Active Speakers, Without Built-in Amps

Posted by: Allante93 on 07 January 2016

Naim Ovator 800/600

DBL’S
IBL’S
NBL’S
SBL’S

LINN ISOBARIKS PMS/DMS

When Active speakers are mentioned on the Forum, the above list immediately comes to mind, I’ve heard mention of the XD line from Dynaudio, Meridian's DSP range and the Exakt from Linn. Do they fit the above criteria, of not having built-in Amps?

I'd be interested to see what Naim/Focal could do with a system built around active speakers without built-in amps, in which case one could take advantage of Naim’s Amps!

What does ATC, and PMC bring to this Party?

Can they be added to the above list?

I did look up a $134K pair of PMC’s but they had built in Amps!

What is Naim's Strong suit?

Naim amps can swing transients in a way other similarly powered amps just cannot do.

What is Naim's Achilles heel?

Most would agree, lack of Power!

“Naim NAP500 At £18,000 this ought to be the creme of the power amplifiers but alas it lacks the magic of the NAP300 or NAP250 and despite it's enourmous extruded heatsinks it still gets hot with very little provoking. It is a bridged amplifier design largely due to Naim's fixation with using just two output devices. Despite being bridged it still only manages a very modest 140 WPC.”

Naim's cater to that is the ability to go Active( bi amp/tri amp).

Purpose of the Post is to see what Direction The Focal/Naim Merger might take us in.

“Focal has mostly loudspeaker experience but they also have powered speakers and automotive amplifiers. Naim is skilled at making compact, clean amplifiers and digital gear, so they can help further develop the amplifiers used in the Focal lines. Focal also produces powered subwoofers of course and all need amp modules, so having a top quality source is a good thing. They also push the envelope with regard to state of the art loudspeaker innovations and we might find an active x-over or powered woofer, etc in use in their home loudspeakers as well as pro monitors.”

It appears that both Naim and Focal can benefit from the Merger, Hence a win win scenario. It’s been stated that to do active properly a company has to be controlling both loudspeakers and amplifiers at a high performance level. There are very few manufacturers that are successful in both markets.

It will be interesting to watch developments as to whether the Focal/Naim Merger leads to more or less active systems?

Thanks In Advance for your Input!

The Armchair QB!

Posted on: 07 January 2016 by sheffieldgraham

The problem as I understand it is that the "active crossover" i.e. BMR SNAXO has to be tailored to a specific speaker. A FOCAL/NAIM combination in future maybe, but I think it wold be difficult with other speaker manufacturers.

Perhaps that's why such as ATC do their own thing.

Posted on: 07 January 2016 by Claus-Thoegersen

Audiovector the 3 and 6 series, I forget the current letters, all fit in here. Snaxo can be customed to work with all these models.

Claus

Posted on: 07 January 2016 by Huge

Err!, that's an oxymoron. If a speaker doesn't have any active devices in it, it's a passive device... by definition!

You can have active speakers (e.g. ATC do them), and you can have speakers without passive crossovers, intended for use with active crossovers and separate amps.

Posted on: 07 January 2016 by Allante93

Naim Ovator 800/600

DBL’S

IBL’S

NBL’S

SBL’S

LINN ISOBARIKS PMS/DMS

AUDIOVECTOR, 3 and 6 series

"Audiovector the 3 and 6 series, I forget the current letters, all fit in here. Snaxo can be customed to work with all these models."

Thanks, Claus choice is a good thing, perhaps this list will propel Focal's R&D Team!

Like Reply (0 Likes) Take Act

Posted on: 07 January 2016 by Eloise

Huge posted:
Err!, that's an oxymoron. If a speaker doesn't have any active devices in it, it's a passive device... by definition!
You can have active speakers (e.g. ATC do them), and you can have speakers without passive crossovers, intended for use with active crossovers and separate amps.

Well yes and no ... Active and Passive with respect to speakers simply refers to the type of crossover it uses - active (line level device prior to amplification) or passive (high powered device after amplification).

Separately a speaker can be powered (or unpowered). But not all speakers with an amplifier built in are active.

ATC do a couple of speakers with external amplification though iirc the amplifier for that is multi-channel with the cross over built in. PMC do a set of speakers with an external crossover and then Bryston amplification (akin to the Naim SNAXO + NAP setups). Linn equally have some active speaker systems with external amplification and you can even get a set of B&W 802D2 modified to use Linn crossover and amplification. B&W of course also do their Nautilus speakers which have an external crossover supplied and need 4 channels of amplification per speaker.

Most active speakers however are also powered.

Posted on: 07 January 2016 by Allante93

Any Naim Active Systems out there using Naim Amps & Naim Snaxo with any other speakers not included in the following list:

Naim Ovator 800/600

DBL’S

IBL’S

NBL’S

SBL’S

LINN ISOBARIKS PMS/DMS

AUDIOVECTOR, 3 and 6 series

Wow, looks like a short list!