Thank you for ur replies but u guys are comparing (dis)/advantages in each which only partly answer my question.
I am really looking at the MOST POPULAR of the two and why?
An SM58 is probably the most popular vocal mic but is it the best?
I can answer that ..... NO
I am not a big 58 fan (awaits the rain of criticism for my blasphemy)
To the OP,
Another poster said that powered speakers are relatively new ..... I disagree. They have been around for around a decade ..... but I would clarify.
Good MI grade powered speakers are relatively new. In fact, I would say that only within the last 3 years have we seen the rise of the powered FOH option for anyone that cares how they sound.
To put it into perspective, I used to refer to poor PA setups as "PA on a stick" referring to the early powered speakers (weak, poor sound).
Today, the field is VERY different.
Many of the MI grade powered speakers now use Neodymium magnet speakers, separate power amps, integrated limiters, DSP, and a host of other features.
I recently replaced my FOH rig which consisted of the following:
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- Klipsch KP301 3 way tops
- Cerwin Vega LR36 folded horn bottoms
- Crown K2 amplifier
- QSC 3002 amplifier
- Driverack PA
I now have a pair of Yamaha DSR112's and a pair of CV118s (I would prefer the new JBL PRX618 XLFs for the bottoms).
The powered rig is MUCH lighter, MUCH smaller, and sounds great.
I still keep the driverack pa, the Crown K2 and the folded horns for use in summer outdoor gigs where I need more bottom.
As far as the tops go, the DSR112's provide much more output than the Klipsch despite being smaller and lighter (and sporting a 12" vs 15" woofer). The SPL of the Klipsch are 124 db while the DSR's put out 134 db.
I think that powered speakers are allowing the bar band class of musicians to have a much higher level of sound without having to know much about speaker management.
To get the same sound quality out of my old passive system, I had to understand time delay, cross-over points, power vs speaker matching, limiting, phase alignment, equalizing the system flat, and many other issues to get everything sounding as good as the powered rig.
Practically all of these things are handled for you in a less expensive setup, that is lighter, and smaller with powered speaker systems.
Even larger venues are going that direction. I heard a guy that just came back from Disney talking about their setup with a bunch of Meyer's powered speakers that covered a room of around 1500 people.... all powered speakers.
Of course, I suspect that if you can afford 6 Meyer UPA-1A's and 4 of their front fills (can't remember the model number), then you have enough money to have it setup well too ;)
Along this same line, digital mixers are blazing the trail the same way on the instrument rack. I am looking at replacing my Allen&Heath MixWiz and a 16 space rack full of gear with a Presonus Studio Live 16.4.2.
The last few years have been a HUGE step forward for we musicians that don't have a sound team to do everything for us ;) Powered speakers are a definite step up today. You should go to your local GC and check out what they can do for yourself.
