>>So to me, the real issue is not whether passive components are good or bad.

==ANther thing that has to be accounted for is efficiency. Most of your designs probably hover well over 100db in the high freqs. Over 100db passive attenuation has dynamic "headroom" for lack of a better word, working on it's side. Passives have a far more benign negative effect on *really* high efficiency systems. Still they all sound clearer and more dynamic actively crossed (nothing new). But passive components CAN work better as efficiency rises. The ratio of "power available" to "needed power" needs to be vast NP thought that with a passive system 300 watts is a good place to start, to minimize spkr x-over effects on an amp.

TC