Active Speakers

Phelonious Ponk

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Why aren´t active speaker fans commenting this perfect speaker? : :confused:

*500W bass balanced , lateral acting opposed-piston sub woofer , closed box, with phase and safe operating area corrected dynamically
*three way active
*low diffraction spherical enclosure form
*wirelessly connected and controlled streaming music box

*inexpensive

I don't know. What is it?

Tim
 

wisnon

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The active speakers I have had here have been awesome, top of the line Genelec 8260a's with their matching 7027 subs, DRC software includes, perfect integration between mains and subs, they were followed by the Grimm LS1's active again,DSP crossovers
again perfect sub integration, DSP to correct phase and driver anomalies ,and they excited the room far less than the Gens,
the LS1's are also far more convenient for the domestic user, proper remote, async USB, built in dac and A/D.
Next month the new Kii THREE arrives, cardiod bass, small form factor, full range and inexpensive, Audio just declared them the best measuring loudspeaker in their thirty year history, exciting stuff.
Keith.
Keith,

You rep Kii…arent the supposed to be beetter than the Grimms?
 

microstrip

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wisnon

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Haven't heard them. They're perfect how?

Not perfect at all, but a lot of fun.

Here is what I said after my demo of the Silver Phantoms at another forum:
I finally got to hear them. A single White on Friday and a stereo pair of Silvers yesterday and I must say…they are FUN!

If not audiophile obsessed, a pair of Silvers could be endgame. Yes, they lack ultimate resolution in mids and upper mids… but the HF was pretty good and the bass can be a bit fat/exaggerated, but overall they work very well and can ROCK. Perfect party speakers too and they scale up nicely to 32 units playing in concert with each other. They passed the "cricket test" with Chris Jones-Roadhouses cut and were lovely with Thriller and Keith Dont Go. Rosanna's guitar rift was also very pleasing, but lacked that extra resolution of the "unfair to compare to" Goldmund Anatta (where you could hear the performers murmuring to each other).

All in all for CHF4K for a pair of Silver, I found it extremely competitive for the price and tempting in its simplicity. Easy to love…and I was prepared to not like them as much as I did. As a 2nd system…(or 2nd home) like in a Lake Cabin or a Chalet… it's a no-brainer. Sonos on steroids.

What I would expect to see soon is that swanky bars and clubs will adopt them as near turnkey scalable solutions, given that they are easily wall mounted with a dedicated optional bracket.

The Silver weighed more than I thought just looking at them and ran a bit hot at the back vents. Me Likey!
 

wisnon

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I posted a PDF of the Kii THREE review, in the 'advancing the state of the art ' thread ( speakers).
It is in German ,I will post the English versions soon as I have it.
Keith.

Thank you. I know you are eagerly awiting their arrival. The German review is raving about them.
So we have 4 in the full wireless game now (only needing computer and speaker box) at very different price points, high/medium/low for Goldmund/Kii/Dev Phantom-Dynaudio Xeos. I cant recall if the Linn Xact is also wireless.
 

microstrip

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Phelonious Ponk

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The Devialet Phantom from France.

Are these even active? I just scanned their white paper and specs, and found no mention of multiple power amplifiers per unit. If there are not separate amps for each driver and an active crossover between them, they are not active speakers, they are powered speakers with a single amp and a passive crossover.

They may be a great accomplishment in their own right, but they have none of the core advantages of active design.

Tim
 

wisnon

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Wisnon Hi, what does the review say, ( forgive my ignorance of the German language) the figures allotted in the summary appear pretty impressive.
To answer your earlier question Chris of Kii says they are better than the LS1's and he is familiar with the Grimms as he used to work for them!
But as the CEO of Kii he would say that wouldn't he!
KR Keith.

Keith, My German is weak as well, but here is the discussion about the review by German speakers like Hans:
http://audioshark.org/speakers-10/kii-audio-three-7561.html
 

Phelonious Ponk

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Sorry to repeat myself, but can anyone answer the question are the Devielet speakers active. I could find no mention of separate amps for each driver or electronic crossovers on their web site or white paper.

Tim
 

microstrip

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Sorry to repeat myself, but can anyone answer the question are the Devielet speakers active. I could find no mention of separate amps for each driver or electronic crossovers on their web site or white paper.

Tim

Tim,

Martin Colloms reported that the Pahntoms are three way filtered active speakers in his blog when writing his review. The internal photos of the Phantom do not show any passive filtering components, just SMD boards. This link (sorry in French) reports four ADH amplifiers per Phantom. http://www.cnetfrance.fr/produits/devialet-phantom-39811439.htm

Advanced Google can do wonders in two minutes!
 

853guy

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Aug 14, 2013
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Tim,

Martin Colloms reported that the Pahntoms are three way filtered active speakers in his blog when writing his review. The internal photos of the Phantom do not show any passive filtering components, just SMD boards. This link (sorry in French) reports four ADH amplifiers per Phantom. http://www.cnetfrance.fr/produits/devialet-phantom-39811439.htm

Advanced Google can do wonders in two minutes!

From what I can gather, there are 8 mono ADH amplifiers per Phantom, but they're bridged, one for each of the four drivers (two bass drivers, one co-axial midrange/tweeter). The SAM module takes care of crossover points/slopes and driver optimisation in the digital domain.
 

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