Benefits Of Running Active?

[TITUS1985]

So like the title says what are the benefits of running speakers active opposed to running them passive? I mean if active is better why do companies sell component sets with crossovers? Is it just for ease of installation?

Right now I've got a set of Hertz Hi Energy 3 ways up front running passive with the crossovers provided. I've been looking around and almost all the people in this SQ section are running there speakers active; which brought me to this question.

Thanks in advance and any info on this topic is greatly appreciated, I would love to learn more about it all.

Nick

[White Lightning]

I found alot of this information over the net (and also MAJOR trials and errors with my vehicles) to help me understand the aspects of Sound Quality. If you guys don't mind, I would like to share this in order to be able to answer you question about the benefits of active as best that I can ... Hope this helps !!!

There are four basics of Sound Quality ...

1. Clarity

The ability of a system to produce the original signal as intended, without distortion. Distortion can be caused by numerous things — from a head unit that's not level-matched with an amplifier to an amplifier that's clipping, or being overdriven and sending a distorted signal to the speakers. And distortion can come from any component in a system.

A good test is to listen to cymbals, which can have a brassy and off-putting sound when distorted. High-pitched female vocals are also difficult to reproduce and can reveal distortion rather easily.

Achieving clarity and therefore avoiding distortion is all about proper system design and tuning. It's making sure components are of sufficient quality and compatible with one another and that signal levels are well matched between electronics. It also involves using a component as it was intended and not pushing it past its design limits.

2. Dyanmic Range

Refers to the ability of a system to reproduce loud and soft passages in music with the same level of detail. When you're at a live concert, a singer may wail and then whisper or a drummer may hit a drum head with brute force and then back off a bit. Each extreme is an important part of the performance.

If the performance is recorded and reproduced by an audio system, the loud and soft parts should be delivered with the same detail and accuracy. But often a system tends to suppress soft parts and emphasize loud ones, meaning you lose the subtleties of the performance.

A related concept is linearity, which refers to a system's tendency to lose detail when the volume is turned down. A system has great linearity if it can retain the same detail at a low volume that it does when it's cranked up.

3. Frequency Response

Every sound you hear, from the low rumble of thunder to the high-pitch wail of a siren, is caused by vibrations in the air that occur at certain frequencies. These vibrations are measured in hertz (Hz), which refers to the number of times per second these vibrations occur.

Humans can hear frequencies roughly from 20 to 20,000 Hz. A car audio system's frequency response represents how much of the audible frequency spectrum it can reproduce. The frequency response of a car audio system can be measured by an instrument known as a real-time analyzer (RTA), which consists of a microphone attached to a processor with a display that has a graph that shows a system's response.

4. Tonal Balance

An ideal car audio system uniformly reproduces the entire audible frequency spectrum from 20 to 20,000 Hz. But no system — at least while playing music — is perfect. Music is dynamic; some parts are loud and some are soft, so a system will naturally have dips and peaks in its frequency response.

Although a system can have these peaks and dips in frequency response, it needs to have good tonal balance — a relatively equal amount of sonic energy across the frequency range — to sound good. Subsequently, system designers and tuners often measure frequency response to gauge which frequencies may need to be boosted or cut as opposed to trying to achieve a flat frequency response. This can be done with an equalizer, although it's best that the system is designed in such a way that it has good tonal balance to begin with.

And there are Several attributes to go with the Basics of Sound Quality ...

1. Timbre

A system's ability to recreate the sound of an instrument as it was originally intended to be heard. An acoustic guitar is usually a good test for this because most people have heard one. Does the sound have that warm, slightly resonant quality that the instrument is known for, or does it merely sound like a low-resolution reproduction of that signature sound?

2. Tonal Accuracy

Describes how faithful a system is in general to the original recording. It can apply to instruments as well as vocals. The more accurate the system is while playing a good recording, the more you feel as if you are there, listening to a live performance as opposed to a recording.

Tonal accuracy can also apply to the ambiance in a recording, which refers to the space in which a recording is made. Most modern recordings are made in a sort of vacuum, with individual instruments recorded separately or, in the case of some rap music, the individual parts are sampled from other recordings. But many older recordings, some modern ones, and almost all live albums capture the environment in which the performance was recorded. In fact, certain recording studios and performance spaces are known and revered for their sound, which give a recording or performance a specific ambiance.

Think of timbre and tonal accuracy as the reproduction of how close you get to the actual performance or how the producer intended for it to sound. Whether it's the sound of Miles Davis's trumpet, Jimmy Page's guitar, a Dr. Dre beat, or the ambiance of Carnegie Hall, how well a system can reproduce it the way it went down in a studio or concert hall determines the difference between a good system and a great one.

3. Stage and Image

The basic idea is that when you're listening to a stereo recording, the system should recreate the illusion of the stage on which the performance occurred, and you should be able to pinpoint the sonic image of the individual performers and instruments within the stage.

Think about the example of a basic rock band that includes a singer, guitarist, bass player, and drummer. You should be able to close your eyes and picture the singer at the center of the stage, the guitarist to the right, the bass player on the left, and the drummer center and behind the singer. Keep in mind that this is an ideal that sound quality systems should approach if not achieve. With rap and many pop-music recordings, the vocalist will be centered, but the concept of a band playing on a stage doesn't exactly apply.

4. Speaker Placement and Interior Acoustics

Hardcore enthusiasts often go to great lengths to position their speakers for the best possible results. This includes rebuilding door panels to better position speakers. Some have even built elaborate mechanisms to mount speakers in or raise them above the dash in order to achieve better staging and imaging.

A car's interior, its reflective surfaces (such as glass), and its absorptive materials (upholstery) play a dramatic role in a system's response. And every car interior is different.

[White Lightning]

I know that is alot of imformation to take in, but VERY helpfull when working towards a nice Sound Quality setup !!!

I am taking the information I learned with my truck (trail and error), and implementing everything into my 49 Ford project ...

Now, lets get a little bit more on topic !!!

There are three main reasons for running an active system ...

1. Time alignment

Four things need to in perfect time alignment ... 1. Highs, 2. Midrange, 3. Midbass, 4. Sub Bass

You need your tweeters(highs) in perfect time alighment with your midrange, your midrange in perfect time alignment with your midbass, and your midbass in perfect time alignment with your sub bass ... It doesn't matter if you are running 2 way or 3 way setups, as long as you can have your components COMPLETLY time aligned with each other ...

Most people uses Active (along with processing) to help out when you are runnning into problems setting things up in their systems without having to do stuff like this ...

4. Speaker Placement and Interior Acoustics

Hardcore enthusiasts often go to great lengths to position their speakers for the best possible results. This includes rebuilding door panels to better position speakers. Some have even built elaborate mechanisms to mount speakers in or raise them above the dash in order to achieve better staging and imaging.

A car's interior, its reflective surfaces (such as glass), and its absorptive materials (upholstery) play a dramatic role in a system's response. And every car interior is different.

In most now a day cases, this is impossible and you have to resort to active setups and processing ... just saying.

2. Crossover and Slopes

Please be carefull with this one ... This is an advanced category that can hurt your system if you do not know what you are doing ... They use Active setups so you can "actively" cross over frequiencies for each driver in the system separately. You have to know your setup driver's limitations BEFORE you set this up ...

There is a great deal on how to do this so if anyone wants to jump in here and help me out, please be my guest. But for now, I will be looking some info up and get back to this as soon as possible ...

3. Equalization

You can equalize each driver separately to help with this ...

4. Tonal Balance

An ideal car audio system uniformly reproduces the entire audible frequency spectrum from 20 to 20,000 Hz. But no system — at least while playing music — is perfect. Music is dynamic; some parts are loud and some are soft, so a system will naturally have dips and peaks in its frequency response.

Although a system can have these peaks and dips in frequency response, it needs to have good tonal balance — a relatively equal amount of sonic energy across the frequency range — to sound good. Subsequently, system designers and tuners often measure frequency response to gauge which frequencies may need to be boosted or cut as opposed to trying to achieve a flat frequency response. This can be done with an equalizer, although it's best that the system is designed in such a way that it has good tonal balance to begin with.

So ... Is it benificial to run Active ??? Most people on this forum (and many others) will automatically say yes ...

I say leave that decision primarilly on your independant system's install and your quest to achieve perfect Sound Quality !!! If you can honnestly build your system without needing active setup and processing, I say its the best way with the information i've found and provided (I underlined what I'm referring to here) ... Alot more work involved, but way more rewarding in the end !!!

But if your vehicle needs more ?????? Well ... just more !!! Then you always have options that will definately help you out !!!

But I say do your homework, start out slowly and build your system up as you go, and learn.

This way you can enjoy your system and benefit from learning more about this sport we all know an love as Car Audio !!!

Now EVERYTHING I posted here can be broken down into GREAT DETAIL and would make amazing discussion objects !!!

So please ... Lets get to it and make SMD more Sound Quality oriented instead of just a Ground Pounder site !!!

[Smoove]

TITUS1985, I dont know where you or if there are SQ comps in your area. But it sounds like you need to hear the difference of an active system fully tuned and a system on passive X-overs.

Only bad thing about going active. If you have access to an RTA you could spend tons of hours tuning.

[HunterJohnson]

Keep going with it cable guy!

[alaskanzx5]

an active setup gives you complete control. allows you to adjust every aspect of the stereo for your personal listening preference.

if wanting to do sq comps then i suggest checking out a lot of the sq comps. listen to them and pay attention to all the little noises you can hear in the background that you dont normaly hear. talk to the judges to see what they look for in an sq system.

last but not least research research research and then ask ask ask.

once you think you know it all go back and read it all again because you never know it all.

[White Lightning]

Keep going with it cable guy!

Thanks man !!! I'm looking up all the info I have for this SSA Group !!!

last but not least research research research and then ask ask ask.

once you think you know it all go back and read it all again because you never know it all.

Absolutely !!! I'm learning more and more every day !!!

[TITUS1985]

All I have to say is WOW! Thank you to everyone chiming in and a big thanks to you Cableguy!

Right now in my car I've got all my speakers set up passive so this really makes me want to try it out and see what audible differences I can hear.

I have an Audison Voce AV 5.1k right now running everything but I know that amp was designed to run a front stage active with a sub so I might look at doing that

Thanks again for all the input; it is nice to see people on here caring about SQ as well as SPL

keep the info coming if you have more to add

also if you would like to know what I'm currently running I'm more than happy to tell you guys; that way, only if you wanted to, you could throw out suggestions on what to do next based on what I have readily available, I'm open to it all. Can never have to many options.

Thanks again, Nick

[kandiman71874]

Since you are an audison fan already, I would suggest an Audison Bit 1 for the processing for your active needs.

[TITUS1985]

Since you are an audison fan already, I would suggest an Audison Bit 1 for the processing for your active needs.

Yeah I was thinking about that as well and my question for that is my amp has the capability of going fully digital. And the bit 1 can go digital out as well. Is digital signal really that good or could I just run RCA's like I am now for everything?