Electrified:
Jon:
Electrified:
The 8000 is a"hybrid" design. It's not a true active.
Electrified, would you mind clarifying what exactly you mean in saying the BL8000 isn't a true active speaker? It uses an electronic line-level X-over, fed into a single, two-channel power amplifier - one channel for the tweeter, and one for the woofers. I assume this is your point of contention - the two-channel amp? While not ideal, that wouldn't disqualify it from being an active speaker. It still has a dedicated, direct connected channel of amplification for each drive unit/set of drive units.
No, an amplifier per unit is indeed what's needed to make a proper active design.
But an active design has more to do with crossovers and the amped units is a necessity following the choice of an active crossover, in that the crossover happens before the amplification at line level.
However, it didn't have each unit amplified as is common, it started out with having two of the units (the bass) amplified by a single unit, utilising a passive crossover for that part.
This from another site (beocentral) - my bolding:
In the earlier models one of the woofers was connected to the bass
amplifier output via a simple passive filter so that it functioned as a
midrange driver. This made the early Beolab 8000 a 3-way design with an
unusual “hybrid passive-active” construction
When it comes to active subs, I need to differentiate between a powered one and an active. Although both will have amplifiers connected (lol), it's the crossover that dictates whether it will be an active or a passive design.
[...]those after No. 10145230, dispensed with the expensive crossover
components and had both woofers wired in parallel, making the new models
only a 2-way design. At the same time the electronic crossover filter
was redesigned to include “adaptive bass linearisation”, a system that
gave a bass lift at low listening levels. This was of course “loudness”
by another name, although the method of applying it involved a complex
electronic circuit that was sensitive to signal level rather than the
position of the volume control of the main system. Although these
changes increased the showroom impact of the Beolab 8000 at the point of
purchase they made it a blunter instrument and less satisfying for the
serious listener.
More here:
http://beocentral.com/beolab8000speaker
Okay, I see what you mean. When you said the BL8000 "is" a hybrid, and "it's not" a true active design, it sounded like you were lumping in the most current iteration of the BL8000 (not the 8002) with that categorization as well.
That's interesting, and very odd I think, that B&O rolled the lows out of one of the drive units, instead of the highs out of the other. Sort of an inverted 2.5-way design. All the drawbacks of mid-band comb-filtering and lobing, without any of the advantages of extra radiating surface at low frequencies. Hmmm.
Electrified:
When it comes to active subs, I need to differentiate between a powered one and an active. Although both will have amplifiers connected (lol), it's the crossover that dictates whether it will be an active or a passive design.
Obviously - but that was immaterial to what I was asking. The part of your statement that I didn't understand was this:
Electrified:
If you want deep bass and connect a subwoofer to it, the sub will be
making use of a passive crossover, whereas the rest of the speaker units
employ active crossovers.
Why wouldn't you be able to use an active subwoofer with BL8000's? I don't get it...
Jon