I think you have to take a general leap of faith when purchasing a self powered monitor? Every manufacturer is coming out with these things all touting how great they are. They are not all great as we all know. You really have to audition a speaker as it is as personal as your underwear. I for instance still enjoy the sound of my nonpowered JBL 4310/11/12 & 4411, with my Crown DC 300A!

If you find that a self powered monitor is not loud enough for you, I think you should absolutely buy separate speaker and amplifiers so that you can belch as much power as you want into your poor little hapless speakers. Of course you might want to purchase some replacement drivers just to have handy for the day that you blow some speakers up?

I blow only speakers
Ms. Remy Ann David

" You want me to do WHAT Mr. Speaker?"

skan wrote: That's pretty much the question guys....I have heard the Dynaudio BM6 A's and they are lovely as expected but I have the option of purchasing a Quad 909 stereo amp (140 > 8 ohms, 250 > 4 ohms) and a pair of BM6 passives for the same price (all new) ...but cannot audition the DYN/QUAD combo and would have to purchase on spec/opinions alone. One thing that I am sure of is that the active BM6's run out of juice a little earlier than I would like, whereas the Quad amp should be a fair bit gruntier and I would have more power in reserve...plus I imagine the dedicated Quad amp would be of higher quality than the Dynaudio amps on the back of the BM6A's.

Does anyone have any opinions/experience on this?

The BM6A's amp didn't sound cheap to me at all. They sounded very clear and big at low volumes. They had alot of the same character that the genelec 8040's or 1031's have as far as being powerful and enjoyable.

I would still have to go with the quad, personally, BUT I would have to hear it if it's preowned. If it's a new amp I'd just do it.

I have a pair of Dynaudio BM6 passives and use a simple Hafler P3000 power amp with them. I have listened to the BM6a actives on several occasions, although not in my studio. So I can't say I've tried them side by side. Nonetheless, I have no complaints whatsoever about the BM6 passives with the Hafler.

I personally think that a power amp is yet another heavy rack-space-eating piece of gear and I do everything I can to keep my studio clutter free.

So on that alone I would say go for the actives since you would have marginal (if any) sonic benefit by going with a power amp / passive setup. i just received my BM6a's today and they are simply fantastic. No offense but I just don't see how they run out of juice...

But you can't go wrong either way. Just my 2 cents....