As for self powered speakers, M&K professional line had self powered speaker. Nearly any studio speaker you buy today is self powered. My audioengine 5's on my desktop are self powered and quite nice. It's nothing new, but hasn't really caught on in the home market except for a few select brands. I do think it's nice because that means the speakers have been sonically matched by the engineer who built the speakers. On the other hand people are very particular about the "sound" of their amps.