Live Sound & Production

[nchangin]

Questions thoughts or opinions:

Why has no one marketed a powered speaker option with a passive connector to run the speaker only if the application called for it and also have a replaceable amplifier option so then you could run passive until amp is repaired.

Or if a manufacturer has how come it is not mainstay? Cost? Liability? R & D? No demand? Weight?

I know I may be bashed for this but I have a b52 matrix and I do know that if such a case deemed necessary you can pull the amp section out of the sub and send in for servicing\replacement and or buy one if you have one go bad and user swappable (is that a word?). It paid for itself in 2 shows and has done 8 so far

[dboomer]

I imagine it could add $50 - $75 per box for something that almost no one would use.

[Mogwix]

Originally Posted by dboomer

I imagine it could add $50 - $75 per box for something that almost no one would use.

also, it'd be silly to purchase a power amp as a backup instead of a whole other powered speaker if that was it's sole purpose; as a backup amplifier to the plate unit.

I wonder how many users of active speakers would actually have any power amps laying around.

[ChiroVette]

I think it would be an absurdly impractical device. The reason being that with today's incredible engineering and DSP technology, most of the people who are good enough to make passive systems sound better than their active equivalent are so high up the food chain that they will almost always choose passive. I also think that 99% of the people buying pro level gear know precisely what they want and will buy that. I just don't see the benefit of active cabs that give you the ability to bypass the amp, DSP, and all that engineering that went into the box. Maybe one or two tinkerers out of a thousand consumers might enjoy that as a feature, but that is a very small target demographic to create such a cabinet I think.

[Shaster]

Originally Posted by nchangin

Questions thoughts or opinions:

Why has no one marketed a powered speaker option with a passive connector to run the speaker only if the application called for it and also have a replaceable amplifier option so then you could run passive until amp is repaired.

Or if a manufacturer has how come it is not mainstay? Cost? Liability? R & D? No demand? Weight?

I know I may be bashed for this but I have a b52 matrix and I do know that if such a case deemed necessary you can pull the amp section out of the sub and send in for servicing\replacement and or buy one if you have one go bad and user swappable (is that a word?). It paid for itself in 2 shows and has done 8 so far

User servicable parts at the MI level, yikes! Can you imagine the calls to the service department? "Hey my speaker doesn't work".... "do you have the amp module in the cabinet"..."oops I forgot it". And so on.

Though in a way, Yorkville made a few boxes that with a flick of a switch could be run with a line level or speaker level source (but the amp was still engaged). This feature must not have been very popular because they only have it on their subs now.

Also some guitar amps work that way. I've got a couple of Fender amps where the speakers connect to the amplifier with a regular 1/4" jack. Sometimes I take along a little Quarterhorse http://www.long-mcquade.com/products...5_Watt_Amp.htm, just in case the amp goes but the speaker is still alive.

[Mogwix]

Originally Posted by Shaster

Though in a way, Yorkville made a few boxes that with a flick of a switch could be run with a line level or speaker level source (but the amp was still engaged). This feature must not have been very popular because they only have it on their subs now..

This was a feature to allow a full-range pass-thru to the tops... not to power the subwoofer itself.

[W. M. Hellinger]

I'm thinking of the implications here:

Offer a powered speaker cabinet that has a built-in work around plug and play solution for the cabinet's amplifier going south.

Let's take this a step further: A built-in work around plug and play solution for the drivers going south (humm?).

Let's take this a step further: A built-in work around plug and play solution for the whole sheebang going south... which would be a higher reliability cabinet?

Let's take this a step further: Possibly carry cards for your competition for referral purposes?