As far as the no-patch around argument goes, I'm of the oppisite opinion...
When I've had a failure, I've usually lost two speakers instead of just one since I tend to run a speaker per amp channel, with a self-powered solution I'd only be down a single speaker; plus I can grab one speaker and run to another location for a quick annoncement PA...
I've yet to find a reason to not go powered for every situation I've looked at, but of course thats me. Mic cords are plentiful, AC cords are plentiful, amps and speaker cable are less plentiful, less need for a system dsp, just a pair of crossovers (Aux/matrix-fed).
I can go to single-mix to multi-mix once I'm on-site without having to drag out additional amps...to me losing an internal amps is just as bad as losing an external, my clients wouldn't have one anyway, and for the price a backup speaker costs about the same
QSC 3604 - $1000
Yorkville EF500P - $980
Plus I get a mini-mixer with every speaker...anyway YMMV of course...