Is that still ongoing?There are other ways of enjoying the hobby, e.g. the pleasure of waiting for crowd-funded DACs.
How many active speakers will still be fully functional 20yrs from now?
How many active speakers will still be fully functional 20yrs from now?
if you mean modern integrated solutions in which all the electronics are inside the speaker and it uses DSP, class D and SMPSU's then few or non. If they use more "old fashioned" tech then they should last for years and if all the electronics and power amps are outside the speaker, as in conventional passive speakers, they should be maintainable for years in the same way as any passive speaker and amplifier.
I owned a pair of MEG RL-904s for a while. A very decent near/mid-field two-way. Beautifully made in every respect with really nice solidly and traditionally built class AB amp packs and active crossovers on swing-out chassis at the cabinet rear. Really flawless construction in every way as one would expect on what is actually a very expensive studio monitor. The only thing I didn’t like the look of was the sheer number of internal alignment and calibration settings, so whilst these are technically just as well made and long-term serviceable as say an old Quad amp, really they would still need a return to base (Germany) as they’d need recalibrating in MEG’s anechoic chamber or whatever to get back to factory spec. It is just not the sort of thing a third-party service could deal with. I’d be curious to see if ATC, Neumann etc are just the same.
s/active/electrostatic
It's all a matter of perspective. I won't sell my Adam actives, which have never let me down and are hugely superior to most speakers of their size. However, I currently am going through an electrostatic love-affair and can't understand why they aren't more popular. Apart from the size. And cost. And fragility. And lack of bass (allegedly). And resemblance to mid-century electric heaters. And tendency to bring many's an amp to its knees. And extreme sweet-spot-or-owt presentation. And the inescapable sense of doing something that aligns with allotments, pipe smoking and the light programme....
Haha, that's why I run second and third systems... plus a fourth for my teenage daughter.I’m happy only when I’m unhappy with my system and fiddling with it. Of course, the converse is true, too.
Joe
...really they would still need a return to base (Germany) as they’d need recalibrating in MEG’s anechoic chamber or whatever to get back to factory spec. It is just not the sort of thing a third-party service could deal with. I’d be curious to see if ATC, Neumann etc are just the same.
and the likelihood of the expensive smoke escaping, taking people with itI did mention that it should be possible to build active, motional feedback, directly coupled without transformers electrostatic speakers (which should be quite something) in a thread on panel speakers a few weeks back but it didn't provoke any comment IIRC... Probably its not been done due to the likely cost of the R&D involved relative to the likely returns from such an expensive niche market product...
That pleasure used to be spoilt by the constant nagging worry that it would be ruined at a stroke by the delivery of the dac. I’m much more relaxed about that nowThere are other ways of enjoying the hobby, e.g. the pleasure of waiting for crowd-funded DACs.
and the likelihood of the expensive smoke escaping, taking people with it
It's on my to-do list...
WOuld you really want a speaker with the equivalent of the Audiolab 8200M's in them - woild weigh a ton or 2