Loudspeakers, Active or Passive? Powered or un-powered?

There is often some debate about how we label different types of loudspeaker and it has been known to cause major problems when 2 people use different terminology when working together.

There are 4 key words here, Active, Passive, Powered and un-powered, each of which describe the type of speaker and how it is powered. The confusion comes with the words Active and Passive, An active speaker COULD mean a speaker cabinet with a built in amplifier, The Mackie SRM450 is an example of this, a passive speaker COULD mean a speaker cabinet which relies on a separate amplifier, the D&B C4 is an example of this. However, some speakers which rely on a separate amplifier have more than one component inside that rely on some type of crossover to split the signal to the different drivers, this crossover could be a PASSIVE crossover inside the cab, which is true of the D&B C4 which can be again labeled PASSIVE or no crossover inside relying on ACTIVE crossovers before the amps, the Turbosound TQ-315 is an example of this which would be labeled ACTIVE. Already you can see where the confusion starts. Often it makes more sense to call the speakers such as the SRM450 Powered and such as the TQ315 or C4 Un-powered, the active/passive definition can then be left to describe its crossover requirements.

To confuse matters more some cabinets feature switchable crossovers inside so you can choose whether to use the internal crossovers or active ones before the amps. There are benefits to both of these, using the passive crossover in the amp you are only needing 1 amplifier channel although using an active crossover requires more amplifier channels you often get alot more control over the different components. The Martin Audio LE400 monitor is an example of where this active/passive switch is used. Additional to this, the Martin Audio W8 is a 3 way cabinet featuring components for low mid, hi mid and hi, there is a need for an active crossover between the low mid and high mid but an inbuilt passive crossover between the high mid and high. On top of this there is an active/passive switch to bypass this crossover inside the cab meaning you require 3 separate amplifier channels for the cabinet, again there are benefits to both.

It is important to know exactly what is meant when someone says active or passive, as a mistake here can easily cause show stopping problems.