I wish I had bought myself better speakers growing up. For the better part of my late teens, I used a hand-me-down portable boombox that I used to play burned CDs from friends. It's not like these days where you can just pick up one of the best Bluetooth speakers and be done with it.
Still, had I known about better audio products — and the differences between active and passive speakers — I would’ve traded out that boombox in a heartbeat.
So let’s break down the differences between speakers, starting with the most obvious distinction: How do speakers get power and information to play your favorite music?
Passive vs Active Speakers: Major differences
If you’re just encountering these terms for the first time, the words “passive” and “active” might bring to mind two very different-sounding pairs of speakers — one pair that’s loud and aggressive, and another that’s quieter and muffled.
Thankfully, 'passive' and 'active' doesn’t refer to how the speakers sound, but rather how their internal components work and whether or not they require external amplification.
Thankfully, 'passive' and 'active' doesn’t refer to how the speakers sound, but rather how their internal components work and whether or not they require external amplification. That, in a nutshell, is the biggest difference between the two: Passive speakers require external amplification whereas active speakers come with an amplifier built in.
When it’s framed like this, you might immediately be drawn to active speakers — they sure sound like a lot less work — and you wouldn’t be wrong.
Since a manufacturer has done all the hard work of pairing the drivers to an amplifier, you don’t have to spend the time looking at specs sheets to make sure you’re not overdriving or under-driving them. However, by choosing to go with active speakers, you’re missing out on the secret advantage of passive speakers. (Hint: Changing out amplifiers at the drop of a hat is actually a benefit, not a curse.)
The other major difference is how these speakers actually get the sonic information passed over to them. On active speakers, information is obtained wirelessly, over optical audio or via a set of phono cables. Passive speakers use traditional speaker wire. We’ll get into the pros and cons of each in just a minute.
Active speakers: Pros, cons and sound quality
The main advantage of active speakers is that they work right out of the box without any additional hardware. These days, most active speakers come with a number of wireless connectivity options built in like AirPlay, Chromecast Built-in, Spotify and Tidal Connect, alongside many more.
On the backside of the main speaker (we call this the lead speaker or, in some cases, the master speaker) are a plethora of ports. Here you’ll find your standard phono inputs, usually a sub-out if you want to connect a separate subwoofer, optical in and, if you’re lucky, an HDMI port that allows you to connect the speakers to your TV without an AV receiver.
Active speakers are connectivity rich and easy to set up, so what’s the downside? The downside is that the speakers will always sound the same — which isn’t bad if you’re the kind of person who likes to set it and forget it. Tinkerers, however, won’t love this.
Sound quality will vary from speaker to speaker, obviously, and it's hard to give a broad sweeping generalization about the technology. However, if I had to give one, I'd say the majority of active speakers I've heard follow a v-shaped curve with big, bold bass response and sparkling highs. It's not that the mid-band frequencies are lost entirely; I just feel like they're less prominent in the active speakers I've owned.
Passive speakers: Pros, cons and sound quality
This is going to sound like some wine-swilling non-sense, but different components impart different sonic signatures — and that includes speakers themselves. This comes down to a number of factors including the amplification technology, the digital-to-analog conversion and the DSP (digital signal processing), all of which vary from device to device.
When talking about speakers and their sound signatures, we sometimes shorthand this chain as tuning, and herein lies the true joy of buying passive speakers: You’re able to tinker the tuning to your exact specifications. In the audio world we have plenty of default tunings, but not everyone’s ears are shaped the same, nor are our music preferences the same. Being able to tailor the sound to your liking is a huge benefit for folks with specific preferences.
The bad news is that not all music components aren’t interchangeable — and it is possible to cause damage to your audio equipment by mismatching it. This is a lot of fun for some folks, and a very stressful situation for others.
As far as sound quality is concerned, it will again vary between speakers and the components used to drive them. The difference between one system and another can be extreme. Still, I've found properly crafted passive systems to be more nuanced than their active counterparts.
When I listen to my passive speaker setup, I find new aural details I hadn't heard before in my favorite songs. (Billie Eilish's "WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?" is filled with small details that are totally lost on some speaker systems.)
Passive vs Active Speakers: Recommended models
If you just want easy, plug-and-play speakers with lots of features built right in, you should go for a pair of active speakers. There are plenty to choose from, but some of my recent favorites are the affordable Edifier S880DB MKII and the pricier — but much more powerful — Klipsch The Nines II. You can also go for floorstanding models like the Fluance Ai81 Elite.
If you want to build out a modular system piecemeal to allow for upgrading down the road, then you want some good passive speakers. As mentioned earlier, picking out a pair is a lot harder because it will depend entirely on the receiver or amplifier you decide to pair them with.
If the idea sounds daunting, you can always buy a system in a box that pairs passive speakers with a receiver for you, like the Yamaha YHT-4970U 5.1-Channel Home Theater System. This is an affordable way to get started with home theater audio.
For music aficionados wanting a good starter package, pick up the Bluesound Powernode and a pair of KEF LS50 Meta speakers. This way you’re getting both the modularity to upgrade down the line and the convenience of a streaming setup in one package.
Recommending systems can be difficult as tastes vary so much from person to person, but building the reference system of your dreams is a lifelong pursuit that many folks — myself included — wholeheartedly enjoy.
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