5
The Active Advantage
There are a number of advantages to using an active
speaker system over a passive loudspeaker:
• The internal crossover is active, and its low power
circuitry operates on line-level signals. It does not
waste speaker-level power like a passive crossover with
large coils, caps, and resistors.
• The input signals are crossed over before they reach the
amplifiers, so each amplifier only receives the correct
frequency range for its driver.
• The amplifiers are designed specifically for these
speaker load impedances. There is no guesswork as
to what load each amplifier has to drive, so they can
provide maximum acoustic output from the speakers,
yet minimize the danger of speaker damage due to
overdriving a lesser amplifier.
• The connecting wires between the amplifier outputs
and the drivers are kept to a minimum, so the damping
factor of the amplifier isn’t compromised by the
resistance of long speaker cables. In addition, all the
power from the amplifier is transferred directly to the
drivers with no speaker cable losses.
• The acoustic sum of the outputs from the two drivers
is optimized electronically, as well as physically, so the
amplitude response is flat and there is no lobing error.
• The presence of active circuits within the speaker
cabinet allow the designer to add on extra details, such
as a high quality mic/line input section and optional
accessory modules.
In short, all the complex interconnected components
in the system are designed to work in harmony with each
other to produce the best possible sound.
