passive vs active

[cornelius]

Im Currently in the market for a PA and am lucky enough to get a discount from guitar world in perth with store credit which is going to make life a hell of a lot easier!

Im looking at the yamaha range but am unsure whether or not to go for the active yamaha MS 400's or a passive package with amp, powered mixer and S115IV's

any thorts?

[Sean]

for small pa's i much preffer an active setup. lighter, compact, easy to use, doesnt require a compressor, doesnt need a case to put compressor/amp in, less likely to have interconnects fucking up, and when they do theyre easy to locate. all you have to do to set them up is plug the power in, plug a connecting cable in, then plug in the source. easy as.

[redmond_herring]

Mackie and DBTech make some nice not overly expensive powered bins of various size/power.

We hire them to loads of diffrent folk - Dj's, PA's for Presentations, Deb Balls, Foldbacks, etc and have had a great response.

I'm a big wrapp for powered bins in general as a concept, except obviously for big systems.

:) :P :p

[cornelius]

yeh i mean i dont really need a big system.....the ease of use is definately a big aspect considering my lack of technical ability. should i need to upgrade can subs be incorporated into the system?....obviously id be needing to purchase a mixer.

the mackies get a huge rap and mackie themselves talk about their actives like thier the biggest thing since sliced bread.
quote: "it effortlessly achieves sound pressure levels that would melt conventional speakers into a pile of molten slag"

the price factor scares me but the yamahas are considerably cheaper....around 1300 each....whereas the mackies are like 2300. how do the yamahas hold up?

[polarbear]

ok.

the mackie and rcf models (essentially the same) will give you much higher relaibility in the long term than the yamaha models - the RCF drivers are very tough....

and if you need to do something bigger, then you can sub in extra speakers from almost any hire company in australia