wrote in message
ups.com

As you know I have never believed very much in 5.1 audio, believing
that one, two, or three channels were the right number.

I've long preferred 2 channels (personal listening) or 3 channels
(listening with others or in a larger room). That translates into earphones,
headphones or near-field monitors for personal/critical listening, and 3
channels for listening with others.

However 5.1 is here like it or not.

A lot of prerecorded material is available for this style of listening.

While a rack of McIntosh Industrial, Manley, or
Fairchild tube monoblocs would be attractive to look at, it really
isn't a practical idea.

It's outdated crap, anyhow. Bottles! Yecch!

In fact the only practical power solution as I
see it for 5.1 is the active speaker, having its own active crossover
and multiple amps, and a professional input-AES/EBU digital or +4, 600
ohm balanced in.

Iconoclasm, anybody?

Other than the Genelecs, what is out there, besides crappy Behringer and
Mackie prosumo products?

Those are really pretty good speakers, but they aren't the measure of the
marketplace. Golden Ear Bigotry (as taught by Grand Dragon of the Klan Of
The Golden Ear, John Atkinson), anybody?

Other providers of active speakers include JBL Pro, NHT Pro, KRK, Blue Sky,
Edirol, Tannoy... Paradigm had some, but they seem to have kinda gone away.
Probably didn't sell because of the well-known Golden Ear bias against
active speakers. After all, it can't be good audio if the speakers and the
amps come from separate vendors. This ignores the extreme synergy that can
be obtained when you deliver a highly-integrated speaker/amp/crossover
package.