Reverse-engineering my speakers' API to get reasonable volume control

For those considering buying speakers: (1) do it, (2) get passive ones and a separate amp. Honestly it’s such a mature market that buying these active speakers just creates e-waste. Keep the e-waste to the amp. You can get really solid speakers for $300 and a cheap amp with BT for $50-100, replacing them basically independently depending on your needs.

Which speakers would you recommend in that price range?

Quality active speakers very rarely break, but one should buy them from studio gear (e)shops instead of the nearest mall. I totally agree on other gimmicks that would add single points of failure and should be kept out.

I would recommend some older B&W (Bowers & Wilkins) from 6xx or DM6xx series. You can find them cheap on eBay etc, I use those since 15 years and cannot complain.

The most expensive boxes you can afford from Canton. Or buy second hand - they will sound like new.

But speakers are something very subjective, and while I’m still delighted with the Canton I got for a discount, your ear might prefer something different. This is something where comparing in a physical store with a passionate salesperson can be worth it.

Quality of active speakers are really good these days, they have matched amps and speakers from neumann, genelec etc also has active crossover which is superior than any passive setup. Mature market sure, but even companies like KEF who didn't offered or focussed much on active systems, have growing range of options now.

Nobody is arguing their quality is bad, but that amps die long before speakers die. Do passive speakers even die?

Also, online services built into these will die before the speakers do.

Sure from a longevity perspective, you are 100% correct and for HIfi/Home use I'd recommend the same.

I am not sure however if your estimation is correct for all cases. The amount of killed tweeters I have seen would not have happened with an active speaker..

> I am not sure however if your estimation is correct for all cases.

Apologies. Next time they'll do a 10-year study on the subject before daring to comment on a public forum, ensuring that each and every angle is covered so that le smart folks like yourself will be able to sleep at night.

>The amount of killed tweeters I have seen would not have happened with an active speaker.

My 1978 (no brand) speakers are still in excellent condition, so are the 1991 Bose. Hifiberry works fine. ymmv

They can. I've seen low quality drivers physically break. Presumably with brittleness from age.

Or, imo even better, get a lasting amp as well and make the changing part (receiver) external. I have a pair of timeless speakers and amp with optical input, and AirPort Express 2 to provide Airplay capability.

Passive speakers can often be repaired anyway. My oldest pair is from 1972. It's had new tweeters and I've refoamed the woofers.

Active crossovers usually sound better than passive ones, and with active speakers the amp is generally better matched to the drivers. In addition, speaker design keeps evolving, as does people’s budgets, so it’s likely you’ll want something else in 10-20 years.

I also never had an amp fail other than by cranking it up too high with the wrong speakers.

No need to be bitter. I don't even know you, so I mainly said my experience is different.

Now maybe that is because I am an electronics guy and people come to me with their broken stuff and I see what actually breaks, but isn't the point of a public forum to say something and be occasionally wrong? Should I rather have stayed silent?

I don't know about you, but if some knowledgeable person corrects me, I am grateful for getting a check on my perspectives. This is the value of discussion.

Yeah, my mileage is running a media technology rental in one of the biggest art universities of Europe.

And as a known electronics guy people bring their broken stuff to me for at least the last decade.

If you handle stuff correctly it will survive. But the point about reliability is to also take into account how stuff survives when it is abused.

You can see >30 year old Genelec 1031A all around the world in perfect working order. Their die cast aluminium models using the whole box as heatsink should be able to last even longer, theoretically.

I'd say active (especially digital active) is too much of an improvement to pass up, but if you only want to talk about waste and reliability, try to find about support and spare parts company policy. Some prestigious passive brands like Revel have some forum horror stories about lack of spare parts for 10 year old models that barely got discontinued while Genelec says https://www.genelec.com/product-warranty-lifetime

Also, as someone mentioned, advanced (thermal based) limiters saving tweeter voice coils.

Disclaimer: I am a fanboy owning a pair of 8341A.

Foam rot is still a slow but sure process for speaker cones