conquistadore
Forum Moderator
Joined: 03 Aug 2004
Posts: 513
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| Active and Passive Speakers |
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In what ways are active speakers more advantagious than passive ones? |
Tue Jul 26, 2005 2:48 am |
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wailingalleycat
Forum Manager
Joined: 07 Oct 2003
Posts: 694
Location: Jersey C.I (UK) |
| Active Vs passive |
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Advantages:
- Cheap
- Compact
- No need for "amp world"
- Built in control electronics
Disadvantages:
-Heavy
-Clumsy
-Poor cabinet acoustics due to internal amplifier
-Requires more on stage power drops, therefore high risk of noise induced in signal level cables.
-Requires two cables (signal and power)
-Generate more heat on stage (already have lighting and guitar amps, especially valve, to contend with.)
-Fire risk close to audience, in terms of wedges.
-Drink spilt on stage? suddenly that pool of beer has 240V running through it.
In conclusion, good for small club gigs with cheap gear, but not for touring, unless its a flown array. think meyer sound.
Have i missed anything out?
-Paul
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If In Doubt...Hit It With a Hammer, If Still In Doubt... Find a Bigger Hammer. |
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Tue Jul 26, 2005 6:43 am |
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conquistadore
Forum Moderator
Joined: 03 Aug 2004
Posts: 513
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Thanks.. |
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Thu Aug 04, 2005 8:30 am |
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hobbesblb
Family Friend
Joined: 07 Mar 2003
Posts: 127
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| Active vs. Passive |
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Active speakers are actually broken into two types, the traditional type (which are bi-amped, tri-amped, and also refered to as active) and self-powered, which were mentioned above. The advantage of active speakers in general is that they have time correction for the drivers, EQ correction, and active crossovers which create less intermodulation distortion caused generally by low frequencies affecting hi and mid drivers. Self-powered varieties are generally not suitable for a full on professional concert either (although more manufacturers are starting to build them including JBL and Renkus Heinz with self-powered line arrays), they are generally underpowered when compared to similar bi-amped or tri-amped systems that are not self-powered. The advantage of self-powered is compactness of course. In the same size box, you get about the same capability as you would out of the same speaker and a whole amp rack full of processors. Mackie SR series are very good speakers that have used quite extensively as monitors on smaller stages. I have had beer spilled on one so far, it didn't bother the electronics, but I took it apart, so the low driver could be dried off. I have also used them in rain as well, I just plastic bagged them.
Passive speakers have a passive crossover network which saps your power. The downside of them is generally they are less accurate, have higher distortion figures, and generally have a time smear from a lack of time alignment in the drivers. You will also notice that no passive design is able to get as loud as an active design. All professional speakers that you see at a full on concert are active. They are capable of much higher output and greater reliability than any passive design.
For more information on this please check http://www.benjaminlbackus.com/res/ls/speakers1.html
It is not complete, but I hope that you will find it helpful.
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Kindest Regards,
Benjamin L. Backus
http://www.benjaminlbackus.com
Last edited by hobbesblb on Thu Sep 08, 2005 12:27 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Thu Aug 04, 2005 3:26 pm |
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conquistadore
Forum Moderator
Joined: 03 Aug 2004
Posts: 513
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Thanks Benjamin, that helped! |
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Sat Aug 06, 2005 7:24 am |
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wailingalleycat
Forum Manager
Joined: 07 Oct 2003
Posts: 694
Location: Jersey C.I (UK) |
| Passive Speakers |
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My list was about Self-Powered speakers obviously.
Bare in mind, that higher end passive speakers have active external signal processors available, such as the Nexo PS15, L-acoustics 112/115XT and so on, which would flatten the frequency reponse and optimise the signal before it enters the amplifier, possibly making them perform much better than a bi-amped/tri-amped design. also many passive speakers can be configured to run bi-amplified.
To say that active speakers are louder is somewhat hollow, as a passive speaker could be just as loud as a Bi-amped cabinet, it would just require a more powerful amplifier to overcome the power that is lost in the crossover.
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If In Doubt...Hit It With a Hammer, If Still In Doubt... Find a Bigger Hammer. |
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Sat Aug 06, 2005 9:24 am |
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baguio
Tape Op
Joined: 16 Sep 2004
Posts: 25
Location: Baguio City, Philippines |
hi there! its been a long time since i posted a reply here. the topic is old but let me just say some.
for a long time, i have always been a non-powered, tri or bi-amp user. We've tried powered wedges in the past and the results of our gigs were not so promising; primarily because sound tend to be lacking of "more push".
Now we are using RCF powered speakers! for our FOH, we use the 4PRO-6001A and ART series for our Wedges. Both are tri-amped and bi-amped respectively. They sound really good for me.
Business Wise, we were able to cut down on costs. We utilized lesser man power, and set up time became much faster. We were able to increase our profit because of these.
Technically....... Well i guess thats a long story. i'd go for the profit side hehe.
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Your friend from the Philippines! |
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Sun Dec 17, 2006 9:26 am |
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