When I had IBL’s with an olive 250 we lived in an apartment. In those circumstances I could have justified going active with a second 250 as opposed to staying passive and getting 135’s. Active systems perform better than passive systems at low levels and since it was an apartment that is how most of our listening had to be done. As it was because of the room layout there was literally nowhere to accommodate the extra electronics either way - so problem solved! Otherwise I would have loved to have gone active with the IBL’s. We had them for 17 years and they were fabulous speakers.
Nothing whatsoever wrong with secondhand, however I understand only Naim can set the crossover frequencies on their AXOs, I don’t know about phase, while slopes I believe are fixed, so they might not be the most suitable for speakers other than those for which they were originally offered.
But there are a variety of other active crossovers on the market, at a range of prices, digital and analog, and some can be set up to suit any speaker of choice, though to get the best out of the speaker ideally it is necessary to find the crossover characteristics selected by the speaker manufacturer for their passive offering.
Digital AXOs are the most flexible and easy to use, in addition to the essential selectivity of crossover frequencies, levels and phase (aka time delay), they often allow selection of crossover slopes (typically from 6 to 24 or even 48dB/octave), and some also the slope characteristics (e.g. Butterworth, Linkwitz-Riley, etc). Also they may have additional DSP capacity allowing some degree of response correction if needed. This allows all the tailoring a manufacturer of a dedicated XO can apply, and if done with in-room measurements (e.g. using REW software) the result has the potential to be more precise in the real room setup than a manufacturer can achieve, though where the key characteristics of the manufacturer’s original passive XO are unknown it can take some experimentation to achieve.
All I know is that Naim offered active crossovers for use with their amps and speakers and also with certain Linn speakers most notably the Saras and Isobariks. (I think the later Kans maybe as well). Beyond that I have very little knowledge of them as I never got to the point of going active. The OP will no doubt make enquiries if he decides to go down that route though. If it’s possible to buy new ones suitable for inclusion in a Naim system and configurable for his speakers then it looks like that could be a viable option for him. I’ve never seen any used Naim active crossovers for sale actually. I imagine they’re pretty thin on the ground and probably unsuitable for anything other than the old Linn/Naim speakers anyway.
USed S/NAXOS come up occasionally (and nothing whatsoever wrong with used). I also recalll occasionally reading on this forum about people wanting them adjusted by Naim for different speakers. But as i said there are others to choose from, configurable for any speakers, the only potential limitation being whether the passive XO is accessible to remove or bypass, some speakers easy by design, some easy even if not offered as removeable for activationg, and others more challenging.
I guess it’s down to the OP then to pursue this if he feels that’s the way he wants to go.
Thanks again for everyone’s time and input I feel more prepared for A dealer visit
Really helped cheers
R
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Sometimes people end up with a spare amp or two when they go through upgrades, which is when active driving can be relatively inexpensive (except for users of expensive speaker cables), and cheaper than upgrading to a better amp or better speaker, so in that scenario may be well worth trying.
Something about the ‘immediacy’ of active really hits a chord with me. Difficult to pin down, but it just sounds right.
G
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I experience that same immediacy with horn loaded speakers which is why I’ve stuck with them. Once experienced hard to go back to somethimg more ordinary.
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But moving from active to better speakers passive can make the transition easy!
I suppose it depends on exactly what you mean by ‘better’ and exactly what speakers and amplification is being considered. Active brings unique qualities that are not available from passive systems. So it depends on the weight one gives to this as against overall improvements that might be available from better speakers. It’s not necessarily a simple thing, unless perhaps one is upgrading to something so much better that the benefits of active are easily outweighed by the superior speakers. I don’t think it’s wise to generalise here. More sensible to consider on a specific case basis where all the variables are known.
I would in general expect any distinctly better speaker (as opposed to marginally, but it hardly seems worth upgrading a speaker only marginallt) powered with the same primary amp to sound better than the lesser one active, however you are right that ir can depend, and if the most important thing to the listener is the tautness of bass it might nor necessarily be the case. The biggest benefit of active is usually at the bass end., as that is where the greatest control of cone is required, greatest current needed, and where (usually) impedance dips are most prevalent. My own experience having heard the bass of my PMC EB1i speakers passively driven through the speaker XO, then active , there was a distinct improvement in quality of bass. Moving up from the EB1i to the MB2 (involving a change of driver (10” PMC to 12” Volt made to PMC spec), passively driven, I felt that the quality of everything improved, though I did not blind test. (All with same Bryston amp on bass or full range.)
Thank goodness for that!!! 
There are certainly benefits in the bass I agree, and in fact throughout the spectrum. But perhaps at least as significant is the gain in immediacy. The feeling that layers of ‘something’ have been removed between you and the performers and everything is just more alive and present in the room. It’s an effect that to me adds greatly to the realism of a system. I’ve only ever heard it to such a great extent with my Klipsch speakers and now my JBL’s both being at least partially horn losded. Also way back with an active Naim system using either 250’s or 135’s (can’t remember) and SBL’s. That was one of the best systems I’ve ever heard. But also there are very significant musical gains, beyond pure sonic considerations. Musical coherence increases, it beome easier to follow tunes and musical phrasings become more explicit in themeselves and their relation to each other. In short the music just hangs together much better and becomes more involving.
All this is assuming a good enough source of course. Active systems are very demanding of source quality.
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To the OP - the differences between speaker models are far greater than the difference between active and passive versions of the same speaker. Which in turn depends on which amps you go with. So do yourself a favour .. choose speakers first rather than active or passive first.
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What we all have to remember here is active speakers come from a certain decade and things have certainly moved on with amps and speakers.
You will never achieve what a good big amp can do with bass by using smaller lesser amp, even if its just doing the bass only.
Plus you run into many problems going active as there is so muvh that can be different from not only left to right but now drive unit to drive unit.
I certainly see no point what so ever going active these days and i guess the manufacturers agree as its about as popular as tooth ache.
I rather like my active speakers.
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Active speakers with on board amps are a different matter entirely in terms of system configuration and building to the traditional active systems of old. The benefits should theoretically be greater one would think. Of course one can no longer have Naim power amps, which may or may not be a concern.
It’s just done differently now, and arguably better. There are quite a few active speakers now available from different manufacturers. The benefits are potentially greater still than with doing it the old way.
Active speakers are the way to do it if you want active. As the manufacturer should have matched the amps used to the drive units. Takes away all the uncertainty and boxes. Just more a pain if something goes wrong.
But active the old way is just that, old. Still works obviously but isn’t really necessary these day, what with much more capable amps and much better crossover design. If it was needed then the big boys would certainly be pushing it.
This is coming from someone that went active a very long time ago with naim sbl’s and 250’s, then ovator s600’s, with a mix of 250dr’s and 300dr, now with titan 808’s that can run active but no way am i going down that road, as for me it would mean some very expensive amp’s x 6, and just not worth it.
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Very very popular according to my dealer.
G
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