going active.... overrated?

[mk_ 10+ year member]

Active is more fun.

 

[Haunz 10+ year member]

Active is basically picking YOUR own tastes. In some cases, it sounds alot better than passive. But thats an opinion, not a fact.

You are kidding right ? Because it's a fact that passive crossovers add distortion..

Everyone should also consider that most passives are not very good to begin with... And that the ones that do have a good design and use high quality components are quite expensive..

Even if you do have a quality set of passives, you still have the pitfalls of a passive system.. You loose a significant amount of power through the circuit, distortion is added, and the crossover points actually change as the driver's voicecoils heat up...

Active Biamping FTW.. "It's not magic, but it's close"

 

[mlstrass 5,000+ posts]

Going active isnt the end all be all. In fact its really not practical for many people.
But to someone who is looking to get the most out of their system and try different things it offers much more flexibility.

If you dont want to spend a lot of time to make adjustments or do not have the proper processing, than I usually just recommend a ready to go speaker system.

very true. If you're willing to put some time into it the results can be very rewarding. but if you think it's "plug & play" like passives then you probably shouldn't bother.

 

[RAM_Designs 5,000+ posts]

I've been going active for a year now and will never go back...you really do SAVE a lot of money on speakers, since you're not paying for crossovers. Not to mention most raw drivers offer more bang for your buck than a big name comp set will give you(like in mlstrass' example). My $100 active front speakers sound better to me than pretty much anything I've heard below $300 in a passive set....it's a different sound since I'm using a soft dome tweet, but I'd compare them to my K2P's I had as far as quality and "crankability" goes. And of course the imaging is better since I can time correct and level set each individual speaker.

Cliffs: ACTIVE FTW

 

[nauc 10+ year member]

so do yall think is will be pretty good

alpine 9887 with Time Correction, 1-4th order 2 or 3 way xover, 5 band peq (have/installed)

Oz 180cs mid (have/installed) stock front door location

Oz 180cs tweet (have/installed) about 6" above the mid (sits just above my knee)

alpine 100x4 amp (dont have)

about 6 square feet of Damp Pro per door (have/installed)

7 band eq (have/installed)

??????????

 

[Lil Poot 5,000+ posts]

so do yall think is will be pretty good
alpine 9887 with Time Correction, 1-4th order 2 or 3 way xover, 5 band peq (have/installed)

Oz 180cs mid (have/installed) stock front door location

Oz 180cs tweet (have/installed) about 6" above the mid (sits just above my knee)

alpine 100x4 amp (dont have)

about 6 square feet of Damp Pro per door (have/installed)

7 band eq (have/installed)

??????????

i'd do way more deadener. i have about 20 in each door. it'll sound pretty good. having had the 9887 before my 880, i much prefer the pioneers sound and adjustability.

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

That's like asking if *** is overrated, cuz you haven't tried it yet. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[Rudy 10+ year member]

but i just figured Oz spent a lot of time and research picking out the optimum xover points for my mid and tweet already...

They did, but they wanted setting that would work well regardless of the vehicle type and speaker placement - the two biggest variables in how your speakers are going to sound. If your vehicle is optimal for the passive x-overs, you probably won't notice much difference, but who knows what that optimal vehicle is. Active lets you tune to your specific conditions with a little bit of work. Passive lets you get decent results wihthout thinking.

 

[FoxPro5 5,000+ posts]

why is running active so great. ive never tried it but just wondering. ive have alpines 9887 with oz's 180cs off a 75x2 amp and have been thinkin about trying it.
thanks

Find out what the crossover point and slope is on that passive, replicate it as closely as possible with your HU, and you will know if it's a good thing for you or not. If you don't like it, plug the passive back in and be on your marry way.

 

[Stanthrax 10+ year member]

hey slam who makes that processor/eq

It looks like it says "Crossfire" on the crossover that's upside down. I didn't think Crossfire made processors of that type.

 

[DidUHearThat? 10+ year member]

just get one of these like i do and it wouldnt matter

What brand is that? It looks like junk. It will not matter in the issue of passive vs active.

 

[RAM_Designs 5,000+ posts]

What brand is that? It looks like junk. It will not matter in the issue of passive vs active.

If you don't know what it is, then why make assumptions?

 

[DidUHearThat? 10+ year member]

If you don't know what it is, then why make assumptions?

The faders are the cheesy type only seen on the lowest end units. I don't recognize them, so they are probably a knock-off/copy-cat brand.

It's definetly not a quality peice, or I would know it. We don't even use analog eq's much anymore. Mostly for monitor mixing.

This is what a quality eq looks like.

 

[nauc 10+ year member]

That's like asking if *** is overrated, cuz you haven't tried it yet. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

was just saying i havent tried it and wondered if its all that. dont want to spend the money if its not really a big deal

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/tongue.gif.6130eb82179565f6db8d26d6001dcd24.gif

 

[oldschool4me 10+ year member]

What brand is that? It looks like junk. It will not matter in the issue of passive vs active.

not junk and yes those are crossfire and are nice pieces.