Thoughts on Active/Passive Speakers? Looking for pros and cons.

fiesta25, I have been biamping speakers with active crossovers since 1978. I have had no passive crossovers in my system since I got rid of the Divas around 2000. I have said on numerous occasions the best crossover is no crossover. There is a difference in a passive speaker owner selected electronics and an "active" loudspeaker with built in electronics designed specifically for that speaker and for which the owner has no say in the matter. Some of them are only partially active requiring an outboard amp usually to drive the midrange and tweeters. Again, My Sonos 3's are a good example of an active speaker. You just plug them into the wall and you are ready to go (they are also wireless) My Soundlabs are passive speakers and they are driven by JC1's after an active crossover at 120 Hz along with room control and digital EQ. It seems some people here would call them active loudspeakers. That would be incorrect.

@andy2 , sure you can, as long as your active crossover is digital there is no distortion or phase shift.

djones, Using active crossovers is quite simple. You start with the same slopes and crossover points used in the passive crossover and if things sound fine you leave them there. The only danger you have to be aware of is trying to run a tweeter too low down and damaging it. It is difficult o harm a driver with too much power. It will distort like crazy before it blows.
It is underpowered amps clipping that blows drivers. You burn up the voice coils. In my case you burn up the brilliance controls:-)

Boy I must be living on a different planet. You guys are talking about having an active VS passive crossover. That has ZERO to do with active loudspeaker that have the amplifier/Amplifiers built into the speakers with electronics to provide not only the crossover but also to EQ the speaker. Sonos speakers are an example of "Active" loudspeakers. Active crossovers and bi or tri amping have been around for decades. Whether doing this is better than a well designed passive crossover is a toss up and depends on who you talk to. You are using passive loudspeakers. As long as the amps and crossovers are outboard the speakers are passive. If you think you can do better using an active crossover than the designer's passive crossover you might be sadly mistaken. 

hedwigstheme, depends how you look at it. My speakers are all passive so, in the classical sense no, they are not active. If you define active as having DSP shenanigans then yes, I use a digital processor. The processor is vital to get to the absolute sound. You can get there without but it is very difficult and in my experience more by accident than anything else. Not one system we ever put together at Sound Components got there and there was an excellent room for it. With the processor it is much easier but it still requires the right amp, speakers and room management. The processor has the best bass management, allows you to EQ to the exact sound you like and "control" the room to some extent and finally lets you match the channel's frequency response to within one dB across the frequency spectrum from 100 to 10,000 Hz. You still have to manage room acoustics and set up your system in a symmetrical fashion. Stereo is all about symmetry. You can not have one speaker in a corner and the other in  the middle of nowhere. Both speakers have to be exactly the same distance from the front wall and from the corners and both speakers should have clear  walls past the first reflection points on both the side and front walls. It is very difficult to treat a first reflection point over a fireplace or window. Getting to the sound you like is relatively easy. Getting to that magic image is very hard. The processor and a calibrated measurement system make it much easier but there are never any guarantees. I did not hear a system do it until 1979 and I did not get there the first time until 1997 or so. Both systems got there by accident. There were however problems with the 1997 system the killer was the fragility of the Apogee Divas and the fact that Apogee went out of business. The 1979 system belonged to a high school teacher who liked to drive Alpha Romeos. I had never heard a system image like that before and never even knew it was possible until I heard that system. I have been chasing that sound ever since, trying to figure out what the essential ingredients are. Still do not know all of it.  

mtbiker29, Like everything in this life it all depends. I have not heard an active speaker get to the absolute sound which does not mean it can not be done and I have listened to very few active speakers. The Sonos speakers that I use around the house and in my office sound great for what they are. They are background music. None of the active speakers on the market excite me otherwise from a design perspective. You can have DSP management of any speaker on the market. You do not need to buy an active one. You have to listen and judge on your own.