I rang Kudos this morning. Delayed due to a small supply chain issue. Very frustrating for them as much as anyone. Hopefully sorted and ready for shipping in around three weeks.
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Great update
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Not that this is relevant at all, but was next to the kudos unit in Willington today. Not sure if this is where they are made or just stored, but it was quite small.
And about 30% more efficient give or take 10%.
I’m yet to be 100% convinced that a passive external pre amplification crossover can outperform the very best active ones, but I can see how it gets you 80% there for less money. I think it seems like a superb and cost effective way of achieving it.
I also think having the crossover provided by the speaker manufacturer counts for a helluva lot. One thing many passive speakers have over third party active is that the latter relies heavily on trusting the quality of the crossover and how it was adjusted, which may not present the speakers how the manufacturer intended at all. Passive crossovers generally mean that manufacturers know that what customers have in the field is fairly consistent behaviour. A Kudos designed external crossover means they can control a little bit more of how their speakers are presented. I think that counts for a lot.
Whether you can still call this implementation “active” is another question. But perhaps not one to get overly hung up on.
Not sure that just because there is no mains lead that the Kudos Sigao is passive. I seem to recall that there was mention of specialist active components inside the box and that they required only minute amounts of power to operate. The power being derived from the small line signal input. I’ll let others with more knowledge than I comment on the accuracy of my recollection. Happy to be told I’m way off beam.
They might also wish to comment on whether the implementation can be classed as “active” or not.
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That is the very definition of a passive crossover. Zero bias current. All signal derived. Which is also how a passive crossover works in a loudspeaker. There may be some Kudos marketing at play here to steer people away from the (unwarranted) stigma of “passive” terminology.
I do really think that the distinction with true active versus passive is a distraction though. This is fairly novel and unique. If others are doing anything similar they are few and far between if any. I’m mainly excited to see whether this is one of those rare cases where one manufacturers successful implementation of something unusual becomes a lasting model others will follow for decades to come or not. Like Arcam with the first domestic split of CD transport and DAC.
It’s the potential of the idea more than the single SIGAO DRIVE product itself that has me interested.
I’ve always felt that any crossover is, in an ideal world, designed by the speaker manufacturer rather than the amplifier manufacturer.
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Many thanks for the additional explanation.
Where I was misunderstanding is that I understood passive to be r, l, c type components only. I believe that the Sigao also has a number of unique ic type components included that have additional functionality over and above that functionally possible with r, l, and c components eg filters.
Edit - Just thinking should probably include diodes as a passive component as well. Rectification function now included?
Delayed now until December sadly
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Probably the new year before customers can get their hands on one.
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Indeed 
. I’m going to move to the Exposure so that I can burn in and utilise my new RCA terminated cables.
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Dang 
Yes the Exposure uses the same cabling as Kudos will. I used to like my 4x135s with SBLs with SL/SNAXO before changing to a 500 (which was admittedly better). Now with 808s I think the Kudos crossover with 3x350 would be interesting (the extra height of one of the 500 units would be prohibitive for 3 of them in my room)…
3x 350 is it not 6x350?
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It is 6 of them, but as they come in pairs then it’s also 3. I guess you already know all this.
Had this debate before and the consensus was it’s 3 because if you order 6 you will get 12 boxes as each unit is a pair!
I suspect Naim would sell you half of a pair if you asked nicely.
They are not paired SN units and you can buy them singly if required.
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Sorry - forgot that they come in pairs