Monitors- Active vs Passive

[chamelious]

What are the pros/cons of using passive monitors? Upto now i thought passive would be too expensive, but looking at the samson passive resolv's and their amps to go with it, it looks a little more attractive.

[The Green Hornet]

Yo Cham:

According to Massive Master, he prefers the passive but has both types in his studio.

I started out with Yorkville passives and they were fine. I just switched to KRK ST8s which have a larger woofer [8" vs. 6.5 for the Yorks] and they do a great job.

You might try to get some monitor auditions at a vendor and see what your ears think and how the boxes will fit into your working area.

Green Hornet

[apl]

The advantage of passives are usually cost. Some real high end monitors are made by people who don't make amps, so those are passive by default. The disadvantage is that the amp you use may not be adequate or well matched to the speaker. An amp can be expesnsive, too. Another disadvantage is that the amp takes up additional space.

[chamelious]

Ok thanks, so for someone on a budget of less than £300 actives would seem to be the way to go, ive been lookin at models like the benhringer truths, alesis monitor 1's, samson resolvs, etc.

[The Green Hornet]

Yo Cham:

ACTIVES would be more expensive than passives.

I'll have a Laphroig neat.

Green Hornet

[Massive Master]

Out of the three you mention, you're *probably* going to like the Truths the best. For sure in the low end content...

[foreverdown]

I was looking at the truths, but decided against them because someone was telling me all the problems they have had with them. Granted its only one opinion, but all the reviews you read are only the reviews after a little use. Down the road I am guessing is where the problems are. Also the cheaper active monitors tend to have colored sound. I decided against the M-Audio BX5's and the Behringer Truths after going to guitar center and checking out the KRK ST8's. The sounded amazing. As well as the ST6's. So now I am going to get a power amp on ebay and then get the ST8's. The ST8's are 250 a pair and the ST6's are 200. So if you get the ST6's you can get a decent amp on ebay for 100 dollars or so. I would recommend scrounging up the extra 50 for the ST8's though (if you can). oh, the prices I mentioned are USD.

[apl]

Hey, these amps are great. 200 very clean watts per channel, and only 7" on a side.