There’s no active version of the three-ways. You’ll need to go to ATC for that. 
Roger
Fantastic!
G
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I’ve got zero hum right now. I have noticed a very faint hum on occasion on my XPSDR but only when your ears are very close. I’m using rocket 33, 10’ lengths and they seem fine. I have not really experimented swapping cable to compare. I have some Chord Rumour cable in my other system, maybe I’ll give that a try to see if I hear a difference.
These speakers seem pretty versatile with placement. I get a bit more bass the closer they are to the front wall. The front of the speakers are currently only a few inches past the cabinet which seem to work pretty good. I have tried them out in the room more which seemed to give a bit smoother sound and deeper soundstage but it is not very practical having them stick out that far.
My main reservation with in speaker active is tlthreefold and quite considerable in my opinion.
- There is no upgrade path for amplification other than what the manufacturer provides, if they ever do.
- Amps go wrong more than speakers and now an amp outage is a speaker outage. Dropping in another amp while the other is being repaired/recapped isn’t an option.
- The majority (not all, so no complaining that “my setup is different”) of pics with active speakers have cables approaching from different directions to each speaker. Yes you reduce box count in the rack but still managed to end up with something visually more cluttered.
The amp packs for PMC are a bit more plug and play but most aren’t. I’d still think very carefully before any active foray. Some of the studio PMC actives use external rack mounted PMC power amps with crossovers in them. Separate power amp active would still be my preference.
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Interesting, I have the opposite prospective:
- No upgrade path is a good outcome, perfectly matched amp to speaker and can forget about upgrading and enjoy the music. If I want upgrades I simply explore source / pre options
- If a separate amp or speaker has an issue the outcome is no music, the same as an issue with an active speaker
- With effort you can hide speaker cable as well as a couple of plugs so neither approach has to be a visual clutter - some can live with clutter and some can’t. Passive or Active isn’t the driver.
No right or wrong here and we all get to choose what is right for us but for me Active was a winner - financially, visually and sound quality.
I have become a bit of an ATC active fan boy but rooms, preferences and budgets all come into play when choosing a system.
Gary
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I don’t believe this is true for most people at all. Boxing up an amp and running it down to your dealer is a different thing entirely to boxing (or crating) a giant pair of speakers. And for many people, when an amp is out of commission, they drop in another one, either borrowed or from the attic.
No upgrade path is neither good nor bad. I almost never upgrade. Some do often. But if you are prone to upgrading, even less often than some, the more integration the system has, the more that pushing you to throwing it all out and starting again - because that is the only option. Not being a serial upgrader, it shouldn’t bother me at all. But I dislike not even having the option.
If the amps in my PMCs fail, I have the passive crossovers in the box. So I could convert to passive, borrow a power amp and would be good to go. Until then I have great sound in a very small package. It’s the best of all possible worlds. Positively Panglossian.
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Many of us using active would say there’s no upgrade path needed. I have had ATC active’s for 7 years and never once thought that the amps were lacking in anyway. There is an option ATC offer to upgrade to anniversary amp packs with discrete componentry if the urge presented itself.
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Yes, fair point, it is a faff boxing speakers!
Luckily I have an excellent dealer that can assist in such matters.
Lots of different paths for us to choose which his a good thing.
Gary
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