Why do most audiophile prefer passive speakers?

[Speedskater]

It's an audiophile tradition to switch and swap things. So with active speakers, they get locked out of this old practice. Plus they already have amplifiers (maybe several amplifiers).

But now with DSP crossovers better active speakers can be made at any price point than speaker & amplifier combinations.

[Speedskater]

12 hours ago, AudioDoctor said:

I don't have anything against powered speakers, I just really like the sound of my SET tube amp...

Well SET tube amplifiers and their speakers are a separate bread of animal. While audiophiles enjoy their special sound, they don't meet the definition of accurate hi-fi audio.

[Speedskater]

1 hour ago, Kal Rubinson said:

Uh-oh.  Tread carefully.  Most of audiophilia is about preference (which is indisputable) and not about accuracy. 🙃

If only audiophiles would write "I prefer this over that" rather than "this is better than that", most endless threads would disappear.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Thinking about it further, that won't work. They will still write about unheard sound differences.

[Speedskater]

18 hours ago, Lone Mountain Audio said:

Id love for you to A/B an active and passive side by side.  Its quite eye opening (or I should say ear opening).

It will come down to the skill level's of the design engineers involved. An 'active crossover' has a lot more parameters to mess up. It happens often with DIY 'active crossovers' they look at the specs for their speakers and put those numbers in, but what comes out is not the same as the original design.