and amplifiers. Other monitor and studio designers like Tom Hidley, Phil Newall and Sam Toyoshima continued research into the speaker/room interface and led developments in room design, trapping, absorption and diffusion to create a consistent and neutral monitoring environment. 2000s The main post-NS-10 trend has been the almost universal acceptance of powered monitors where the speaker enclosure contains the driving amplifiers. Passive monitors require outboard power amplifiers to drive them as well as speaker wire to connect them. Powered monitors, by contrast, are comparatively more convenient and streamlined single units, which in addition, marketeers claim a number of technical advantages. The interface between speaker and amplifier can be optimized, possibly offering greater control and precision, and advances in amplifier design have reduced the size and weight of the electronics significantly. The result has been that passive monitors have become far less common than powered monitors in project and home studios. In the 2000s, there was a trend to focus on "translation". Engineers tended to choose monitors less for their accuracy than for their ability to "translate" – to make recordings sound good on a variety of playback systems, from stock car radios and standard boom boxes to esoteric audiophile systems. As the mix engineer Chris Lord-Alge has noted: Ninety-five percent of people listen to music in their car or on a cheap home stereo; 5 percent may have better systems; and maybe 1 percent have a $20,000 stereo. So if it doesn't sound good on something small, what's the point? You can mix in front of these huge, beautiful, pristine, $10,000 powered monitors all you want. But no one else has these monitors, so you're more likely to end up with a translation problem." But it is uncertain just what tools aid translation. Some producers argue that accuracy is still the best guarantee. If a producer or audio engineer is listening to recorded tracks and mixing tracks using a "flattering" monitor speaker, they may miss subtle problems in the mic'ing or recording quality that a more precise monitor would expose. Other producers feel that monitors should mimic home audio and car speakers, as this is what most consumers listen to music on. Still more believe that monitors need to be relentlessly unflattering, so that the producer and engineer must work hard to make recordings sound good. Comparison with hi-fi speakers No speaker, monitor or hi-fi sound system, regardless of the