Notes - Church Sound System

Speaker

Active Speaker

An active speaker is simply a device that contains the amplifier and the speaker within the same unit. There are also other integral devices housed within the unit, such as onboard crossovers and subwoofers.

Passive Speaker

A passive speaker is a speaker without a built-in amplifier. In order to work, they need to be connected to an amplifier. They are powered by the amplifier and therefore don’t need to be plugged in. In order to use passive speakers, you need to connect your audio devices to the amplifier.

Active vs Passive

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Active Speakers Are Easier to Set Up. You simply connect your audio device, and they work without the need for any other components.
Active Speakers Are More Expensive
Passive Speakers Allow You to Choose the Amplifier
Passive Speakers Are Not Portable The majority of active speakers can be connected straight to the audio source(microphone or CD player, etc), with no external equipment required. Passive speakers, in comparison, require an external amp and various cables.

A mixer is not required to use active speakers. Active speakers have everything they need already installed, like a built-in amplifier. A mixer simply gives you more control over the sound they produce.

Mixer

Yamaha MG10XU

PFL Button
PAD Button

It’ll reduce the input gain by a fixed amount (26 decibels) and helps you get a better signals.

If something makes a really loud sound: guitar amp, symble, snare drum, kick drum, etc. Even if you set the level to 0 and the peak light is already blinking before you add any gain to it, then you need to turn the PAD on.

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PRE Button

The PRE or Pre Fade button will toggle the default state of an Aux Send from being post-fade into being pre-fade.