Active monitors..why do people like them? - please speak up to manufactures

Starstreams

Starstreams

Member
I've just replaced a second Amp in my Event ASP-6's, and I baby the heck out of these things. (For the money they sounded great)
Now I've got my recording sound tech friend in contact with Event getting the crossover specs so he can convert them to passive in a way that retains the factory frequency curve. I'm done with active speakers. I'm not implying that everyone has issues with their active speakers, and I'm sure many of you love your monitors, but I'm very worried about this trend.

I'm disappointed that it's becoming more and more difficult to find passive near field monitors. And the manufactures are loving it, because they're putting junk amps in these things, and what ever else they want.
Passive monitors are usually cheaper and you can spend the extra money you save on a good professional amp. If we keep buying active, then that is what the trend will be, .. it looks like it's already going that way..sad.

Here are a few negatives about active monitors imo:

------------------
1. You have to have a power cord for each speaker. Not so cool if you have 3 or 4 different reference monitors in the control room.
2. Having a transformer near the speakers and circuitry inside the cabinet is usually not a good thing, no matter how shielded it is. Turn on a halogen lamp and see what happens.
3. You have more circuitry in the cabinet to vibrate and come loose
4. You have more heat in the cabinet from the circuitry to fry out the amp, and heat up the speaker voice coils.
5. More expensive to fix when something goes wrong.
6. Because each speaker has it's own amp built in, there's always the possibility of phase issues if the amps are not perfectly matched. Because now you have two power sources that can be mismatched. Electronics go out of range. However, if you have an external amp powering passive speakers (One power source), it will always put out a consistent signal to both L and R years later.

Does it make sense to spend $1000 on two active speakers that might last you 5 years, or spend another 200 to get both - a set of passives and a good amp that will last you 20 or 30 years. I'm not trying to sound arrogant, I'm just worried that one day we won't be able to find passive speakers or they might be very expensive because they are not in supply.

Any comments? If you disagree please say why so we can have a discussion.
I hope someone feels the same about this concern?
 
Last edited:
I don't think you sound the least bit arrogant. Your concerns are definitely valid, though I myself have never even thought about these things; but I definitely will when I'm in the market for monitors.
 
I've almost always preferred passives over their active counterparts - Event (the 20/20bas can't hold a candle to the passives with a high-current amp), ADAM, even Behringer.

Not that there aren't some stellar actives out there -- Genelec, Dynaudio (but again, my BM15P's with a Bryston feeding them slayed the actives), but the "good ones" tend to be the "pricey" ones also. You don't see ADAM and Genelec and Dynaudio breaking down as much as Event, Behringer, Wharfedale (another great passive speaker, the 8.2 that was just about wrecked putting an amplifier in the box), M-Audio and such.

Too much trying to reach a price point than reaching a quality point and just charging accordingly...
 
Are there easier and/or more available response tailoring options for actives where for a given price point the manufactures might be able to deliver a more accurate system in the active system?

Then again I remember Bob Smith (Aether Audio) saying he considered active line level crossovers but (IIRC correctly) would be rather costly (even more) to do it right. (?)
 
Firstly, thanks for giving your input Villain, Massive M!
I appreciate you guys taking the time to respond.

Massive Master said:
Too much trying to reach a price point than reaching a quality point and just charging accordingly...
Click to expand...
It's a shame, where are peoples standards of pride today. Good point Massive Master!
The best we can do is not buy this stuff and hope to shift the demand. I just hope this reaches enough people to make a difference.

mixsit said:
Are there easier and/or more available response tailoring options for actives where for a given price point the manufactures might be able to deliver a more accurate system in the active system?
Click to expand...

That brings up another good point mixsit as to why active speakers are not the way to go.
I was just on the phone with my sound guy about this conversation and he made another point; ..that is, it's much better to have "one" power amp, like an external Crown for example powering passive monitors. Because when you have two separate amps built in ..like in the case of active speakers, there's always the possibility of phase issues if the amps are not perfectly matched. Or the response time's are different because of a multitude of things that can happen among different circuits/amps. Even if it's a slight mismatch, it can put something out of phase enough to change the sound. This would have been my 6th negative point about active monitors in the first post above. We need to get away from them and tell these manufactures we want more passive products.
 
Last edited:
People like them for the same reason they like to get A/D converters with preamps built in - it's simpler. I'm fairly certain that's the mindset of a majority of people who are faced with either buying two speakers and an amp, or just two speakers. Personally - I've always preferred passive monitors (coincidentally, in regards to Massive's post - I use the passive Event 20/20s), and other than a set of nearfield Genelecs in a studio I interned at in San Antonio, all the studios I've worked at had passives. Even the mains in that studio were passive.
 
Well thankfully it looks like Event still sells the crossovers for $34 each from their PSP-6 speakers which were from their passive flavors at that time. So I'm having my friend bypass the amps in these ASP-6's and they'll be passive.

TyphoidHippo said:
People like them for the same reason they like to get A/D converters with preamp s built in - it's simpler..
Click to expand...
I here what you're saying Typhoid. But I still like having the choice and it's looking like every speaker we buy from here-on will have to be modified if we want a passive solution. I was looking in Sweetwater's catalog today and couldn't find one passive speaker for sale.
The manufactures are selling active monitors because they're able to jack the prices up a little because they're giving you the amps, while keeping the price lower then if you bought an amp on your own. They're saving you a few bucks because they're putting cheap parts in their cabinets. And the active speakers on the market that "do" have good amps.. you'll pay a premium for them. I don't see how having amps built in makes things more simple. Not enough to justify all the other disadvantages I listed in my first post. Trends worry me.
 
Last edited:
Starstreams said:
Active monitors..why do people like them?
Click to expand...
I'm surprized anyone could seriously ask this question. It's like asking why people like driving as opposed to taking the bus to work.
The answer as to why people like them is simple ~ because they do ! And whatever reasons they may give for doing so are true. Any reason a person has for liking something is true.
I'm not sure what the main thrust of your point is. Is it that it's increasingly difficult to find passive nearfields or that active nearfields are inferior crap, intrinsically ?
At points it sounds like an extension of Mac vs PC/ amps vs sims/ digital vs analog.
Having said that though, I wouldn't say you sound arrogant. Annoyed, passionate and opinionated, yes. Arrogant, no.
 
grimtraveller said:
I'm surprised anyone could seriously ask this question. It's like asking why people like driving as opposed to taking the bus to work.
The answer as to why people like them is simple ~ because they do ! And whatever reasons they may give for doing so are true. Any reason a person has for liking something is true.
Click to expand...

All good and fair points grimtraveller.
But I'm also aware that there are times when consumers don't "always" realize that there are better options. I'm not implying that everyone who buys active speakers does so from ignorance, or that they are not aware of the disadvantages with actives. I also respect the idea that some people might not have these same concerns. Heck, I was very happy with my active speakers when I bought them, but my current experience has proven that I wish someone would have explained the downside to active speakers, and why spending just 100 or 200 more would have set me up for the long haul.

grimtraveller said:
I'm not sure what the main thrust of your point is. Is it that it's increasingly difficult to find passive nearfields or that active nearfields are inferior crap, intrinsically ?
At points it sounds like an extension of Mac vs PC/ amps vs sims/ digital vs analog.
Click to expand...

Both, but I didn't say they were inferior crap ;). But yes, it's increasingly difficult to find passive near fields. And I "do" think they are better, you can see that by looking at the negative list in the first post.
I don't want the industry to start thinking that "everyone" whats active speakers. That's why I'm reaching out to an audience with hopes to get people to consider their choices and make better buying decisions. I wish someone would have explained this to me two years ago when I bought mine. One might say that the majority of people today buy active speakers because that's what they want, but if they don't know any better not much can be said about their choice. If someone doesn't explain to the consumer all the advantages and disadvantages, or they don't do all their research, then the "Majority" wins and the choice becomes the status quo regardless of whether or not they were aware of other ...better options. That's what worry's me.

I hear what you're saying grimtraveller, people like what they like, nothing wrong with having choices.
But not being able to find passive speakers, is sort of like not having a choice.. know what I mean?

I'm fortunate to have a friend who can convert my speakers for me.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top