Thoughts on Active/Passive Speakers? Looking for pros and cons.


Hi all, 

I've normally discounted the notion of active/passive speaker combos, but am warming up to the idea and may give them a listen.  Golden Ear gets good reviews, but i'm intrigued by the new Paradigm Founder Series 120H.  

Curious if anyone has heard the Founders, or maybe compared the Active Persona 9H against one of the lower end versions.  

Thanks in advance.  

EW
128x128mtbiker29
OP, you should listen to what @fiesta75 says about this topic and ignore the rest.

Active has a lot of limitations. And not only that the complexity is not worth it. For low end to mid fi, may make some sense. But high end will always be passive.

Oh really? Then can you please explain why nearly every professional audio rig you have ever heard (maybe you have not, which would make sense) at a live event uses active speaker systems?

Only in the US would an "audiophile" make such dubious claims without any experience.

The absolute best systems I have ever heard in people's homes have been active systems.

Active systems (if done correctly) are far superior to passive systems. Especially, and even in the "high end". Get with the times people.
^^^ If done right active can sound good but the complexity is probably not worth it.  You will need external amp and dedicated ADC per channel which won't come cheap.  Most people won't put up with all that external equipment.  Cheap miniDSP stuffs are not going to cut it.

On paper active may have an advantage but real world constrains make it not practical.

If you're just contend with built-in class D amp and cheap digital to analog conversion then well I suppose active is a good alternative.