Powered Speakers, are they the way? If so, what about Live Sound speakers for Home Theater?

[Danzilla31]

Hi All!

New member here!

I've been following Audioholics for a while now & love the content.

I'm in the process of looking for a house to purchase & one of the things I'm looking for is a basement for you guessed it, Home Theater.

I come from Live Sound & Production work, so I've always thought, well...the speakers I use for my work prioritize in their design, spl, coverage & of course, as much as a stable frequency response throughout the spectrum as it can within the given budget.

& for the faults in the response that show up after proper placement, we have dsp.

Saw a video posted a while ago about "Studio Powered Monitors" & how "accurate" for the money they were for our purposes.
Which, it's been a given. Always. That's their whole thing "Accuracy, Monitoring for sonic decision making"

So, why is it that they are not the first choice? I couldn't think that running an extra cable could get in the way of choosing them over Passives. Since you only need to run it once.

Which leads me to the "Live Sound" Powered Speakers. I can't seem to find any information about how would they fare in Home Theater or any examples.

Nevertheless, I'm thinking of going this route given that I'm very familiar with them.

This is the idea:
QSC K12.2 for LCR
QSC CP8 for Surrounds
Emotiva RMC-1L for Processing
For In-Ceilings I figured that some well reviewed 8-inch's with a simple pair of stereo amps will do.
For Subs, well haven't decided what model but seems that the brand that is a no brainer is SVS. Which I already own one of their subs & I'm pleased with it.

So would love to hear what you guys have to say! I'm sure I can't be the only one going with this train of thought...

If I had to do it all over again that's how I would do it.

3 of the QSC 15 3 ways up front
2 of the QSC 12 for sides
2 of the QSC 8 for rears
4 of the QSC 8 fit atmos they are easy to mount and angle and you don't even have to cut holes in your ceilings.

Combine with badass subs. Either 4 GSG 21 builds or 4 Rythmik 2 FV25HP and 2 FV18

Slap it all onto a solid prepro and call it a day

With the subs handling the low end the dynamic range of that system would be out of this world.

Think of the rack space alone I'd be saving with all those external amps not in the rack. I was running into that issue with wanting to add 2 more subs I love external amps but I'm running out of room. It's partially what influenced my going with Rythmik for my final 2 subs.

I'm too committed with my passive gear to go do a full 360 now but if I had to do it all over again that's how I would do it.

 

[Danzilla31]

Also no more running speaker wires just one cable yes you do have to worry about extra power plug ins but that's doable

So much more simpler

 

[Danzilla31]

Also the price for those QSC speakers is extremely good when you factor in an amp comes with each speaker

$1800 each for the 15's 2000 watts a speaker
$1000 each for the 12's 2000 watts a speaker
And $500 each for the 8's 1000 watts a speaker

that's not bad at all when you factor in they are coming with amps that powerful built in.

Show me a multi channel home theater amp that can put out those numbers for a price less then a new car Let alone how pricey the pretty and gigantic speakers it would take to drive them would cost on top.

Not bad at all for the price when you think about it

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

If I had to do it all over again that's how I would do it.

3 of the QSC 15 3 ways up front
2 of the QSC 12 for sides
2 of the QSC 8 for rears
4 of the QSC 8 fit atmos they are easy to mount and angle and you don't even have to cut holes in your ceilings.

Combine with badass subs. Either 4 GSG 21 builds or 4 Rythmik 2 FV25HP and 2 FV18

Slap it all onto a solid prepro and call it a day

With the subs handling the low end the dynamic range of that system would be out of this world.

Think of the rack space alone I'd be saving with all those external amps not in the rack. I was running into that issue with wanting to add 2 more subs I love external amps but I'm running out of room. It's partially what influenced my going with Rythmik for my final 2 subs.

I'm too committed with my passive gear to go do a full 360 now but if I had to do it all over again that's how I would do it.

Yeah, but how do they SOUND?

I’ve owned some Yamaha and JBL pro speakers and they’re not exactly the best sounding speakers, at least not for HOME audio/movies.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

There is a perfect system for everyone - a system that meets everyone’s idea of their perfect system, which is DIFFERENT for everyone.

Don’t expect your ideas to be perfect or “ideal” and “no brainer” for everyone just because it fits your goal the best.

For some, INTERNAL built-in amps/DSP is the PERFECT system for THEM.

For some, EXTERNAL amps/DSP is the perfect system for THEM.

We should all get exactly what we want for OURSELVES, not what OTHERS want.

There is a perfect system for everyone depending on their OWN ideas of perfection.

NO JUDGMENTS.

 

[everettT]

Yeah, but how do they SOUND?

I’ve owned some Yamaha and JBL pro speakers and they’re not exactly the best sounding speakers, at least not for HOME audio/movies.

Considering the make cinema sound products, I'm guessing they have a few products that measure well.

JBL has in house spins for most all of their speakers and some of their pro cinema measures well. Even ones with just a published response look decent in the FR.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Considering the make cinema sound products, I'm guessing they have a few products that measure well.

JBL has in house spins for most all of their speakers and some of their pro cinema measures well. Even ones with just a published response look decent in the FR.

Unlike amps, speakers are a lot more subjective and some graphs won’t guarantee how people will like them. So if they SOUND great, then it’s great. But just gotta make sure for yourself.

 

[everettT]

Unlike amps, speakers are a lot more subjective and some graphs won’t guarantee how people will like them. So if they SOUND great, then it’s great. But just gotta make sure for yourself.

I just want to see the spins, DI, and distortion plots, if they are right I can always talior the sound but if those aren't correct to begin with, I'm not interested in an audition, personally. It's just nice to see more options coming out.

 

[TLS Guy]

Unlike amps, speakers are a lot more subjective and some graphs won’t guarantee how people will like them. So if they SOUND great, then it’s great. But just gotta make sure for yourself.

With the current measuring techniques, if a speaker measures well it will sound good. If someone wants to use speakers as as tone control, I suppose that will happen, but data shows most will not.

And by the way you can not use DSP to correct time/phase aberrations in a passive speaker. That has to be part of the speakers integrated design. Passive speakers will be shown to be markedly inferior to the crop of active speakers in the pipe line.

 

[Danzilla31]

Yeah, but how do they SOUND?

I’ve owned some Yamaha and JBL pro speakers and they’re not exactly the best sounding speakers, at least not for HOME audio/movies.

As long as they have a decent return policy for the money it would be worth it to find out. For that price I'd debut them like any other speaker to find our. Start out with the front 3 and then if they're good just order from there.

I'd almost bet I'd love them tho. They check off a lot of the boxes for me

Huge dynamics check
Limitless headroom check
No compression or distortion check
Ability to eq each speaker at each position and then time align and phase them all as a whole? Big check
Controlled dispersion check
They're is a lot to like here

 

[ndiaz]

Will be going the active route for the dedicated HT guys & will report back!

Thank you all for taking the time to respond with your thoughts!

 

[Danzilla31]

Will be going the active route for the dedicated HT guys & will report back!

Thank you all for taking the time to respond with your thoughts!

Can't wait to hear your feedback!