what are active speakers

[kernelpanicpopcorn]

vould someone please educate me on active speakers, and their merits and demerits compared to passive ones?

quad 11l costs 30k, while the active version costs 50k.

would the passive version sound better than the actve one from the same source? or vice versa.

im sorry if this is noobish, but i really need to know.



kernelpanicpopcorn

 

[korchha]

Passive speakers = speakers only. They need to be driven by a separate amp. So your system would be: Source -> Amp - > Passive Speakers.

Active speakers = speakers + built in amp. So your system would be: Source -> Active Speakers.

Pros and Cons? With Passives you can mix and match amps with them and you can upgrade the amp (and hence your system) going forward. Actives - you are pretty much stuck with the amp in the speaker - but its a much simpler setup.

 

[hifiashok]

In the audio evolutionary scheme of things, active MAY be the pinnacle for one sizeable class of listeners.

Best matching on speakers, cabinet and required amps.

However, rarely accepted in home audio circles. Almost de-facto in pro.

 

[Bluu]

Well said Ashok!

i think audioheads enjoy the thrill-of-the-chase of finding good electronics for their passive speakers. The endless auditions and choices. Tubes or SS? Chip-amps? Monoblocs? The list continues. With actives, you just get everything in a box without any of that hard work. That's not to say that active speakers are bad. It might be quite the opposite. However, for me at least, the ability to mix-and-match and upgrade electronics is where the fun is!

 

[hifiashok]

If u look @ the OP's q, the query on active vs passives from the same manufacturer, objectively speaking, who better than the speaker designer to know/decide which amp meshes best with his creation! (IHEO)

 

[Bluu]

If u look @ the OP's q, the query on active vs passives from the same manufacturer, objectively speaking, who better than the speaker designer to know/decide which amp meshes best with his creation! (IHEO)

You are correct and I agree. However, any audiophile will agree that upgrade-itis is a pretty fun disease to catch! That would be my reason for not picking up active speakers. For eg, I almost certainly want my next amplifier to be tube based. An active speaker setup will not allow for these deviations from the plan. That's all

Dhruv: To try and answer your question about the actives sounding better than the passives, I would say that the actives will sound great from the get-go because like Ashok mentioned, the pairing with the amp is already locked. With the passive speakers, you may very well be able to match or even surpass the SQ of the actives but it will require quite a bit of effort to find the best pairing.

 

[hifiashok]

May seem OT, but.....

U r intending to get married, u put out an ad for prospective matches.

U finally shortlist 10 to meet and finalise. U start meeting, 1.... 2...... 3 and bang. U feel no. 3 meets all your variables to choose/close. Wud u still meet the remaining 7, or stop at 3? Different strokes for different folks!

 

[kernelpanicpopcorn]

thanks guys this has helped me clear a bit up.

i get why pros would buy them, but for home listening, its basiclly spending 20k and destroying upgradeability in the process.

lol upgradeitis is fun when youre earning, not when youre on pocket money

anyway, thanks guys
oh, i had one more question, is it possible to bypass the amp in active speakers and use them as passive speakers with another amp?

 

[Bluu]

Wud u still meet the remaining 7, or stop at 3?

Oh hell yes! I'm naughty that way

 

[hifiashok]

thanks guys this has helped me clear a bit up.

i get why pros would buy them, but for home listening, its basiclly spending 20k and destroying upgradeability in the process.

Upgradeability could also mean chucking the actives and moving upward/laterally, to totally different LSs.

lol upgradeitis is fun when youre earning, not when youre on pocket money

anyway, thanks guys
oh, i had one more question, is it possible to bypass the amp in active speakers and use them as passive speakers with another amp?

Yes (of course, depends on the brand/model). But then, defeats the purpose, doesn't it.

 

[GeorgeO]

To elaborate a little more, actives actually mean ACTIVE crossovers, which can be outside the box or inside it. For example you can have a 2 way active speaker using an external Behringer( or similar unit), with a four channel amplifier. Can you change the enclosure later if you want to upgrade? Yes. Is it a low cost option? Not necessarily.

You dont need to have the crossover and amplifier inside the enclosure

If you opt for passive crossovers, the crossover is inside the enclosure, and all you see are the terminals. The amp is outside it, and can be upgraded.

I had the option of going the active route on a speaker project that I am about to start building, but the prospect of getting a Behringer Ultracurve Pro, and playing with it, as well as dedicating four channels of amplification was a bit too much for me. I have listened actively crossed over speakers, though.

 

[Bluu]

Thanks for the clarity GeorgeO. Can you please tell us if the Emerald Physics speakers are considered active? The crossover on them is an external Behringer unit but the speakers are not amped.

 

[captrajesh]

I had the option of going the active route on a speaker project that I am about to start building, but the prospect of getting a Behringer Ultracurve Pro, and playing with it, as well as dedicating four channels of amplification was a bit too much for me.

Knowing how much research you do before pulling the trigger, I'm sure you opted for the above instead of analogue crossover like 2-way Behringer CX2310. Could you elaborate the reasons for your decision?

 

[GeorgeO]

Emerald Physics can probably be described as actively crossed over, though perhaps if the amp is not inbult they are not "Powered speakers"-which is probably a more accurate description. I dont personally know of E-P so I assume that the Behringer is actively crossing over.

Rajesh


Here's my take:
The issue for me was that the designer (Bamberg Engg Sound Labs) currently designs all his speakers with active crossovers using the Behringer Ultracurve. After the basic design is complete, then he starts on a passive crossover design for the combination of enclosures and drivers.

He suggested that I go the active route, he would charge me a fee for doing crossover software, whereas I was quite comfortable with his passive crossover which did not require me to buy the Behringer unit($250-300)+ pay for the s/w + I didnt want each channel to be driver independently since my newly built Hypex multi channel amp was to be used only for HT use. He suggested that I use a valve amp for tweeters and a SS for woofers, but that would be furthur complicating things, so I opted for the passive crossovers. Anilva who has considerable familiarity with and uses a Behringer U-C encouraged me to go active and I seriously toyed with the idea, but finally decided against it.

If I aleady had mutli channels of amplification lying idle I might have considered the option, In addition on my last trip I was also bringing back assorted goodies and an addition Behringer unit would unnecessarily add to weight-Lufthansa now only allows a single checked in bag free!

 

[captrajesh]

Thanks for the info George. Will ping Anilva for his opinion too. My interest was aroused when I heard many good words about active xovers and when I saw a pre-used Behringer xover going for cheap in Audiocircle. I wanted to pick that up but by the time I sent a PM, that was gone. It seems there would be a major improvement in SQ by going active.

 

[GeorgeO]

Look at this link:

Bamberg Engineering Sound Lab

Again- I am not too sure about "major improvement in SQ", but to each his own!

 

[santhosh]

The Emerald Physics uses an active crossover but it is not actively powered (you will need a seperate amp as EP has not built one into the speaker). So in this sense it is not an active speaker.

In the Emerald Physics speaker, the BEHRINGER unit does parametric equalization (room equalization) in addition to performing crossover duties. Since the EP is an open baffle design, using a parametric equalizer such as the BEHRINGER DCX2496 allows for an optimal equalisation to control the EPs by taking into consideration input parameters such as room size, distance from rear and side walls etc.

 

[santhosh]

Thanks for the info George. Will ping Anilva for his opinion too. My interest was aroused when I heard many good words about active xovers and when I saw a pre-used Behringer xover going for cheap in Audiocircle. I wanted to pick that up but by the time I sent a PM, that was gone. It seems there would be a major improvement in SQ by going active.

Captain, there is no SQ difference as this only does what an internal crossover would do but also offer flexibility. I am no expert in DIY of speakers. But from what I gather from DIY'ers and reading, the most difficult part in building/designing a speaker is getting the crossover network right as this involves winding of inductors accurately, knowing what point to crossover etc. Having an active crossover like the Behringer allows you to tweak the crossover to compensate for weaknesses in the driver or make your speaker sound the way you want it. You can even save different configurations and do an A/B test to choose what you like.

EDIT: Like all things new, purists will not accept this as equal/better than the circuit based crossover but the convenience it offers is a boon to the DIY'er or designer. Imagine writing off a bad sounding speaker or having to open the driver from a completed speaker to pull out a crossover, tweak it by changing some parts and then fitting it back to check if it sounds better .... if not iterate.

 

[jaudere]

I had planned to use Active XO for my open baffles.
I was going to use 3 way XO and then feed separated signals into into 5.1 analogue in of My Yamaha AVR so that it would work as multichannel power amplifier. THis idea was given to me by Cranky.

The major hindrance was
1) Balanced connectors for pro audio vs unbalanced for home audio.
2) Too many wires.

In fact I checked in a shop about how it worked. It was an audition of 5 minutes .It was behringer but not the ultracurve. Did not like the results.
Getting RCA to XLR male and XLR female to RCA was another headache.
So left the idea and use passive readymade XOs of Ahuja.

 

[captrajesh]

Captain, there is no SQ difference as this only does what an internal crossover would do but also offer flexibility.

What I've gathered is something different. The passive x-overs waste huge amount of power in the process of providing the right frequency spectrum to their respective drivers whereas the actives are dividing the sound spectrum and supplying them to the respective drivers and this process is apparently superior way of driving the drivers.