.
Speaking of active speakers, what about the Geithain actives mentioned above? They look smallish but are extremely heavy. I did listen to a pair in Germany once, but I don't remember much; doesn't mean they're not memorable, just that I only remember trying to move one of them which failed to budge.
Speaking of active speakers, what about the Geithain actives mentioned above? They look smallish but are extremely heavy. I did listen to a pair in Germany once, but I don't remember much; doesn't mean they're not memorable, just that I only remember trying to move one of them which failed to budge.
Gregm,
As you probably know ME Geithain has a wide range of "professional" Monitors,
https://www.me-geithain.de/en/aktiv-lautsprecher.html
As well as some HIFI-Models. Usually the same internals, but a somewhat better “WAF”.
https://www.me-geithain.de/en/aktiv-lautsprecher-1.html
They all have in common to give you excellent music at a competitive price – at least here in Europe !!
Since you failed to “move" the speaker, you probably had one of those 800-Series HighEnd speakers in your hand – the bigger models weigh a mighty 80+ kg …
Regards
Urs
I had the opportunity to listen to some of those MEG's at the Swiss dealers place and at a HIFI Show – they all sounded superb.
IF I would be in the business of buying new ACTIVE speakers, one of those MEG types would be very high up on my list.
As you probably know ME Geithain has a wide range of "professional" Monitors,
https://www.me-geithain.de/en/aktiv-lautsprecher.html
As well as some HIFI-Models. Usually the same internals, but a somewhat better “WAF”.
https://www.me-geithain.de/en/aktiv-lautsprecher-1.html
They all have in common to give you excellent music at a competitive price – at least here in Europe !!
Since you failed to “move" the speaker, you probably had one of those 800-Series HighEnd speakers in your hand – the bigger models weigh a mighty 80+ kg …
Regards
Urs
I had the opportunity to listen to some of those MEG's at the Swiss dealers place and at a HIFI Show – they all sounded superb.
IF I would be in the business of buying new ACTIVE speakers, one of those MEG types would be very high up on my list.
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My wife has never seen an ATC but she has denounced both the Kii and the D&D.
One thing to keep in mind with Geithain is their studio background. Each model is built for a specific purpose, i.e. room size and listening distance. So just picking the "best" model (i.e. the most expensive one) will not necessarily yield the best result. To my mind this is a quite sensible, professional approach which unfortunately isn't always to be found in the bigger-better-faster-more world of high end audio.
Comparing the "Studio" range with the "Home" range the latter is generally built for the commonly larger listening distances in homes compared to the near field situations found in some studio environment. The picture below shows a part of their studio range.
Comparing the "Studio" range with the "Home" range the latter is generally built for the commonly larger listening distances in homes compared to the near field situations found in some studio environment. The picture below shows a part of their studio range.
Here are Polish active speakers from Sveda Audio, presented with Lampizator electronics during AVS 2018 in Warsaw, the prices are competitve and the finishing attractive. I liked very much the presentation.
All together not less than 12 amps inside
BTW my Duo Mezzo XD are also semi acive and their DSP is a gem.
All together not less than 12 amps inside
BTW my Duo Mezzo XD are also semi acive and their DSP is a gem.
Attachments
I had the Zero XD full active model. With its striking design, as a package, with built-in DAC and amplifier modules, the Zero is hard to beat. One can also utilise the built-in parametric equaliser to compensate, somewhat, for room anomalies.
Unlike the semi-active models in the Avantgarde line which can sound a bit disjointed when not properly set up, the Zero active version sounds quite coherent, provided that you sit within the 2 - 3 m window from the speakers.
The Zero active version is quite transparent to the quality of the digital input though, with differences in various CD transports on the SPDIF input quite obvious. Unfortunately, the USB input is limited to 16/48 signals and does not sound as good as the SPDIF or AES/EBU inputs.
This review summarises the speaker quite well - http://www.highfidelity.pl/@main-425&lang=en
The semi-active version of the Zero will sound quite different from the active version, depending on the amplifier and source.
Yes I agree it should sound different but no way for me to test the full active version...
The semi active demo has been done with the same preamp/ amp I am using (Accuphase) so it is giving me a better idea.
The full active is tempting as it's a all in one with the pros and cons. As I have already a pretty good DAC /preamp/ amp systems I am still a bit reluctant to sell everything...
Yes, I did struggle initially with having to sell my DAC and amplifier to move to the Zero XD but have since moved to a DAC + active speaker combo.
Nonetheless, if you are still using the dCS / Accuphase system, my sense is that, if you are considering the Zero TA (the semi-active) version, and like the Avantgarde presentation, then the higher models in the chain might be a better bet, and you get to keep your current source and amp.
Ultimately, I felt that the DAC section (TI PCM4104 chipset) in the Zero XD was a potential limiting factor. By the way, the Dutch 8C uses the same chipset.
Prior to the Zero XD, I listened the Avantgarde Uno Fino (not the current XD version), driven by Silbatone Acoustics DA-105 DAC and Silbatone 300B set integrated (with WE 300B tubes). That was sublime and better in many ways than the Zero XD. The current Avantgarde Uno Fino Edition (the new XD version with parametric EQ) might be interesting to audition.
At a higher level of performance, for a complete package, the Grimm Audio ls1be + dmf sub would be excellent, albeit at more than twice the price of the Zero XD. With a good acoustic recording, it just sounds "right", with amazing bass control. With less than stellar recordings, you hear why the recording is bad. Grim to some, fantastic to others.
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I will give the dsp8000's an honorable mention now that I own a pair and can comment on their sound. First I was able to pay for them with my returns from the sale of the salon 2's. The task to improve on my VA Beethovens started about 5 years ago and probably my lack of experience component matching made the task really difficult. After spending a couple weeks in the listening room with new to me 8K's I had a thought that wasn't what track am I going to listen to next? I wondered how a speaker with no exotic materials, no Ti, no Be, no Dmd could sound so good and play so loud. these speakers don't work with the room they make the room disappear, at least better than any i've heard yet. My next thought was 'I wonder what a pair of speakers like the salon 2's would have sounded like if they were active.
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