Active vs Passive
 

In a couple of the audio posts going active is mentioned to get better sound then a passive system. I am looking for an explaination between what active and passive is, and if there is really that big of a difference. I am looking for high quality sound at lower volumes.

Thanks
Troy

Unless you are going to use a single din head unit at this time I know of no active capable double din head units. On top of this if you go active your going to want to do custom panels for your tweeters for better imaging. Most systems sound better with a on axis tweeter rather than off. But with active it is controllable.

Active is when you run a tweeter on one channel of your amp and one woofer on one channel giving you a total of 4 channels to control. There is no crossover between the speakers and the amp. That is all done by your head unit where you set your crossover freq's hrx and so on. It is very time consuming to tune and can take up to 2 or three days sometimes. A passive means your send a full signal from your head unit to your amp where it is amplified and sent to a crossover where it is controlled and where the freq is controlled for you.

check out these threads from diyma:

Active vs Passive - What's the difference - DIYMA.com

What does running active or passive mean? - DIYMA.com

Basically what Big said, Active would mean a seperate channel between your woofers and your tweeters without using the inline crossovers. The down side is you need some way to high-pass crossover during pre-amp from 2000-3000hz for your tweets; so do your reasearch on HU or Amplifier crossover controls.

When its all said and done bi-amp sounds very good and gets rid of the usually junk component crossovers.

I am looking to go active with the Lrx 5.1 amp. Any suggestions or comments
Troy

Love the audison amps good luck finding one unless you have a local authorized dealer. Make sure your get a nice active head unit like the alpine 9887 which is my personal favorite. Patience is your friend when tuning the system remember that.

I got the car back today. What a difference. I completely recommend anyone wanting clear precise sound to go active. The vocals are so clear it is unbelievable. It really is a night and day difference. Before going active I had the Lrx 4.2 amp installed. The speakers are the High Energy. My HU is the Pioneer 120BT. I love this head unit. It does everything I want and is easy to control while driving.

Troy

You must be using the amps filters to go part active because that head unit can not do it. Am I correct or are you using a external unit?

Amp the Lrx 5.1

Ya real active is going threw a head unit where you control so much more than just what you can on a amp. Active is not for everyone as i said before ever time consuming and to do it right you have to have a good single din head unit.

No matter what you say it made a huge difference. Plus to do what I wanted the HU to do no one makes a complete unit, not even Alpine.

Alpine 9887, pioneer dex-p99rs, kenwood XXV-01D and a few more including the clarion and mcintosh. The pioneer can even go 4 way active. Just some info I would share. Glad it sounds good.

Here is what I wanted my HU to do. Bluetooth sound and phone, Pandora, 7 inch video screen (no large buttons on the side or below), play dvds, back up camera, usb and sd ports, Iphone capabilities and HD radio, staying under 2k for the HU. If I missed one please let me know. Plus a certified dealer has to be in my town. I will agree Pioneer would not have been my first choice for a high end system, but so far I am overly satisfied with the HU, and Audio Innovations in Fresno that did all the work, including the sound deadening application.

Troy


Troy

Not sure if this is the right area or not, but Years ago, more than i care to talk about, I had been in the CA business.
recently, while going through my garage, I found boxes and boxes of inductors and caps ( electrolytic and poly) for building passive crossovers. i would be glad to sell or trade them for Z material. I also have rolls of speaker cloth, connectors and parts.

Resistors and such for zobel coorection too.