Why are there so little "active hifi speakers"

[Pomfinator]

I've recently begun auditioning a pair of Audioengine 5+'s, which got me thinking, why are there such a dearth of "active hifi speakers". There are so many active studio monitors, and plenty of passive hifi speakers, but why is the "active hifi" market very sparse?

 

Off the top of my head I can only name a couple of good ones, the Audioengine A5+, the Swan M200s/H4, and the Aktimate Mini.

 

I know one of the answers is going to be "just get a T-amp and some bookshelves," but in the end I'm just a consumer who likes convenience.

 

Would you pay more for powered versions of a passive speaker setup you own? Or are you satisfied with the status quo?

[EmoRarity]

There are plenty of active monitors, even Samson makes a few. 

[kazuu91]

i can really recommend Genelecs G-series even the G one. they cost a lot of money and you should really go try them out somewhere, but i still haven't found any better active monitors for 400€

[mr moose]

Because from a manufacturing point of view it is significantly cheaper to incorporate the amp into the source where there is already a power supply requirement, rather than having the source (cd player/radio etc) requiring power then each speaker also requiring power.   The reason so many monitors are power is because most studio setups are custom, sometimes there is a dedicated amp for the monitors and sometimes there isn't but usually the source (main mixer/pc) will only have a balanced or line level out.   You'll note most home pc speakers are active because just like studio work there is very little pc/recording mixers with amps in them.

[Pomfinator]

Because from a manufacturing point of view it is significantly cheaper to incorporate the amp into the source where there is already a power supply requirement, rather than having the source (cd player/radio etc) requiring power then each speaker also requiring power.   The reason so many monitors are power is because most studio setups are custom, sometimes there is a dedicated amp for the monitors and sometimes there isn't but usually the source (main mixer/pc) will only have a balanced or line level out.   You'll note most home pc speakers are active because just like studio work there is very little pc/recording mixers with amps in them.

 

I understand it's probably more expensive to build or incorporate the amp inside of the speakers, but as you say, home pc speakers are almost all active/powered.  Is it just because of this fact that audio companies just don't bother with making powered setups home use? I see alot of people buying monitors like the Rokits and then just using them for listening, as good as Rokits may sound, it still irks me that PC users seeking good audio are literally backed into a corner with the only ways out with plenty of choice being active monitors or passive bookshelfs.

 

Also, to the people above, I know there are plenty of monitors, I'm inquiring about plain old speakers, which aren't designed for production use but home-listening.

[mr moose]

I understand it's probably more expensive to build or incorporate the amp inside of the speakers, but as you say, home pc speakers are almost all active/powered.  Is it just because of this fact that audio companies just don't bother with making powered setups home use? I see alot of people buying monitors like the Rokits and then just using them for listening, as good as Rokits may sound, it still irks me that PC users seeking good audio are literally backed into a corner with the only ways out with plenty of choice being active monitors or passive bookshelfs.

 

Also, to the people above, I know there are plenty of monitors, I'm inquiring about plain old speakers, which aren't designed for production use but home-listening.

 

For most domestic products the customer wants clutter free and easy, the less cables and power plugs the better. In the consumer audio world form over function always sells better.  Just take a walk through your local hifi shop and look at all the speakers that now have flashing led lights, fancy chrome handles and bling stapled all over them.  They make no difference to the sound but they sell much better because of it.  If it's cheap to make and easy to sell then that's all we'll see.  Don't even get me started on the issues with logitech and similar styles of pc speakers.

 

When it comes to better audio for my pc I have mine connected to a receiver amp which powers my speakers. To be honest I have never really been bothered by the lack of powered speakers, however I can see where they would be great for pc's. 

[ShearMe]

Also, to the people above, I know there are plenty of monitors, I'm inquiring about plain old speakers, which aren't designed for production use but home-listening.

 

Do you mean like, at a TV? I assume most people that don't use a HTIB have an AVR so they can hook up their BluRay, Cable box, etc etc. For computer use, most people use dinky little computer speakers or whatever's built into their monitor.

 

There's a lot of little things that us music lovers want, but we aren't going to get them massproduced at a good price if it wont sell to the general populace.