Going Active: Is it worth it?

[ls2poweredgoat 5,000+ posts]

Right now I have a 9886, Premier PRS comps, JL 300/2.

Knowing I "could" have better sound gives me wood.

So, I was thinking I'd pick up a 9887 along with a Sundown 100.4

But is it worth it? Will it really sound that much better?

Click to read more...

 

[danz24 10+ year member]

that all depends on you.. Going active means you have more tuning options. If you dont know what your doing, then no point really.

 

[ls2poweredgoat 5,000+ posts]

I'm not a noob by any means, but I don't know tons of shit either. What exactly is so complicated in terms of the tuning? Everyone tells me that it's a *****....

 

[tcguy85 10+ year member]

yes active can and usually does sound better. allows you to tune the crossovers and levels quite a bit more. opens up new worlds of possibilities.

 

[danz24 10+ year member]

slopes, crossovers, level adjustments, etc... Make sure you know how low your tweeter can go for example or you can easily blow it.

But you have a component set already, wouldnt the passive crossover already be the ideal set points? You can still change the sound a bit tho by going active.

I find active more fun also, picking drivers, tuning etc...

 

[ls2poweredgoat 5,000+ posts]

Sounds like a giant headache.

 

[tcguy85 10+ year member]

slopes, crossovers, level adjustments, etc... Make sure you know how low your tweeter can go for example or you can easily blow it.
But you have a component set already, wouldnt the passive crossover already be the ideal set points? You can still change the sound a bit tho by going active.

I find active more fun also, picking drivers, tuning etc...

nope, every car is different and every install is different. the set points and slopes do not work the best for every install. thats the beauty of going active. you can set the points and slopes to where you think sound best for your install.

 

[jmanpc 5,000+ posts]

There's a lot of shit to adjust... gains, xover freqs, slopes, equalizers, individual speaker gains, time alignment... the list goes on. Just when you think you've got it right, you change it a little and it sounds better. I find myself constantly nitpicking my system and changing the settings.

Like I told you, passive setups sound great until you go active. Then, you'll never want to go back.

 

[tcguy85 10+ year member]

Sounds like a giant headache.

it's really not that bad. just gotta find out how low your tweeter should be safely played and how high your mids can play.

for the tweeter find out the FS of it an that will tell you how low you can safely cross the tweeters. generally if you're gonna use a 12db slope you double the FS. you can get closer to the fs if you use steeper slopes.

 

[Etac 10+ year member]

i've been debating about going active but my setup sounds pretty good as it is.. and the tweeter protection in the passive crossovers stops me from blowing them.. which i would probaly do if i went active..

i tempt fate too much lol and eventually blow up everything i own

 

[tcguy85 10+ year member]

There's a lot of shit to adjust... gains, xover freqs, slopes, equalizers, individual speaker gains, time alignment... the list goes on. Just when you think you've got it right, you change it a little and it sounds better. I find myself constantly nitpicking my system and changing the settings.
Like I told you, passive setups sound great until you go active. Then, you'll never want to go back.

yup. he's got it. there is a lot to tune but if you really want a great sounding system this can greatly improve it. and once you go active you probably won't want to go back.

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

If you have the time, patience and know-how, active is the way to go. If you are lacking on any one of those, don't bother, passive will sound better.