How low can you go in active speakers?

On one of my regular pilgrimages to the computer plaza a couple of days ago, I noticed these little puppies. The price apparently was a shade over $80 the pair so I was indeed very curious. A quick peek around the back showed they were not using a standard speaker cable, rather a custom 4-way umbilical between the two boxes. Whenever I see this, my heart misses a beat because what floats my boat is genuine active speakers, not just powered ones which still sport passive crossovers.



Not wishing to ask to disassemble the powered unit on the spot (and doubtless be turned down) I went back home to do some online research. I was pleased to discover these were indeed true actives, and what's more they're powered by TDA8947 chip amps. I'd not come across this part before but its cool at least on paper because its 4 channels in one package - they're using two of these so each drive unit has its own dedicated bridged amp. What a find - a true bridged active at a pocket money price

Hooking them up to my PC (cheapest Asus soundcard fitted) they certainly do the job but not particularly musically. Massed strings are conveyed in a rather glassy fashion and female vocal consonants display some colouration. Depth/ambience comes and goes with signal level. Breathiness on flute smears out across the soundstage. Just the ticket for hot-rodding the electronics, so watch this space...