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 about active crossovers..

 

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

You don’t expect it to cost $300,-, don’t you.

 

Squeezebox Boom


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 ARTist 6

System

 
Price Available 2011
Frequency response 48 Hz - 50 kHz
THD 90dB/1m > 100 Hz ≤0.6 %
Long term output ≥103 dB
Max. peak ≥111 dB
Speakers

ART tweeter

2 mid/woofer
Cabinet

 
Digital input

-
Analogue input XLR / RCA
Amp

3 x 25 W / 40 W A/B
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
Class A (to 2/3 max power)

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
Class A (to 2/3 max power)

Crossover

2.8 kHz, Even Order Critically Damped

Avantgarde acoustic - Solo

 

System

Active coaxial 2–way horn

Price $ 12.000 USD (pair)
Frequency Response 30 - 20,000 Hz
Cabinet coaxial 2–way horn
Digital input

N/A
Analogue input XLR/RCA
Amp

250 Watt A/B
Crossover

2,000 Hz, 6 dB/Octave

 

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
Upper bass: 1,000W
Mid-range: 250W
Treble: 250W
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 binding post
Amp

your own
Crossover 

Behringer DCX2496

Analog input or AES digital input
32-bit SHARC®-DSP

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

Review

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 
LF 180 Watt / 4 Ohm
MF 100 Watt / 4 Ohm
HF 100 Watt / 4 Ohm
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
minimum phase.

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)
HF:180W at 8Ohms
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
HF 80W 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

Bass reflex

W x H x D mm : 166 x 1110 x 250
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
©Vincent Kars