STILL wrote on Sat, 30 April 2005 05:43 |
Another obvious one is that if it breaks, TWO things go down for repair. |
BHFProfessional wrote on Fri, 29 April 2005 21:44 |
What disadvantages are there to using active (powered) speakers instead of passive speakers? Weight difference is one area that comes to mind. |
FunkyJim wrote on Sat, 30 April 2005 01:54 | ||
On the other hand, with passive setups you can have 2 or more speakers being powered off one amp. So if one amp goes down completely, you lose two speakers as opposed to just one. |
sawdust12 wrote on Fri, 13 May 2005 16:26 |
Here is how I see things. If cars were like pro-audio gear, we would dissassemble our cars before and after each use. We would need to know a lot about tuning and aligning our cars or they would drive horribly after we assembled them. Thankfully, cars come in integrated packages. We just need to know where the gas goes and how to use the steering wheel, foot pedals and the shift lever. Powered speakers are a step towards integration of sound systems. They take a key variable, namely matching the speakers to the amps, out of the assembly problem. It allows someone to focus more energy on another part of their job. It is kind of like using a Driverack. The DR eliminates a lot of the level matching and wiring issues between components and saves space to boot. The DR creates a single point failure problem too. I feel powered speakers get a bad rap because there are so many budget plastic models on the market catering to DJs and this is what people see. You have Meyer cabinets at the high end of powered speakers but you won't find them in bars. The market for powered speakers targeted above the beginner DJ and below the touring system is still relatively young. The selection keeps getting better each year. The powered vs non-powered argument is like the analog vs. digital console argument. Eventually they will coexist quite nicely. |