Peavey Passive vs Active

[bluishbob]

Ok chaps,
Need to ask a quick question.

THe peavey pro messenger 15, there is an activ and passive version.

We know tha passive is 300watts 4ohms.

The active is 270 watt bi amped.

Before i do something silly, are they the same output or do i take it that the passive matched with a 600watt 4ohm amplifier would be twice as powerful as the active.

[Excalibur]

Ok chaps,
Need to ask a quick question.

THe peavey pro messenger 15, there is an activ and passive version.

We know tha passive is 300watts 4ohms.

The active is 270 watt bi amped.

Before i do something silly, are they the same output or do i take it that the passive matched with a 600watt 4ohm amplifier would be twice as powerful as the active.

There is a thread circulating about outputs. Since the human ear response is logarithmic, if I remember right, to sound twice as loud as 100watts actually requires 1000watts!:eek: Twice as powerful, yes- twice as loud, NO!

[CRAZY K]

Ok chaps,
Need to ask a quick question.

THe peavey pro messenger 15, there is an activ and passive version.

We know tha passive is 300watts 4ohms.

The active is 270 watt bi amped.

Before i do something silly, are they the same output or do i take it that the passive matched with a 600watt 4ohm amplifier would be twice as powerful as the active.

Its the same speaker cone ( presumably) so its handling maximum will not be any different.

So its around 300 watts whatever that means--is it RMS, peak or music power which are the the three levels Peavey use on speakers.

Check.

600 watt amp---is that per channel--is it RMS etc etc etc.

At how many ohms?

For example my Peavey Amp is 500 watts RMS per channel into 4 ohms or
360 watts RMS per channel into 8 ohms.

You need to get these questions sorted before you do anything.

Then its easy--at a guess I reckon the active set up is 270 watts RMS per side.

Also dont forget with 4 ohm speakers more power can pass through--so you need to check power rating carefully.

For proper technical guidance Phone Peaveys--Corby---on
01536 461234 I used to speak to Carl there and he was very helpful.

CRAZY K

[bluishbob]

Ok, forgetting in real terms of what your ear hears, what i mean is that if you had the active peaveys, which have and 'amp power' of 300watts per side, when put side by side with a set of unpowered (and matched at the correct ohmage with a 600watt amp as peavey suggests) would the passives have twice as much 'power'.

Or by saying 300watts for the active do peavey actually means has the same output as a passive equivalent matched correctly but is powered by a 600watt internal amp. (and so preventing anyone thinking that they have a 600watt RMS speaker when it is actually 600watts amp power within the speaker)

[Excalibur]

Ok, forgetting in real terms of what your ear hears, what i mean is that if you had the active peaveys, which have and 'amp power' of 300watts per side, when put side by side with a set of unpowered (and matched at the correct ohmage with a 600watt amp as peavey suggests) would the passives have twice as much 'power'.

Or by saying 300watts for the active do peavey actually means has the same output as a passive equivalent matched correctly but is powered by a 600watt internal amp. (and so preventing anyone thinking that they have a 600watt RMS speaker when it is actually 600watts amp power within the speaker)

No matter what you feed them with, they've got the same speakers in there!
Having just read the manual for the powered version, it actually gets 150w RMS for the sub, and 50wRMS for the HF. That is 200watts by my arithmetic!
Yes you could push more power into the passive version, but since they are less efficient users of that power, there would probably be no audible difference in sound output.

[bluishbob]

Ok, well i think i will stick to passive for now. Makes life more simple plus i can see myself swapping amps about in the near future.