Active vs. Passive Setup?

[crazy4ozs]

alright guys, so i am a little "un-educated" when it comes to what people call an "active" set up...obviosly a passive set up, would be a component set that comes with mid/tweet/x-over...but when going active...how do u no what crossover si right for ur mids, tweet, ect...and what about ur tweets...ive never herd of an RMS for a tweeter...can sumone please clear teh cobwebs that cloud my brain thanks

[alphakenny1]

http://www.caraudio.com/forum/showthread.php?t=146726

[crazy4ozs]

thank you alpha

[alphakenny1]

did it help? lol. its only a basic explanation.

[crazy4ozs]

im still reading...its a hella lot more complicated than what i thought...i just thought it was a way to...for example:

take AA Poly Mids and Lotus Tweets and put them togather to create a ****** pair of comps, lol

[alphakenny1]

honestly its not that hard to learn the basics. its a little intimidating at first, i understand. but once you grasp the concept its not too bad. but yea go diy ftw!

[crazy4ozs]

ya...i mean, i understand all of it, im jsut afraid to try doing it on my own...its like tring to pick out a sub without ever hearing music ya' no?

[alphakenny1]

yea its understandable. but if you are very willing to learn, it should be a piece of cake. trust me, it'll take sometime to learn and tune. i mean shiet, i tuned while driving all the time with my 8455. and just after 3 months or so with the seas lotus reference set, i finally found some xover pts and slopes i liked. then 2 weeks later i tear my car apart and haven't had music in 3 weeks . but i'll be back with a vengence .

but if you got any questions, feel free to ask.

[FoxPro5]

...ive never herd of an RMS for a tweeter...can sumone please clear teh cobwebs that cloud my brain thanks

They all have them. When you are mixing and matching drivers it does come into consideration, but it's down on the list. With only a few watts a tweeter can play painfully loud with no distortion.

Active is not better per say, it just allows more flexibility overall. I think WAY too many people recommed 'going active' for the novelty of doing it rather than the costs vs the benefits.

[squeak9798]

ya...i mean, i understand all of it, im jsut afraid to try doing it on my own...its like tring to pick out a sub without ever hearing music ya' no?

If you are a relative novice at setting up components (which it sounds that you are given you didn't know what "active" was or that tweeters had a certain power handling limit, no offense, not calling you stupid, you simply have much to learn), then it's best that you first perfect that art passive crossover setups before you attempt to go active.

Yes, with active there is the potential for better sound. But it's also much easier to end up with worse sound through improper tuning. And considering most people don't even understand how to maximize a passive setup....active is a long shot for achieving best performance for those people.