Why I Chose Self Powered ACTIVE Speakers for my Home Theater

[witchdoctor]

My goal was to get my space to sound as close to a studio's mixing stage or private screening room as possible. When I looked at selecting speakers I always had to consider three additional items for my budget, the amps needed to power them, the rack that needs to hold the amp (s) and the wires needed to connect them. I don't think selecting speakers can be considered without matching them to the best type of amp. For most people in HT that would be a receiver. I started looking at what was available and found a review that struck a chord with me for Paradigm's Active Reference speakers and they also had the same line in a passive version. The measurements and specs for the active speakers blew away the passive version in every parameter.
When you buy a good amp you need to spend and if you BIAMP your speakers you spend double. My active speakers were biamped internally which saved me $$$$ as well as the real estate needed for additional amps. The amps in the speakers are chosen to match the individual drivers by the speakers designers. That takes the guess work out of matching an amp. Active speakers use active crossovers which I prefer over passive crossovers in my system, YMMV. When I built my first system it was 5.1 and I considered all of the active speaker benefits ancillary. Now it has grown to 9.2.7 and I consider the benefits monumental just on the savings of additional amps and speaker wire alone. Not to mention the real estate saved on racks of amps and if I had to biamp all those speakers it would be impossible. There are good active speaker manufacturers who are members here and Gene has reviews on several. If you are considering active speakers for your HT you may not need the type that have DAC's inside. just the amps.

 

[MalVeauX]

My goal was to get my space to sound as close to a studio's mixing stage

What do you mean by this? A mixing stage for studio work is the opposite of what you'd want to use for listening to a movie playback. But maybe you mean something different?

Active speakers are finally getting some market beyond little dinky monitors. It's a good thing. I won't rave over the components, they're mostly no more special than any separate system. The point is convenience and simplifying things, less cables, etc and much easier to go wireless.

Very best,

 

[witchdoctor]

I meant more like the screening room they use rather than a mixing desk, here is the Aurotorium they use at Galaxy Studios:
https://www.galaxystudios.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/aurotorium.jpg

Mixing Immersive Audio at Abbey Road Studios. My speaker setup looks nearly identical except the monster subs on the ceiling. Notice how the MLP is equidistant from each speaker instead of a typical living room setup with the sofa in the back of the room or like you see in the dolby setup diagram for atmos. That paid huge dividends when I moved the MLP forward so the front and rear channels are equidistant in my room. They also use active speakers, Neumann I believe:

 

[witchdoctor]

I had to use tall stands like in the picture for height channels because active speakers are so heavy. Obviously my room is a lot smaller so I had to dial it in a bit. I chose to use passive speakers on the ceiling for the VOG/ Top Middle channel as I don't have outlets on the ceiling to plug in active speakers .I consulted with Paradigm to choose the passive speakers that would most closely match my active speakers and it worked out fine. Do you notice how all of the height channels are NOT mounted in the ceiling pointing straight down but instead mounted above the associated bed channel and tilted at the MLP? That works GREAT in my room.

 

[witchdoctor]

Nice interview of the engineers at Abbey Road about mixing Pink Floyd's immersive audio in that room in the pic:

 

[lovinthehd]

Let's see, should I consider a witchydoctor thread on such a subject without the specific input of the silly cabling necessary to make it sound right? Not being consistent, witchy?