Embarrassed to ask but, whats "going active" mean?

[Bipolar 10+ year member]

Yeah.. I'm a newb..I keep reading about people "going active" or running a "active" front stage..what does that mean exactly? I did a search and found people talking about doing "it" or not doing "it" but never found out what "it" was. Please "school a fool"..thanks..

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[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

Yeah.. I'm a newb..I keep reading about people "going active" or running a "active" front stage..what does that mean exactly? I did a search and found people talking about doing "it" or not doing "it" but never found out what "it" was. Please "school a fool"..thanks..

It means not using a passive crossover like what comes with comp sets. It means each speaker in your system (tweeter, mid, etc) has its own amplifier channel and is filtered via an active crossover (electronic).

 

[Enellz 10+ year member]

I didnt know neither, so dont feel bad

 

[DBDRAGGUY 10+ year member]

Its just a fancy way of saying tri-amping.

 

[Pl8er 5,000+ posts]

Good question. Don't be ashamed to ask car audio related questions on a car audio forum (especially if you have searched)

It is somewhat difficult to go active and takes a great deal of time tweaking and getting it right, but when it is done right....it sounds B E A utiful!

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

Its just a fancy way of saying tri-amping.

No, not really. Tri-amp refers to a 3 amplifier system (one for tweets, one for mids, one for subs). That term refers to a specific type of active system, a 3-way. 'Going active' is a broader term.

 

[gladiator_jai 10+ year member]

is it advisable to get 1 4 channel to power the components, or 2 2channels?

 

[Tacosys 10+ year member]

is it advisable to get 1 4 channel to power the components, or 2 2channels?
Thats the same thing.

 

[lostdaytomorrow 10+ year member]

Either/or but keep in mind most 4 ch. give the same power on all channels. Your mids will likely need more power than your tweets so two 2-ch. work well in this application.

 

[gladiator_jai 10+ year member]

I was just thinking that if you have 2 channels you can better control the components(frequency wise/gain wise)......just a thought, correct me if I am wrong.

 

[Immacomputer 10+ year member]

Its just a fancy way of saying tri-amping.

Like Audioholic said, it's not the same as tri-amping. The term "active" really means that you're using transistors in your circuit and not just passive elements (capacitors, inductors, resistors.. etc). When people go active, they use either their amp's crossover network or their headunit's crossover network and either way, there are going to be active elements in the circuit which means they are using active filtering.

It really comes down to either using a powered element to do your crossing over or you're using a non-powered crossover network.

 

[gladiator_jai 10+ year member]

Either/or but keep in mind most 4 ch. give the same power on all channels. Your mids will likely need more power than your tweets so two 2-ch. work well in this application.

wow you answered before I could type out my question completely...thx

 

[Anniku989 10+ year member]

is it advisable to get 1 4 channel to power the components, or 2 2channels?
Either would be considered 'going active', but i would assume that two amps offers greater flexibility

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

Even with a 4-channel amp you can vary the power going to the speakers via your processor (if its capable) or by adjusting the apropriate gains down.

The system Im building now consists of three 4-channel amps for the front stage, the ultimate in flexibility. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[kmanian 5,000+ posts]

Pretty much everyone is going active ( running an electronic X-over for your Sub stage dividing the frequencies at lets say 80hz sending 80 to the mids and highs). In a looser usage of the term it typically refers to the Mid bass to highs drivers. Being the X-over points are divided by and electronic device wether it be built in to the amp, headunit or a seperate stand alone X-over (audio control...) But if your running a sub I would be willing to say that technically you are running active.