Active monitor reliablity

ecc83

Well-known member
Following a report elsewhere regarding two Focal Shape monitors, 3,000 miles apart failing, PSU it seems. I would be interested if any other HR peeps have had such total failures with monitors?

I opined that active monitors, even at the basic "rocky" end of the market seemed remarkably reliable since I had read of almost nobody having a problem.
Maybe this is not so and those that have suffered simply did not see fit to report the mattter in a forum?

Dave.
 
Funny you should bring this topic up. Just yesterday I switched on my not so old Tannoy 501A monitors. All of a sudden one of them has as sort of 60hz hum (nasty and sharp sounding). I moved the monitor to another outlet and power cord.....same problem. As you say....not premium monitors......but it seems that something has gone wrong. I have other monitors so I'll be ok. Just irked me is all.
 
One of my JBL 5” monitors failed around 3+ years. Developed a loud buzz and repair was likely the whole amp/power section according to the JBL tech I spoke with. So I just got new monitors - Yamaha this time.

When I was trying to decide what to do I saw that there were a fair number of single used ones for sale at GC so I figured I probably wasn’t the only one that had problems. (Previous generation of their monitors - 2325 or something like that.)
 
Thanks chaps. "Two swallows do not a summer make" and so it seems my initial idea that active monitors are in general very reliable is valid?

I think I need to wait a month say before coming to any firm conclusions but there certainly has not been a rush of bods saying "Yeah the XYZs are unreliable ***T!

Dave.
 
How much they are used is a gray-area.

I have used 10yr old? KRK Surf City California, the originals, and they still work great, but my usage is so low. Someone pumping jams 12hrs a day might have something else to say. I paid $200 pair and they've sat unplugged for a couple years.
Then grabbed a pair of DYnAudio's at $180 pair, that don't get used hardly at all either, because I switched to low volume headphone's....

my biggest fear is the capacitors leaking from non-use or something of that nature. I recently read, using capacitors is better for them than letting them dry rot away, I don't know?

My first pair of Yorkville YSM1P, (p for powered.) have been played a thousand more hours and still work and sound like new, my son took them over and so another 10yrs of daily use....recommended by the gang here in 2005 or so, an amazing active speaker...so of course they stopped making them.

I'd have to vote Active Speakers have been very reliable here, on these 3 sets.
 
If the capacitors were already 30yrs old CC then you might be right to worry but anything even remotely recent is going to be fine.

If you leave kit kold for a year you might find the pots and switches crackle a bit at first bash but a twizzle or two and they will be silent again.

One of the biggest myths in audio is the fragility of electrolytic capacitors.

Dave.
 
My Genelecs have been good since 2003. Up until 2014 they were used at least 12 hours a day 7 days a week. Since then, not so much.
 
My experience with active monitors has been positive. I bought a pair of Behringer Truth monitors around 2005. They are still going strong, though not in use often these days because they are part of my second system which gets scant use. I bought a pair of Neumann KH310 maybe half a dozen years ago, and likewise they have gone like a train. They have effectively been on fulltime since 2013.
 
I have active monitors and amps that are over 15 years old and they are fine. The only issue I had was when the shielding on one came loose and started buzzing. Once that was fixed, they were back to normal.

As long as you get quality equipment it should last.
 
Just catching up. It seems active monitors ARE in general very reliable. This is in any case no more than I would expect from even quite low cost designs.

The power amplifiers cannot be shorted as stand alone amps can be and the load can be perfectly optimized. The drive to the PAs can be voltage limited several dBs below the clipping limit of the amps and so it becomes impossible to overdrive them.

That just leaves power supply design and thermal effects. We have had nearly a century of electronic design to get THAT right!

Dave.
 
I wonder if most new actives will switch to the "Class D amps" ?
supposedly less heat, no heat sinks needed etc.
Bass player in my sons band got a new Fender Bass amp , class D and the combo weighs next to nothing...but pretty damn loud.
Same with their Active PA speakers using Class D amps, light as the speaker.

Would the power supply have less heat and work to do on Class D?

The OP might be a overload switch gone bad is all, for a $36 speaker I'd tear into it and look, maybe jumper it out.
 
Class D amplification is actually only slightly more efficient than class B* The real efficiency and especially weight saving comes in the use of Switch Mode Power Supplies. The problem with both technologies is that they are buggers to get repaired. SMPSUs especially can be uber reliable, e.g. PC supplies but if they do fail their repair is often beyond local techs or/and the components difficult to source. The very best solution is a form of "service repalcement" whereby the mnfctr makes a complete supply, PA or even an integrated whole, available to local techs and then services the failed unit and returns it to stock. This is a service model the car industry adopts in many cases. Alternators for instance are stripped, cleaned and new bearings fitted or maybe a DC control/rect pack changed. Gearboxes often only need a couple of bearings or a gear with a chipped tooth but are too complex and in need of specialist tools and skills not found with the local mech'.

*Not "AB" but that is a whole other discussion!

Dave.
 
My Genelecs have been 'on' since 2004. Never a single thing wrong. Lot's of signal time. My Neumann's have been 'on' since 2013. They work perfectly. I think the incident rate goes way down as the price of admission goes up.
 
As it has now been a month since the last post to this question I am going to conclude that active monitors are in fact extremely reliable devices, even the budget stuff.

Thank you all you that contributed, I have my answer!

Dave.
 
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