The need for multiple amps with identical gain comes to mind.
So to get around that you do what? Put the amps in the speakers? OK. Now you likely need two active crossovers (unless, like Bose and the 901, you want to rely on there being a pre-out and amp-in avail) raising cost.
Where was I. Oh yes. Cost. Even if the switch from passive to active is a wash (which it likely is not on the low end), you now have to have more channels of amplification and you need to include that amplification in the speaker cost (making your speakers appear more expensive than a competitor). Amps break more often than crossovers. So your reliability is down as well; and replacing a custom active+amp is not as simple as recreating a passive, so repair costs rise.
And some of your customers won't have pre-outs; so they won't be able to hook up the speakers. That's gonna get you some negative reviews.
Yea. There are a couple of downsides to active.
The gain of the amps does not have to be identical. The drivers will not have identical sensitivity anyway. That is what trim pots are for.
The car manufacturers do not agree with your cost analysis. My humble Chevy has a stock sound system, that is 100% active. No passive crossovers, which is typical of modern car sound systems. It sounds wonderful. The best audio system most people own is in their cars. In fact the sound in my Chevy is better than around 90% of the systems on offer at high end dealers. It is better by miles than any speaker made by Paradigm for instance.
The sound systems in Audi vehicles are phenomenal. They have invested millions is sound system research. Any Audi audio engineer would laugh at you if you suggested using passive crossovers.
As to reliability, I think amps and active crossovers can be very reliable. A lot of amp unreliability is due to the stress of being loaded by passive crossovers. In any event with modular design servicing can be made easy.
I don't care if receivers have a pre out or not. Receivers need to go, they are absolutely horrid crude audio devices.
We just need to move on and change the standard square.
I can assure you that in three ways an active design at least for the lower crossover results in a quantum leap in performance. The same applies to BSC compensation, which is much better accomplished active.
This will come, as the right place for amps is in the speakers, so the leads are short and the amp really can control the speakers like a vice. Then you need pre pros with optical out to the speakers and a phantom powering system developed. At the current time home audio is in a stultifying morass, not so the car designers. They are ahead of the home guys.