Probably a bit to estoric for here but I thought I would reply with my limited experience of this. I have heard a big pair of ATC's and they were great but a little relentless. I have a linn/naim set up myself and if I was starting over I would probably give the active route a serious ponder. HI-Fi ends to go through phases but good gear is generally the way forward whichever route you take.

Thought we were going to enter the Wonderful World Of Verbs. Archie and Middlerabbit Round 2 will have to wait.

I have active Mackie HR824 monitors for my home studio set-up but to be honest I am quite as happy listening to most music on my laptop speakers. Over the years, I've got less and less convinced that hi-fi set ups are necessary to the main business of just enjoying the music. Detailed comparison listening sessions on the Mackies with the Genesis SACD format only revealed minor differences from the original CD mixes and with the multitude of possible changes that remixing and remastering present, I am never sure whether it is the active speakers that are making the difference or something the engineers tweaked. That said, the SACD mix of War of the Worlds sounds awesome.

I can detect the differences of the remastered Kraftwerk catalogue quite clearly but it's only enhancing my pleasure of these albums by a few percent as they are brilliant before anyone starts updating them. I suppose I should respect the fact that Kraftwerk believe this is how they should always have sounded and that is interesting in itself and so to me , it's worth the investment in a music set-up that can reveal the differences.

Conclusion

For me, it's the quality of the speaker rather than where the amplifier sits in the chain that makes the difference.

gb

Source: 128 kbs feed from the 'puter or Napster.

Fed through: A Sonos box. Which is a bit of kit currently making audiophiles gnash their teeth because it makes a limited stream sound so good. It's not right.

Fibre-optic link to a: Musical Fidelity X-DAC

Thereon OFCs to an Arcam Alpha 9

Fed through bi-wired OFCs to a pair of great big floor-standing spike mounted Eltax stacks.

I used to use an Alpha 9 CD player. The Sonos box sounds just as good. My local audiophile shop is selling them by the yard. Get one.

Active or passive crossovers? Come in James Randi. Put it to a poperly constructed triple-blind randomised test.

wacky world of hi-fi for most of my adult life. There's good & bad passive systems and there's good & bad active systems. As long as you like what you hear, what does it matter what type of system you have? I talk to people 5 days a week who get their proverbial knickers in a twist about THDs, dB levels, the number of watts per channel and all the rest of it. I always tell them the same thing: If you get home from work after a tough day, pour yourself a drink and put some music on, and you get to the end of the CD and your first thought is "what shall I listen to next?" your system is doing something right. It doesn't matter what components are in the system or how that system measures - you're enjoying the music and that's what counts.

as I am trying to rationalise a one box Arcam hi-fi in my flat that has rather large speakers (old Mission 770s), and 3 extra AV bits (VCR, DVD and PVR) as well as the telly.

Have posted on and off here on the topic-got as far as trying the AVI ADM9s in a London dealer and being quite impressed. Tried it both with my iPod/Apple lossless (via the dock from a Fatman I think), and with a Cyrus CD player directly into its digital input iirc.

The AVI speakers that really intrigue me though are the new Neutrons
http://www.avihifi.co.uk/neutron.html
as they have incorporated switchable inputs into the subwoofer. haven't heard them though.

What I did hear though, on Saturday, was the Naim Uniti driving these
http://www.monitoraudio.co.uk/products/silver-rx/rx8/your-speaker
, with inputs including iPod, streaming FLAC, CD and internet radio. Very impressed-especially what it can do with my iPod (mixture of AAC, Lossless and MP3). *Extremely* thought provoking.