Paul's Posts — 24 October 2011
By Paul McGowan
In yesterday’s post Up against the wall, we visualized how cool it would for the high-end loudspeaker guys to solve one of the biggest issues people have with a high-end system in their homes: taking up too much floor space. To solve this problem, I challenged them to design speakers to be placed 1 foot away from the rear wall – a big challenge.
I started thinking about how I would accomplish this task and the very first thing that came to mind was building everything we need into the loudspeaker so we could manage timing, phase, amplitude and all the problems likely to emerge. To do this, you’d need the speakers to be powered. But this brought up an age old question: why do powered speakers not sell?
Some companies continue to require their loudspeakers to be plugged into the wall’s AC outlet: those with built in subwoofers in particular. But there really aren’t many speakers that have built in full range amplification and that’s a shame.
From a benefit’s side it’s the right thing for designers to do. No one knows better exactly what the amplification needs of a particular loudspeaker is than the speaker manufacturer. Further, amplified speakers allow the designers to make better crossovers, tri-amplification and all the good cool things one might want to do. But they don’t sell.
I think there are a few reasons for this. First would be our penchant, as Audiophiles, to want to tailor the sound the way we want through equipment choices. Tube amplifiers give a warmer sound, big solid state amps deliver authoritative performances and so on. Mixing and matching equipment to achieve our personalized sound preferences is a big part of the high-end and a powered speaker precludes the ability to do this.
Second would be that asking the preamplifier to drive a long interconnect, sometimes over 20 to 30 feet, is a task every preamp isn’t suited for (in fact, most aren’t). I am sure there are more but those probably cover the majority.
So here’s another challenge to the industry.
With the advent of streaming network audio system solutions like our PerfectWave DAC and Linn’s DS system growing and proliferating into high-end consciousness, wouldn’t the ultimate solution be a pair of loudspeakers, up against the wall – with nothing more than an AC cord attaching them to the power line – be the ultimate product to own? And if that product surpassed the performance of anything we have today, wouldn’t you want it in your home?
Maybe I am getting too far into the future and forget that people want the multiple pieces of equipment, the mix and match routine (I admit, it is fun), the constant upgrade. There will always be a place for this activity because it really empowers us to create sound systems that are unique to our personas. But could we imagine a space where we could have it all?
That might be the challenge. It sure is cool dreaming about it.
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Frode Roed
Hi, Paul,
based on your last two posts, I find it hard to believe that your so called revolutionary new patent mentioned in the PSA forum has nothing to do with this….(?)
Please leak some more
Paul McGowan
Well I can leak this much: you are correct in your assumption.
sethgodin
Paul, this reminds me of a conversation I had with Polk a hundred years ago.
I invented the device that eventually became the Sonos. But I was ahead of my time and lacked the diligence to push it all the way to market.
We did have a great meeting with Polk to license it to them. At the end of the meeting, though, their COO took me to the factory and said, “look, we’re a furniture company. That’s what we do… we cut wood.”
The challenge with powered speakers (less now, as crossovers and high tech have kicked in) is that the sort of person who makes a speaker isn’t inclined to do the heavy lifting for amp design. Not because he can’t, but because he doesn’t want to.
Over and over, that’s how companies plot their course… what gets you out of bed in the morning.
Paul McGowan
Thanks Seth I can imagine how frustrating that must have been and what a great idea it must have been. Polk is (or used to be) one of the future forward companies in our industry – but adding amps, DSP, streaming stuff to “furniture” is a big leap for speaker manufacturers that are fat and happy building boxes.
And interestingly enough your post today about form and function really spoke to this fat and happy state. If the box builders won’t, who will? Maybe some scrappy electronics guys?
sethgodin
(Just to be clear… the Sonos guys are a totally different venture, nothing to do with me, just an execution of the idea we had first).
billleebens
The pro world and the European consumer market are more accepting of powered speakers than the high end here. In the US they have proven a tough sale due to, as you mention, that audiophile desire to jigger around with everything– even if it’s to make things WORSE!
Me, I’ve dealt with enough humming and buzzing tri-amped nightmares that I’m happy to have plug and play. And so–you would think– are the non-geek music-lovers who have largely been abandoned by the American high end.
Time will tell. Maybe.
mabco99
Maybe the answer to tailoring the individuals system, Tube preamps, Solid state power amps, would be to have the software added, similar to what Studio’s and the recording industry is doing with sound. They use soft ware in there recording software to add effects to the sound. Tube mic preamps for voice, plate reverbs to add space etc. You could add the ability to download these effects into your(PS Audio’s) digital device. The individual could have an endless set of spacial effects .I know the purist is going to laugh at the idea, just like I did the first time I experienced it in the recording studio. Now I use just like others do as a tool.
Frank LaFond
This is really the cutting edge of reproduction in my mind. I’ve been using a playback engine that supports VST plugins which are ubiquitous in the studio world. This allows me to use digital room correction, parametric equalization, very high-order (as high as 100th order) crossovers, add even-order harmonics to turn my solid state amp into a tube amp, etc.. Sure, sometimes I screw up the sound, but it only costs me some time or maybe $50.00 and is trivial to undo. My friends spend thousands and sometimes get improvements, sometimes not. For me, signal processing is an indispensable part of this path.
audiofilodigital.com
Personally I have been defending active loudspeakers for years. Anybody can look at comparations between active and passive crossovers and is enough. But there is a huge market around it (why don´t they join together ?): passive loudspeakers+loudspeaker cables in the middle+amplifier.
The funny thing is that a normal active loudspeaker has, at least, 2 amplifiers working separately on each speaker). No more long loudspeaker cables in between: the specific range of frequencies amplified and sent to the speaker’s binding posts. Directly. And the final results is calibrated together. You only have to choose the best to your wallet, and then, add the DAC, interconnect cable, pc/mac/cd/SACD/digital cables or TT/cartridge/tonearm and the preamp…
Are not some of the very well-known brands, offering the active mode as the final step of perfection ?
Don’t we have enough combinations with so many separated ‘parts’ ? Are, such separated parts, better when sold separately to be matched by the end-user ? Is not time to be a little bit logics if we really want a higher-FIDELITY ? Moving forward…
Todd Bankers
I bought five Genelec powered speakers a few years back and have never regretted it.The only problem is you keep turning up the volume because they are so clear you dont realize how loud they are playing, which can get you in trouble But It’s So Worth It!!
audiofilodigital.com
Digital room correction should be the next step ( http://drc-fir.sourceforge.net/doc/drc.html)… but I can perfectly understand that, commercially, the smart ‘trick’ of allowing end-users playing/testing the eternal-trinomial ‘amplifier+anaconda-cable+loudspeaker’ is still a very profitable niche.
About VST plugins, everybody can incorporate many of them, for free, (http://free-plugin-list.com/) through Foobar (http://www.foobar2000.org/) and the proper convolver Foobar plugin ( http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Foobar2000:Components_0.9/George_Yohng%27s_VST_Wrapper_(foo_dsp_vstwrap) so when you open Foobar mediaplayer you can select which plugin you want to get into action (room-correction, headphone/listening room simulation). Many things can be done in the digital domain inside a computer, even room-correction. For free (or almost).
Nyal Mellor
Could not agree more. What might make this even more clear to people is to get one of your authors to write an educational article on passive vs. active. It just makes sense to go active at the mid and higher end of the market. Unfortunately I think that active speakers are generally not in keeping with the two channel marketplace and how dealers make money. On the home theater side 90% of the higher end solutions are active – Procella, Pro Audio Technologies, JBL Synthesis, Genelec, Wisdom, etc
audiofilodigital.com
Nyal, all has already been written (and published on my own -no commercial- blog). And not only that, but much more… maybe now, someone can understand my frustration about what was, and now what is, Hi-End Audio. While still making people spending their time (and money) on bizarre-matters, digital technology is going at light-speed up to a point that most of latest Hi-End audio ‘new’ products are no more than standard computer products but, you can be sure of this, with a super-toroidal power supply and a beautiful chassis: that is more than enough for most of end-users… now, add some cables, separated power amplifiers (still wondering… why all monoblocks are 2,5 m separated from their next natural-load -the loudspeakers- specially in Shows ? What an example of bad applied old technology !), and thousands of models of same loudspeakers (same tweeters, same woofers, …new old passive crossovers, but …new fashionable chassis !). For me, the traditional HiEnd is almost over, as it doesn´t have anything new to offer… just same old collars in different colors. Digital technology is here to fix that. Maybe we should invent a new name… Hi-Tech Audio?