Active speakers
This is a speaker with a build in amplification.
A lot of speakers targeting the desktop are build this way.
This is a matter of space saving.
Technically they don’t differ from a passive speaker with an external amplifier as the crossover is done in the traditional way, a filter between the amp and the drivers.
Active crossover
Sound quality can improve by using an active crossover.
The crossover is done before the signal enters the power amp.
This allows the implementation of better and steeper filters because now active components can be used instead of passive components only.
It also allows for correction of differences in phase.
More on active crossover can be found here.
A logical consequence: you need an amp per driver.
DSP
Active or passive, you have an analogue circuit in your signal chain.
The next step is to replace this circuit by DSP (Digital Signal Processing).
This allows you to program any type of filter you like.
As you have DSP on board, the crossover is often combined with correction of the frequency response, room correction, placement, etc.
This requires a DAC + amp per driver.
Sounds expensive but today electronic components are very cheap.
That beautifully machined aluminum box containing the electronics is probably the most expensive part!
DSP is Digital
DSP can only be done on digital signals.
If your audio is digital, applying the DSP straight on the digital source is the way to go.
This requires a digital input on the speaker.
Some of these systems use DSP but have analogue input only.
This requires AD conversion.
If your audio is digital, you need an external DAC to do the DA conversion.
This analogue signal is converted to digital, DSP is applied and then it is converted to analogue to be feed into the power amp.
A couple of conversions to many.
Active speakers with active crossover are rare.
Well, not really. If you look at the pro-world, a lot of studio monitors
are active.
But active systems targeting home audio are a bit hard to find.
I wonder what the differences between the pro-monitors and the domesticated versions really are, choice in veneer?
If I tell you there is an active system
- Digital input over the network
- AD converter for analogue input
- Equalization in DSP
- 4th-order Linkwitz-Riley crossover in DSP
- 4 DAC’s + 1 for the woofer
- 4 class D amplifiers
- Headphone amp
- 2 woofers + 2 tweeters
You don’t expect it to cost $300,-, don’t you.
ADAM Tensor Gamma
| System | 4 way active system |
| Price | $ 19,400 (pair?) |
| Frequency response | 26Hz - 50kHz (± 3dB) |
| Cabinet |
|
| Digital input | N/A |
| Analogue input | Balanced (XLR) |
| Amp | PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) 4 x 250 / 350W |
| Crossover | ? |
ADAM S2X
| System | 2 way active nearfield monitor |
| Price | Active: $2600 (pair) |
| Frequency response | 35Hz - 50kHz (± 3dB) |
| Cabinet | Bass reflex |
| Digital input | Can be optionally retrofitted with a 24 bit/192 kHz D/A Converter featuring an AES/EBU (XLR) and a SPDIF (RCA) inputs as well as a R/L/Mono switch. |
| Analogue input | Balanced (XLR) |
| Amp | A/B Woofer: 250W / 300W |
| Crossover | ? |
ATC SCM20SL ATS
| System | 2 way active system |
| Price | $ 12.000 (pair) |
| Frequency Response | 80Hz–17kHz (±2dB) 60Hz–22kHz (±6dB) Matched Response :±0.5dB |
| Dispersion | ±80° Coherent Horizontal, ±10° Coherent Vertical |
| Digital input | N/A |
| Analogue input | Balanced (XLR) |
| Amp | 200w LF, 50w HF |
| Crossover | Active Frequency : 2.8kHz |
ATC SCM20ASL Pro
| System | 2 way active monitor
|
| Price | $ 7.000 USD (pair) |
| Frequency Response | 80Hz–17kHz (±2dB) |
| Cabinet | Sealed |
| Dispersion | ±80° Coherent Horizontal, ±10° Coherent Vertical |
| Digital input | N/A |
| Analogue input | Balanced (XLR) |
| Amp | 200w LF, 50w HF |
| Crossover | 2.8 kHz, Even Order Critically Damped |
AVI ADM9.1
| System | 2 way active |
| Price | £ 1125 (Pair) |
| Frequency Response | 100 Hz - 20 kHz (± 2 dB) |
| Cabinet | Bass reflex |
| Digital input | Toslink DAC Wolfson 24/192 |
| Analogue input | RCA |
| Amp | Tweeter 75 wpc Woofer 250 wpc |
| Crossover | Type:4th order discrete analogue Freq: 3400 Hz |
Barefoot MicroMain 27
| Description | 3-way active monitor with integral subs. "nearfield on steroids™" |
| Price | $ 4,650.00 USD (1 piece) |
| Digital input | N/A |
| Frequency Response | 38 Hz - 20 kHz (± 1.5 dB) |
| Bass Response | -3 dB @ 33 Hz Q = 0.707 Slope: 12 dB/octave |
| Cabinet | 32 liters total internal volume, Sealed sub enclosure, Individual sealed midbass enclosures, Machined aluminum front baffle plate |
| Crossover Frequencies | 110/2500 Hz |
| Tweeter | 1" soft dome, Rear waveguide chamber Power: 60 W |
| Dual Midbasses | 5" poly cones, Sealed rear waveguide enclosures Power: 250 W |
| Dual Subwoofers | 10" aluminum cones, 1" peak-to-peak linear excursion Power: 500 W |
| AC Power Input | Nominal 115 VAC or 230 VAC selectable |
| Power Consumption | Idle: 30W, Maximum: 675W |
| Weight | Speaker: 71 lbs each (32 kg) Shipping: 79 lbs each (36 kg) |
| Dimensions HxWxD | 20.5 x 9.5 x 15.25 inches (521 x 241 x 387 mm) |
B&O Beolab 5
| System | Active 4 way system
|
| Price | $16,000 USD (pair) |
| Cabinet | Sealed Acoustic lens (mid/treble) |
| Digital input | 2 x Digital IEC 60958 (32/44.1/48/88.2kHz) (SPDIF) |
| Analogue input | phono socket 24-bit/96kHz A/D converter |
| Amp | Class D, ICEpower Lower bass:1,000W |
| Crossover | 32-bit Sharc 2 DSP Adaptive bass control |
B&W MM-1
Desktop speakers
| System | 2 way active |
| Price | € 499/set |
| Cabinet | ABS with spun aluminium top plate |
| Digital input | Mini USB B 2.0 for PC connection: Streaming & software upgrades |
| Analogue input | 3.5mm mini jack |
| Amp | 4 x 18W Class D |
| Frequency range | -6dB at 57Hz and 22kHz |
| Drive units | 2x f75mm (3.0 in) woofers 2x f25mm (1.0 in) tweeter |
| Dimension | Height 170mm Width 100mm Depth 100mm |
| Crossover | DSP |
Blue Sky System 0ne
| System | 2.1 way active |
| Price | € 2000,- |
| Cabinet | Sealed |
| Digital input | N/A |
| Analogue input | Balanced (XLR) |
| Amp | 2 x 100 W sattelite 200 W Woofer |
| Crossover | Linkwitz-Riley |
Cabasse La Sphère
| System | Active 4 way system coaxial channels |
| Price | $165,000 (pair, including amplifiers) |
| Digital input | ? |
| Analogue input | 24-bit/48kHz Analog Devices AD1938 |
| Amp | External (ICE power class D) 1000 W Woofer 1000 W Lower midrange 300 W midrange 300 W tweeter |
| Crossover | Analog Devices 32-bit floating-point SHARC DAC: 1 per channels (AD1938) |
Dynaudio Focus 110A
| System | 2 way active |
| Price | € 2450 (Pair) |
| Frequency Response | 45 Hz - 21 kHz (± 3 dB) |
| Cabinet | Bass reflex |
| Digital input | N/A |
| Analogue input | RCA |
| Amp | Tweeter: 50 W Woofer: 50 W |
| Crossover | Freq: 1300 Hz Slope: 6dB/oct |
Emerald Physics CS1
| System | 2-Way |
| Price | $15,000 |
| Cabinet | Open baffle dipole speaker below 750Hz, Monopole above 750Hz |
| Digital input | n/a |
| Analogue input | n/a |
| Amp | your own |
| Crossover | Behringer DCX2496 Analog input or AES digital input CRYSTAL®/AKM® A/D & D/A converter |
A semi active speaker as is comes without the amps.
The Behringer connects to a PC for easy configuration.
Free
| System | 2 way active
|
| Price | £ 3000 (Pair) |
| Cabinet | Transmission line |
| Digital input | N/A |
| Analogue input | RCA / Mini-jack |
| Amp | Class D (Hypex) Tweeter: 50 W Woofer: 100 W |
| Crossover | AD 24-bits/96kHz DSP (digital signal processor) |
The Free™ loudspeakers has an internal void within the cabinet, and a number of connections for a WiFi unit (such as a SONOS™ ZP80s or Apple™ Airport Express). Internal connections allows a WiFi unit to be installed within the speaker and connected to the internal amplifier providing a single channel of audio per speaker. WiFi can be added to both speakers for a complete wire free setup.
Speaker design by PMC
Geithain ME220K
| System | 3 way active |
| Price | € 6330 (piece incl 19% VAT) |
| Frequency Response | 35 Hz...20 kHz |
| Cabinet | cardioid radiation characteristic in bass range |
| Digital input | N/A |
| Analogue input | XLR |
| Amplifier | MOSFET-amplifier Nominal output power |
| Crossover | 700 Hz and 3.0 kHz |
| Dimensions (H x W x D) | 600 x 405 x 400 mm |
Genelec 6040A
| System | 2 way active |
| Price | $ 4700 (Pair) |
| Frequency Response | 47 Hz - 20 kHz (-6 dB point at 43 Hz) |
| Cabinet | Bass reflex |
| Digital input | N/A |
| Analogue input | RCA/XLR |
| Amp | Tweeter: 120 W Woofer: 120 W |
| Crossover | Active |
Goldmund Logos Mini Active
Link to the product on the Goldmund website is dead.
Price probably $50,000.00
A user review can be found here
Grimm LS1
| System | 2 way active |
| Price | N/A |
| Frequency Response | 55Hz-22kHz ±0.5dB. 45Hz-30kHz -3dB |
| Cabinet | Sealed |
| Digital input | XLR 24 bit/32kHz to 192kHz sampling rates ASRC |
| Analogue input | Yes 24 bit/187kHz AD |
| Amp | Class D (Hypex UcD) Tweeter: 120W Woofer: 120 W |
| Crossover | DSP 48-bit unit with a 76-bit accumulator. Crossover function: 1.2kHz LR4, sum corrected to |
Holm Acoustic 
SP1
Active ready 3 way system.
SP 1 comes without crossover.
You need an external active crossover.
SP2
| System | 3 way active |
| Price | |
| Frequency Response | |
| Cabinet | sealed box per speaker |
| Digital input | - |
| Analogue input | 3 x RCA |
| Amp | ICEpower Tweeter 120W, Mid 120W and Bass 450W |
| Crossover | Build in active analog. Can be bypassed to use an external active crosover. |
Klein + Hummel O 500 C
| System | 3 way active |
| Price | € 6.719,10 (Piece, VAT excl) |
| Frequency Response | 27 Hz - 20 kHz, ± 3 dB |
| Cabinet | Bass reflex |
| Digital input | AES/ EBU and S/P-DIF digital input |
| Analogue input | XLR 24 Bit stacked AD, Delta Sigma 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz sampling rate |
| Amp | class A/B: 400 W for bass, 230 W for midrange, 290 W for treble Remote control |
| Crossover | DSP Integrated digital controller with the FIR Filter technology. The FIR-controller simultaneously manages the crossover, equalization, and limiter functions as well as the complete protection of the power amplifiers. |
Klangwerk Ella
| System | 2 way active 1 tweeter 3 midrange/woofers |
| Price | € 9,400 (pair) |
| Frequency Response | 39Hz-22000Hz (-6dB) |
| Cabinet | 1050 x 210 x 170mm |
| Digital input |
|
| Analogue input | XLR |
| Amp | 40 + 30 W rms |
| Crossover | 1500Hz Electronics by PSI (see below) |
Linkwitz Lab Orion
| System | Full-range open-baffle loudspeaker |
| Price | start at $8200 (pair) |
| Speakers | Tweeter - Seas T25CF002 - 1.4 kHz to 20 kHz Midrange - Seas W22EX001 - 120 Hz to 1.4 kHz Woofer - 2 x Peerless 10" XLS, 830452 - 20 Hz to 120 Hz |
| Digital input | n/a |
| Analogue input | n/a |
| Amp | 8 x 60 W power amplifiers - AT6012 recommended |
| Crossover | 3-way active Crossover/Equalizer LR4 crossover filters (24 dB/oct acoustic) |
DIY also possible.
ASP/crossover assembled and tested: $1030
Flat pack kit with everything needed to build the boxes, including wiring harness: $1300
Drivers: 4 tweeters, 2 mids, 4 woofers: $1850
12 channel ATI amp: $1800
Linkwitz Lab Pluto 2.1
| System | Omni-directional 2-way Acoustic frequency response: 60 Hz to 15 kHz 12 dB/octave roll-off below 60 Hz, Omni-directional radiation below 3 kHz |
| Price | $2995 |
| Cabinet | 4 inch and 1.5 inch or equivalent metric PVC or ABS plumbing pipesend associated end caps, knees and pipe couplers |
| Digital input | n/a |
| Analogue input | RCA? |
| Amp | Woofer amplifier 150 W peak, Tweeter amplifier 50 W peak |
| Crossover | Equalized woofer and tweeter response, Crossover at 1000 Hz, LR4 (24 dB/oct) |
DIY possible.
Subwoofers also available
Manger MSM C1
| System | 2 way active |
| Price | € 7413,70 (pair) |
| Cabinet | Sealed 495 x 270 x 424mm 30 kg |
| Digital input | - |
| Analogue input | XLR |
| Frequency Range | 30Hz - 40kHz |
| Speakers | HF: Manger Sound Transducer, bandwidth 80 - 40kHz, risetime 13µs LF: 200mm fibreglass-Polyester sandwich cone, 38mm voice-coil |
| Amp | LF: 250W at 8Ohms, 400W at 4Ohms (with optional LF-Module) |
| Crossover | Frequency: 330Hz |
Meridian DSP 5200
| System | '2 1/2-way' active |
| Price | £ 13990 (pair) |
| Cabinet | "2 1/2-way" acoustic reflex system. Single-port |
| Digital input | S/PDIF digital input, 32kHz–96kHz sampling rates at up to 24 bit |
| Analogue input | N/A |
| Amp | Three 75W power amplifiers, one for each driver |
| DSP | 150MIPS digital signal processor. Digital crossover at 2.6kHz. Response correction for the whole system. Bass protection. User tone controls. Analogue/digital volume and phase control. |
PMC AML1
| System | 2 way active monitor. |
| Price | $ 9.000 USD(pair) |
| Frequency Response | Useable frequency range: 33Hz-25kHz |
| Cabinet | Transmission line |
| Digital input | N/A |
| Analogue input | XLR |
| Amp | Bryston LF 100W RMS |
| Crossover | 1.4kHz, 24dB/octave |
PMC also has a product line targeting consumer HiFi but these are all
passive.
They do provide the speaker system for the Free.
Parrot Zikmu
| System | 2 way NXT panel + woofer |
| Price | € 1200,- (pair) |
| Frequency Response | 50-20.000 Hz |
| Digital input | Bluetooth/WiFi(b/g)/iPod |
| Analogue input | RCA |
| Amp | 3 channel Class D |
| Crossover | DSP |
PSI Audio Active 215M
| System | 2 way active mastering monitor.
|
| Price | € 2.000 (single) |
| Frequency Response | Response at -6dB 36 - 23000 Hz Tolerances ±2 dB (42Hz - 20kHz |
| Cabinet | |
| Digital input | N/A |
| Analogue input | XLR |
| Amp | 120 + 40 W Class G |
| Crossover | 1.8 kHz |
Compensated Phase Response
The CPR system consists of several all pass filters who each act in a specific range of frequency in order to obtain a wide area of Compensated Phase Response. This then provides a constant group delay.
Adaptive Output Impedance system
The AOI system is constituted by a detection of the movement of the membrane and the moving coil, as well as by a counter reaction filtering. Therefore the damping rate is continuously ideally adjusted according to the frequency. The AOI circuitry is almost capable of reproducing a square wave and therefore increases accuracy by marring the transducer and the amplifier in to a perfect couple. A nice side effect of the AOI system is that the membranes of a PSI speaker do not produce parasite sounds when other speaker systems in the room are in use. When air pressure is produced by other sources than the PSI speakers the AOI will detect this and tighten the damping of its transducers in order not to produce parasite sounds not originating by the speaker system in use.
Sonicweld pulserod/subpulse
| System | Active system with 13 drivers and 2 subwoofers. Sealed enclosure, highpass array features dedicated, sealed sub-enclosure |
| Price | $ 99,990.00 USD |
| Amp | 3 ICEpower 200W switching amplifiers 1100W ICEpower (woofer) |
| DSP | The Pulserod is designed to function exclusively with the digital technology of the DEQX PDC (www.deqx.com), |
VLSI Solution Oy - DSPeaker Servo 299
What's in a name?
If you call your product DSPeaker, you use DSP to control the Speaker as much as possible.
| System | 2 way active |
| Price | € 942.00 (single) |
| Frequency Response | 32 - 21000Hz (6dB) |
| Cabinet | Sealed, active suspension |
| Digital input | N/A |
| Analogue input | Balanced XLR (alternatively RCA) 3.5mm AntiModeTM microphone jack |
| Amp | Tweeter: 90 W Woofer: 90 W Current feedback |
| Crossover | DSP - 2150Hz, LinearPhase Servo controlled bass Room correction |