It's the new year and high time for me to upgrade my sound

I have a bit of a dilemma on whether to stay the passive route which if I did would see me buy a pair of JBL JRX 115 speakers and a crown amplifier to run them or to go down the active line and buy a pair of mackie SRM 450'S. I plan to add the equivalent bass bins in the future for which ever purchase i make. I know speaker and amp preference is a very personal thing but which way do you think I should go?

Regards Daryll

Both Have pros and cons

Actives are great for a simple carry in plug in mains and Line from mixer and ready to go....But if you looses a Driver (speaker) or the amp the whole unit is dead to you...

Seperate amps and Speakers.... More to carry in and plug up.... But if you looses a Driver then its only that component that you have to send to the repair shop....

I have a mix of active and non active speakers and use eather or depending on requirements....

I know this might not be much use to you as far as advise goes but it will give you something to think about..

Nik

I used passive speakers & amps but switched to SRM 450's last month. I agree with what UK hero is saying in respect of pro's and cons.

The SRM 450's are very good, and you will probably only need the bass bins for larger venues, and then, 1 will suffice.

I switched to reduce the amount of gear to hump around, and improve sound quality. I would recommend that you buy covers for the 450's. The mackie ones are expensive but high quality.

I know which I would choose out of the two you mentioned. The crown and JBL's everytime.

but as you say...... each to his own.

srm route will be easy to carry/setup when alone, the JBL's will go louder but harder to transport...

go jbl

Depends on if you ever want to go bigger. The concept of 'less wires' becomes 'more wires' once you get over a certain amount of cabs. Each cab requires both power AND signal. At least with 8 boxes you only have to run 8 signal max.

Very good point... How ever a four way block to the bcak of each tack and a signal cable will help in this situation...


Nik

The arguement about losing a speaker can be turned on its head though.......

If your amp blows on a passive system......end of night!! No sound at all! (unless you have a spare next to you)

If a mackie blows....the other one will surfice so beit on less volume, but will still do the job

If the powered sub blows, you will still have the mackie srm's which provide enough bass anyway for the average small medium gig.

Each mackie has two amps built in, (top and mid) chances are only one amp will ever go in one night....therefore leaving you with 3 amps left between the two mackies....and the sub if your using one?



Deal deal deal.....if your thinking of mackie route....Sub new £500 quid Mackies new £799 pair

Thats 1300 for the lot....great price for quality stuff imo

It is a dilema and I can see pro's and cons for both. Not having sound if an amp blows shouldn't be a problem if you have a back up amp! My BKE amp has separate amps with separate power supplies for each channel so hopefully I wouldn't loose both channels. Anyone know if any other makes of amp are the same?

I like the flexibility of being able to swap and change around different speakers with different amps but there is the inconvenience of taking the extra gear every time. I always use a bi amped system unless its for vocals only. Tops sound okay on their own but I think you cant beat the quality of sound you get from having tops and subs but thats just me being a bit fussy. No matter what size the venue is I always use both.

I can see the attraction of having active speakers with less gear to carry and quicker to set up. I've been looking at them myself for smaller gig's.

In view of the fact that no one has a strong opinion of either, it must just boil down to personal preference.

JeffWall is spot on with his view on the srm 450. They are very very reliable.

Prior to buying these, I spoke to 2 hire companies who put these out on hire. Hire operations only use durable reliable equpiment.

At the end of the day it's simply down to your own preference and your pocket!

I have an invested interest in this post so for give me.

Would you guys like a powered speaker with a switch so if the amplifier fails you can plug in an external amplifier or drive an external speaker from the built in amplifier?

Do you think that is a good idea?

Yes anything that gives you more use options is in my eyes a very good idea

Nik

I'll have to think about that! Wouldn't it mean you would have to take a back up amp in case the active amp failed and a backup speaker in case the active speaker blew? Probably be easier to have a backup active speaker?

I have bought another sub for my mackies....now got 2 subs and 2 mackies srm's

last night about 20 mins before the gig ended, not many were dancing and alot had gone home.........i un coupled 1 sub and 1 srm to start packing up. The sound was still very good and nobody really noticed the diffrence with only one side working.
My point is: if a srm blows it really is not the end of the night, and if a sub blows, no problem either.

I know most mackie users will perhaps have no subs or 1 sub at most venues, but the principle is the same, you can get by if anything blows during the night.

However, there good but they dont work during a power cut!! (like happened to me a few months ago at a very posh wedding ahhgggghhhh!!!!

Back up generator took 2 minutes to come on!