Passive Or Powered

[UltraBeat Entertainment]

Good morning fellow forum members

...And yes of course I'm taking about speakers (and subs) here.

Lately i have noticed an increase of threads about speakers and subs which got me thinking... Which is better Passive speakers (e.g seperate amp is required) or powered (with an in-built amp) and why you guys think this and which units sound best?

So tell me what you think the advantages and disadvantages are of both then say what you think is the best as i know this subject has been bought up many times.

This is what i think:

Passive:
Pro's
-More reliable (as their is less to go wrong)
-More versatile (as you can swap and match speakers with different amps)

Con's
-External amp needed
-Speakers and amps need to be carefully matched up together to get the right specs

Powered:
Pro's
-No need for external amp
-easy to setup

Con's
-Less reliable due to everything being in one box there is more that can go wrong.
-Requires dedicated power for each speaker.

*Couldn't decide to put this in here or technical so i decided here and did do a search before i started this thread. Also it would be quite nice to have a poll on this if possible:cool:*

Over to you:) ....

[Tony Scott]

I think it really depends on the individual........passive all the way for me! :approve:

I get a great deal of satifaction from designing, building and running my sound system and I wouldn't even consider active.

That said I can see it's benefits, it's an easy, quick option that can give good results and that's what some are looking for........I just like my sound a little bit more interesting! :D :D :D

[Boogie Boy]

Personally, I don't see why a powered speaker should be any less reliable than any other amplifier, they both have to be carted around. So, if that's a major worry, don't let it get in the way. Having said that, I guess it could prove a little difficult to entirely put one's faith into maybe one combination amp (where you have a powered sub supplying two satellites as well).

Powered every time for me. Once I earn some money I'll be buying something powered.
More efficient, less hassle, but getting power to them can be a tad difficult in some venues, as preferably you'd use a seperate mains power socket for each.

[CRAZY K]

Con's
Speakers and amps need to be carefully matched up together to get the right specs

I bought a Peavey set up--- Powered Mixer Amp plus tops and subs everything matched--never looked back.

If your buying bits and pieces from different manufacturers to make up a system I guess it might be a problem if you have no experience.

CRAZY K

[pagan_flame]

With Passive, if the amp packs in then both (or all 4) speakers will stop working... with Active, it's very unlikely that 4 will fail at the same time.

Actives commonly have inbuilt protection to stop you blowing them up - Passives usually don't (I was interested to find that the 'protection' in my old Peavey Clubsys consisted of a car indicator bulb).

And - less to carry in and set up - my SRM 450's are 23kg, dB Tech sub 15 is 38kg, about the same weight as comparable passives.

That said, I do have a backup pair of passive 15"'s and an amp in the van at all times, just in case... :rolleyes:

[yourdj]

Personally, I don't see why a powered speaker should be any less reliable than any other amplifier, they both have to be carted around. So, if that's a major worry, don't let it get in the way. Having said that, I guess it could prove a little difficult to entirely put one's faith into maybe one combination amp (where you have a powered sub supplying two satellites as well).

Powered every time for me. Once I earn some money I'll be buying something powered.
More efficient, less hassle, but getting power to them can be a tad difficult in some venues, as preferably you'd use a seperate mains power socket for each.

passive is more reliable as you can chop and change things IMO. I have two amps and six speakers in total and it is nice sometimes to have the freedom to move stuff around, especially if there is a problem.

With active if there is a malfunction your stuffed without back up or technical expertise, but most the time you do not have time to fix things.

As you know the active Gemini gx's i have are not much cop, but they do fufil the job as long as kept within range. I have a passive system (tannoy + crown) with me at every gig, but i have found the gemini's do the job fine if set up and run right. if think that then no punter is going to notice! I would not do this in an outdoor venue or drum and bass rave however LOL

I find it so much easier setting/packing passive up and they are brilliant for DIY discos. No one messing around with them - in and out. Also great for extra sound in other rooms or for conferencing/hire use.

Will be going mackie soon i think though.

[UltraBeat Entertainment]

Out of interest does anyone use a mixture of both?

For example powered speakers and passive sub or powered sub and passive speakers?

[axeman]

i until recently used calsbro active 15'' gammas with a db tec active sub, but the speakers started cutting out...no idea why.

So at the moment im using my active sub with A peavey amp and 15'' peavey passive speakers

[Twinspin]

With the active stuff it depends what brand you get. I run RCF active and the reliability of these cabs is brilliant. They run extremely cool. During a disco i dont even have to worry about the RCF cabs cutting out.

I have a pair of Mackie SRM450s which i still own as well as the RCF cabs. Within time of using them ive had good experience with both.

The mackie srm450s i dont like how hot that heatsink on them gets. if they got any hotter the speaker would more than likely thermal out. Advantages of the mackie is they are punchier than RCF the 450s.

The RCF top speakers are much better. These speakers will run cool all night even after 5 hours of constant music through them. At the end of a gig i touched the back of the RCF's and they werent even warm!. The cooling system inside them is very good. The plus side of the RCFs as opposed to the mackies is they sound smoother.

RCF are mentioned a lot for active speakers on this forum for a reason. Out of all the active systems ive had the RCF has been by far the best.

Powerful and sound great Im sure Darren may agree also.

[Dragonfly]

. Advantages of the mackie is they are punchier than RCF the 450s.

strange that , when I went for a listen albeit 3 years ago I thought exactly the opposite???? strange how peoples ears differ :D

[CRAZY K]

With the active stuff it depends what brand you get. I run RCF active and the reliability of these cabs is brilliant. They run extremely cool. During a disco i dont even have to worry about the RCF cabs cutting out.

I have a pair of Mackie SRM450s which i still own as well as the RCF cabs. Within time of using them ive had good experience with both.

The mackie srm450s i dont like how hot that heatsink on them gets. if they got any hotter the speaker would more than likely thermal out. Advantages of the mackie is they are punchier than RCF the 450s.

The RCF top speakers are much better. These speakers will run cool all night even after 5 hours of constant music through them. At the end of a gig i touched the back of the RCF's and they werent even warm!. The cooling system inside them is very good. The plus side of the RCFs as opposed to the mackies is they sound smoother.

RCF are mentioned a lot for active speakers on this forum for a reason. Out of all the active systems ive had the RCF has been by far the best.

Powerful and sound great Im sure Darren may agree also.

So what causes actives to get to this worrying stage where they " thermal out"

Is it playing at maximum volume or the heat of the venue or both?

CRAZY K

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

So what causes actives to get to this worrying stage where they " thermal out"

Is it playing at maximum volume or the heat of the venue or both?

CRAZY K

Mackies haven't been thermalling out for ages on the whole.

The older ones did and also people had the gain in the wrong position - they should be used at 12 oclock, as anything past that is meant for a mic/line input.

That's what you'll be using in July anyway Al!

[CRAZY K]

Mackies haven't been thermalling out for ages on the whole.

The older ones did and also people had the gain in the wrong position - they should be used at 12 oclock, as anything past that is meant for a mic/line input.

That's what you'll be using in July anyway Al!

:eek: :eek: :eek:

Will I get bass bins

:D :D :D

CRAZY K

[Twinspin]

Thats exactly what the mackies were run at the 12" position. I only had the speakers thermal out twice since having them. But they still got really hot.

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

Thats exactly what the mackies were run at the 12" position. I only had the speakers thermal out twice since having them. But they still got really hot.

I think you must have been unlucky John. All 6 of my guys use Mackie and have never had any problems like that.

[PropellerHeadCase]

I was thinking about getting actives in NZ - my guy even offered to retro fit bypass switches so I could take a back-up amp :D

Of course I'm here now, so I didn't ;)

[Excalibur]

OK, let's thrown in a suggestion I have made before. I don't use actives ( I can see the advantages, I'm just happy with passive at the moment. )
For anyone with passive tops, wishing to add Bass, then use one or two (as pocket and requirements dictate ) powered subs. You can use the filter in the sub to feed the tops with an HF only signal, which will improve the sound.
The only thing you can't do as far as I'm aware, and I stand to be corrected on this, is to use the powered sub to drive passive tops as well, though I may well be wrong on that.

[Tony Scott]

The only thing you can't do as far as I'm aware, and I stand to be corrected on this, is to use the powered sub to drive passive tops as well, though I may well be wrong on that.


......surely not! :D :D

I agree with you BTW!

[DJ INDIE]

i use an active system - 1x18 sub and 2 1x10 tops - technology has really come on - the sound from this set up is now a million times better than it was a few years ago.

i can carry both tops with two hands easily as theyre so light - but all 3 power amps are stored in the sub - and its bloomin' big and heavy!!!

so in a way, although its designed to be used like that, i suppose i could swap around the tops as theyre passive. ...... hmmm hadnt thought of that?!

one pro is a 600w system like this gives out 600w - whereas a lot of people are unaware that a 1000w power amp wont necessarily gives them 1000w.
if its 1000w at 4ohm and you have 8ohm speakers (most common) youll be getting around 400-600w from your 1000w amp.
most active systems will be matched ohmage wise.

but i definitely see the case for both active and passive...

[flatliners]

With the active stuff it depends what brand you get. I run RCF active and the reliability of these cabs is brilliant. They run extremely cool. During a disco i dont even have to worry about the RCF cabs cutting out.

I have a pair of Mackie SRM450s which i still own as well as the RCF cabs. Within time of using them ive had good experience with both.

The mackie srm450s i dont like how hot that heatsink on them gets. if they got any hotter the speaker would more than likely thermal out. Advantages of the mackie is they are punchier than RCF the 450s.

The RCF top speakers are much better. These speakers will run cool all night even after 5 hours of constant music through them. At the end of a gig i touched the back of the RCF's and they werent even warm!. The cooling system inside them is very good. The plus side of the RCFs as opposed to the mackies is they sound smoother.

RCF are mentioned a lot for active speakers on this forum for a reason. Out of all the active systems ive had the RCF has been by far the best.

Powerful and sound great Im sure Darren may agree also.

well said my good man couldnt of put it better myself i love my 310a

[Richard Veal]

I am under the belief (or at least i was told) that the, In-thing, in powerfull PA years ago used to be passive.

That then changed to Active as technology progressed.

Now it has reverted back to passive.

If that helps at all - probably not.

How about this then. The only active system i have ever had was an HZ system and i absolutly hated it, Ever since then i vowed to steer clear of poly cabs.

I think a wooden active cab could be interesting but then surely the weight must be horrific.

My final thought is this. I tend to treat my amp rack with the greatest of respect when moving in and out of the vehicle where as speakers tend receive a more man handled approach, I suppose due to the weight, so would this extra knocking and bumping about do harm to a possible still warm active cab?

Who knows

Well now my responce to this thread hasn't helped clear up anything at all except I hate HZ speakers let the debate continue and sorry for wasting your time :)

[nigelwright7557]

Good morning fellow forum members

...And yes of course I'm taking about speakers (and subs) here.

Lately i have noticed an increase of threads about speakers and subs which got me thinking... Which is better Passive speakers (e.g seperate amp is required) or powered (with an in-built amp) and why you guys think this and which units sound best?

So tell me what you think the advantages and disadvantages are of both then say what you think is the best as i know this subject has been bought up many times.

This is what i think:

Passive:
Pro's
-More reliable (as their is less to go wrong)
-More versatile (as you can swap and match speakers with different amps)

Con's
-External amp needed
-Speakers and amps need to be carefully matched up together to get the right specs

Powered:
Pro's
-No need for external amp
-easy to setup

Con's
-Less reliable due to everything being in one box there is more that can go wrong.
-Requires dedicated power for each speaker.

*Couldn't decide to put this in here or technical so i decided here and did do a search before i started this thread. Also it would be quite nice to have a poll on this if possible:cool:*

Over to you:) ....

I tend towards passive so I can mix and match amps and speakers.

My only concern with powered is having a great vibrating speaker in the same box as my electronics. With a seperate amp I can keep the vibration and the electronics part.

[yourdj]

Out of interest does anyone use a mixture of both?

For example powered speakers and passive sub or powered sub and passive speakers?

Yep, i use two active tops and two passive subs if i get to a venue that was larger than explained.

there is definitely something therapeutic about passive. I love fiddling with my crossover and waves extra bass unit to get more out of it!

[Boogie Boy]

How much power are you losing with passive set ups? How much extra distortion is being added by the cabling etc? I'm just asking.
This article should set the cats among the pigeons.
http://www.enjoythemusic.com/Magazine/manufacture/0403/

Your average DJ is not going to get an active mega-watt system (although there are a few very expensive ones), but for a DJ who wants a reasonable amount of power and compactness, active systems are the way forward. Remember, it takes 10 times the wattage to double the perceived loudness, so therefore a 10K watt system is twice as loud as a 1K watt one (all things being equal).

[pagan_flame]

I've been running my Mackie SRM 450's for nearly a year now - never had them thermal, heatsink at the back has been 'a bit warm' at most when the sweat has been running down the walls of the venue...

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

sound.
The only thing you can't do as far as I'm aware, and I stand to be corrected on this, is to use the powered sub to drive passive tops as well, though I may well be wrong on that.

There are systems that do that I think.

[Excalibur]

There are systems that do that I think.

Indeed there are, and someone referred to one on here earlier. In my defence, that is sort of an "all in one " system, as opposed simply to active tops and active subs. In some ways it's a hybrid, cos the tops are obviously Passive. Baflling isn't it? :D

[JAMdisco]

I've been running my Mackie SRM 450's for nearly a year now - never had them thermal, heatsink at the back has been 'a bit warm' at most when the sweat has been running down the walls of the venue...

Obviously not pushing enough bass through, :D :eek: mine used to get so hot when used on their own (i.e. without active sub).

[501damian501]

passive all the way for me lads and lasses