While I think active speakers can sound technically better than passive, still, and regardless of how good the amps are, I look at them as disposable. The amps should last just long enough to coincide with replacement part NLA territory like other 'all-in-one' appliances. I'd just never rest easy trusting active speakers. I do have a pair of budget JBL LSR305 that are active and have been continuously powered on since around 2018 but I just keep wondering when they will die and leave me with a system that needs a rebuild worth more than the sum of it's parts.
The active vs. passive debate is for those who navel gaze SQ too much. I should be much harder to satisfy, 50 years in, but if I ignore the current crop of starving marketers, passive speakers end up being better than most recordings that will pass through them. Well recorded music sounds flawless, even on older passive speakers worth any mention at all.
Before someone considers going for the next new thing that is into the la-la land of audibility, they should really try the best recordings to grade what they already have and just be honest with themselves about it, and what they are listening to.
All of this DSP that is needed now, ends up chasing crappy modern architecture and trendy interior decor, that keeps getting worse as time goes on, with regard to favorable acoustics, and for people who don't get outdoors enough to appreciate open and airy spaciousness where it is plentiful. Put most decently measuring speakers in a reasonable space and they will sound relatively perfect to our ears.
