Hello,
this is my first post on this forum which I like very much
I am in the search for nearfield monitors.
The main thing that I am interested in is , if someone has ears-on experience A/B-ing same monitors passive and active versions.
In my case that would be PMC TB2S and Musical Fidelity A3 integrated amplifier or the active version of the same model
( Bryston activated, twice the price ).Becouse if there is no audible difference then it is better to spend the money on better speakers ( if you u already have a decent amplifier of course ) then on the worse quality activated speakers... What do you guys think



Thx

I guess nobody tried this before...evidently....difference btw. passive and active monitors are mainly the connections, passive will have -6 dB signal due to the amplifiers phono inputs opposed to the balanced inputs or am I wrong?

My two top monitor manufacturers are PMC and Harbeth and a recent test by a TV company also put these two at the top amd about equal.

So - you seem to be making the right choice.

Personally I would go for active every time.

But when I compared the DB1 with the Harbeth I found the Harbeth slightly the better.

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John - Sound-Link ProAudio
President - Federation Internationale des Chasseurs de Sons

Well the active version of tb2s is twice the price of the passive and I already have an amplifier that costs around 1500 euros! I think money is far better spent on better speakers then the other way around... and activation ( if I ever fell the need... ) of the PMC speakers is no problem you just buy the flying mole ( Bryston ) amps and "stick" them to the back!

Thx

P.S: I hope I will get a chance to A/B passive ( with good amp ) vs. active PMC and tell you if there is any difference in sound !

Oops - I forgot the TB2 was not active, only powered - it then makes no difference and a good external amp would probably be better.

Looking at the specs of the "Flying Mole" - although good, the damping factor is not so hot.

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John - Sound-Link ProAudio
President - Federation Internationale des Chasseurs de Sons

Two things:

1. Active monitors are always (well, 99% of the time) better than passives. (Actually 'active' monitors should be called 'powered' since that is what is meant)
Why are powered monitors better?
a. Built-in amps are invariably better suited since they were designed and trimmed SPECIFICALLY to power the drive units.
b. Powered monitors are in fact called 'active' because they most often have electronic ('active') crossover filters as opposed to passive, coil/capacitor based filters. Active filters are WAY superior: far more exact and lossless. There is such an animal as a powered monitor with passive filters, but you'd be fairly hard pressed to find one these days.
c. Powered monitors do not rely on balancing impedance between amp and speaker since this is internal.
d. They are also far less susceptible to blowing since they generally have built-in limiters to cut at overload.


2. There is no reason in the world to go for fancy high-end monitors. There are a large number of very good monitors out there with familiar and unfamiliar names on them - like Event, Tapco, Mackie, KRK, Fostex, Yamaha, Tannoy etc.

The sound/quality difference between these and the really fancy names is so small these days that it is a moot point for anyone but the pure pro - the kind who has a mixer 3 meters wide and doesn't care what kit costs.

I have in the last 3 weeks seen two big tests in different magazines of smaller (5-7 inch) nearfields: In both, pro engineers/producers blind-tested monitors and were almost embarrassed by the results


So:
ONLY follow your ears.
And get powered actives. Driving them balanced straight out of the mixer is best.

Quote FishNose:

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(Actually 'active' monitors should be called 'powered' since that is what is meant)

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Not necessarily...

An Active monitor has an internal electronic crossover feeding seperate amplifiers for each drive unit - a Powered monitor has a single amplifier feeding a passive crossover and all the drivers.

To put it simply.

The small PMCs are powered monitors, the bigger ones are active.

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John - Sound-Link ProAudio
President - Federation Internationale des Chasseurs de Sons