dynaudio bm-5 a question

[Michiel]

Hi guys,

 

The diffrence between the bm-5 passive (600) and active (1000 euro's) is 400euro.

This means active is almost twice as expensive.

 

Is this really worth the money? I allready have a good amplifier.

 

My use: not mixing, but listening to music and playing my s-90 and sometimes pluging in a guitar when a friend comes.

 

Thanks a lot.

[Byrdman]

Active speakers often don't weigh much more than passive, so that when you add the weight of the amp for the passive, you come oout agead. On the other hand it is one lift rather than two. On the other hand, its one lift rather than two!

 

By closely coupling the amps to the speaker, potentially better performance can be obtained. Of course it doesn't mean it is obtained for any given unit.

 

Disadvantages - you have to run a power chord to the speaker so it increases set up time. If the amp fails you lose the entire system. (but because its all in one unit it should be more reliable - harder to short our accidentally and unless you have a big rig you won't have a psare amp in any case)

 

BTW, I run 4x SRM450s and its not clear to me that passives with amps back in the rack would not be simpler for live gigs.

[soundscape]

Also... in an active speaker the design of the power amps can be matched to the drivers (no need to 'overengineer') and better performance can be had thanks to active crossovers.

[cnegrad]

FWIW, I bought the active BM-5A's six months ago, and I'm absolutely delighted with them.

[jimmymio]

I recently bought the BM15s (passive). They were less than half the price of the active ones. I bought a used Bryston amp and still saved several hundred dollars. And I love the combo.

OTOH, I think the matched bi-ampification and limiting found on active speakers are worthy investments. But sometimes the passive route may be a cost effective way to get similar results.

JP