I like the active speakers. I bought a pair of the Event 20/20BAS and I was debating about the active or passive models. A good friend of mine who is a fairly successful producer advised me to go with the active as the power amp was designed specifically for that monitor. That's not to say the passives who be a bad way to go, but I liked the idea of a matched amp/monitor system.

Additionally, active monitors are generally bi-amped which *should* provide increased accuracy.

drbam

Agreed that powered is preferable -

However - if your budget can't afford it - then take the path you must....... and pick up some XLR - RCA adapters.........

[[url=http://[/URL]="http://www.svideodo…"]XLR to RCA adapters[/]="http://www.svideodo…"]XLR to RCA adapters[/]

Happy Hunting

ROd

Rod thank's for the link.

The general consensus is active. I already expected that was the way to go but the passives looked pretty good price wise.

Jonesey

Jonesey,

> The general consensus is active. <

Yes, and one very important point nobody else mentioned is that active speakers have the potential for much lower distortion than any passive design. Not only due to the biamping - which you could do with passives - but also because the speaker drivers can be included in the amplifier's correcting internal feedback. I know the Mackie HR series does this, but I assume some other brands and models do too.

--Ethan

i own a pair of BM15's and love em
100 watt amp will not power them 240 minimum.
BM15a were killer
but for my budget the extra $1500 went somewhere else
if you can afford them get em
either way
we will be very happy

I was planning on getting the passive but now after learning my power amp isn't adequate, I'll need to bite the bullet and wait a little longer to purchase the active pair.

Thanks for the reply

I have to add that at some point there are passives that outperform many of the actives on the market. I have Earthworks Sigma 6.2 (which are not cheap), and I would stack them up against any speaker under $5000. there are others that are close and slightly different flavor, but none better than these in this range.

So passives with excellent crossover design and carefully selected power amps can out perform an active in terms of accuracy and distortion (you can opt for more headroom than actives have).

Steve

Steve, have you ever evaluated Dynaudio or Adams?
Thanks

My favorite nearfield monitors are the Proac Studio 100's.
A bit of a secret. but the best midrange of any nearfield monitor I've ever used. They need a pretty beefy amp to run properly. But since we're naming stuff, I thought I'd mention them. Mixes translate very well when I use them.

http://www.proac-loudspeakers.com/proacstu.htm