jerryfreak, a lot depends on your personal priorities. When I started using the Colette system, I was eager to get a range of capsules with different directional patterns so that I could adapt my recording techniques to different venues and aesthetic goals. Then and only then, I started using active accessories such as Colette extension cables--and later, extension tubes (RC -- and RCY --) as well. They make my setups more discreet, and they tend to reduce the total weight of everything I have to carry, but they don't (directly) create new sonic possibilities the way that capsules of various patterns can do.
In the Colette system you pay only for the features that you actually use. (They're expensive enough to begin with ...) Nothing about Colette capsules, for example, costs extra due to their ability to work with or without active accessories. The same is true of CMC amplifiers (or OK, maybe ~a dollar extra for the special, concentric socket connector where either a capsule or an active accessory can be attached).
--best regards