Approaching a subject running elsewhere on this forum (and Beocentral) from a different perspective -
I have and love a Beosystem 5000, currently teamed with RL60's.
My wife, over a period of 20 odd years, has come to hate them with a passion. She has now given the nod for me to replace them (hence other posts asking opinions on BL800 vs BL3 and whether either can be successfully driven from BM5000).
Having been swayed toward the BL8000 I downloaded the Service manual (I like to know what goes on inside) and, I must admit, I was quite shocked to find the amplification to be basically off the shelf Sanyo integrated Amplifier IC's. Now I understand the principles of active speakers in that it is the way the amps are matched to the drivers and also the frequency response can be taylored more precisely etc. but I had expected something more in the amplifier section for £2500.
Shortly after this Tim Jarman over at Beocentral tells me my amp in the BM5000 is way nicer than those in the BL8000 partially supporting my observations however he went on to recommend Uniphase S55's as the answer rather than either of my proposed choices. These, I suspect, will please Mrs Puncher even less than the RL60's - what she's really after is something that looks nice and is contemporary (its only me that needs it to sound good too).
And so to the point - should I continue persuing active speakers or is there a good looking, good sounding passive solution out there. Ultimately its what they really sound like that counts but I'd like to be sure I've gotten the best solution for my hard earned readies.
Generally speaking, you aren't learning much if your lips are moving.