Active Or Passive

[Redshoes]

I have looked but I cant find any threads actually saying why one would be better than the other..... Once i have bought a power amp for my passive speakers the price comes to around the same price as the active ones, so why would i want to get one over the other?

Thank you

 

[xstatic]

I like passive for the flexibility to choose the size and make of your amp. In general, speaker manufacturers mark up the active speakers much more than the amp inside them is actually worth. The advantage of passives is that the amp is actually "matched" to the speakers. Speaker companies make a much bigger deal out of that though than what it really is. There are definately two camps though that are each sold on their own methods. I guess I am just one of those from the passive camp

My personal experience has shown that especially amongst the cheaper brands that passive is certainly the way to go for quality, but active speakers in the low end arena are very affordable. When you get into the higher end speakers, the amps inside them tend to get much better as well. The Dynaudio's all actually have pretty nice amps as well as the genelecs.

 

[CoolCat]

I went thru this in Feb, my first "real" monitoring setup.
wound up buying a Passive setup.

a Nice "positive" to passive, that has seemed to hold true,
1) you can upgrade speakers at about 50% less or more, than Actives.

Passives it's probably easier to have a few sets to A/B due to cost.
(but from personal exp. this may be more confusing than just getting on with it and learning one pair really well, inside and out.)

**a few negatives on pasives may be...
takes up more space.
not portable.
resale may be less these days,
but hey..passives cost less too..so again wash-out?

some technical heads, are probably correct that a
well-designed, reputable Active set would have better Tech-specs, than say me matching an amplifier to any old set of speakers. but that doesn't mean 100% of Active speakers really accomplish this. that would be way too naieve.

I'm currently liking JBL alot. I picked up some old speakers of theirs,
noticed is their web site and info is very available,
they have a long history, my exp with their stuff has been good thru the years. great gearhead info. on their web.

JBL makes both kinds of Studio Monitors, Passive and Active.
DynAudio makes both, Adam...etc.
Wharfedale and Yorkville both have a Active or Passive line.

i highly doubt i could pass a blindfold test, and tell you which is better.

but its your application and then preference.
DYNBM6 and DYNBM6A...which is better? this is an interesting question IMO.

 

[Massive Master]

On a "budget" set (let's say under $2k) I tend to drift toward passives. Amplification is a very, VERY important part of the equation. Most budget speakers have fairly shoddy amplifiers. Most of the Event line - Can't stand the actives. The passives with a nice amp? Maybe. Mackies, Yorkies, on and on... Even the passive Yorkies didn't sound too bad with a nice amp pushing them.

Once you get up into Genelec, PMC, ADAM, etc., the amps go up in quality enough to warrant an active pair. The crossovers stop "sounding like crossovers" and the amps seem to "smooth out" nicely.

Again, IMO, YMMV, yada, yada, etc., etc.

 

[Ethan Winer]

> I cant find any threads actually saying why one would be better than the other <

There are many advantages of active monitors for the typical project studio, besides a simpler hookup with less pieces to carry if you ever do remotes:

Active speakers are typically bi-amped, which often yields a cleaner sound with less distortion. And bi-amping offers more ways to optimize the crossover performance because it uses active rather than passive components. Also, the power amps will be well matched to the speakers, they won't have a fan, and the wires from amp to speaker are shorter which improves damping. But to me the overwhelming advantage, as implemented in the Mackies anyway, is that the woofer cone's motion can be included within the power amp's feedback loop to reduce distortion by a significant amount.

--Ethan

 

[Redshoes]

cheers for all your comments. nice to see a quick response.. I was thinking of buying a pair of the older Tannoy reveals, Im on quite a tight budget. I guess I could spend about £230 maximum..I wish I was over in America Im sure I could get a much better deal than I am