Active vs. Passive monitors

[thebigcheese]

This is probably kind of a newb question, but what exactly is the difference between active and passive monitors? I mean, obviously, active are powered and passive are not, but does that mean passive have to be powered another way? For instance, if I were to plug them straight into my Delta 1010LT card, they wouldn't need an amplifier running into them or anything? Thanks.

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

This is probably kind of a newb question, but what exactly is the difference between active and passive monitors? I mean, obviously, active are powered and passive are not, but does that mean passive have to be powered another way? For instance, if I were to plug them straight into my Delta 1010LT card, they wouldn't need an amplifier running into them or anything? Thanks.

Yes they would need a seperate amp. Think of them much like regular home stereo speakers in that regard. You'd need to run the monitor outputs from your 1010 to either a stereo amp or dual mono amps, which in turn would then output to your passive monitors.

G.

 

[thebigcheese]

So if I don't want to have to buy a separate amplifier, I should get active monitors, because they will have their own amplification circuit and need to be plugged into the wall, right?

 

[Guitarer]

Correct.


...Post is too short.

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

So if I don't want to have to buy a separate amplifier, I should get active monitors, because they will have their own amplification circuit and need to be plugged into the wall, right?

Yep.

Either way you're buying amplifiers, there's no way around that. It's simply a question of whether you're buying them inside the speaker cabinets or inside their own seperate metal box.

G.

 

[thebigcheese]

Cool. Good to know, because now I won't end up with the wrong kind if I get some for X-mas

Thanks.

 

[MessianicDreams]

Cool. Good to know, because now I won't end up with the wrong kind if I get some for X-mas

Thanks.

and whilst still in the "budget" ( in the loosest sense of the word) realm I would go for active monitors....once you have multiple thousands to spend on an amplifier (not even considering the monitors!) then you might wanna go passive!

 

[Ironklad Audio]

also don't forget that you're probably better off with actives than passives at the lower end of the scale, since the amplifiers in most active monitors are specifically tailored to drive the speakers that are in them

if you take a random cheap passive monitor, and a random cheap amp, god knows how the combo will react