As some one who has tried active & passive crossovers, I would say I prefer active, but that's only for my setup. In the right setup, passive can be as good.

PArametric equalizers are WAYY better than graphic ones for almost any application. For your applications, a prametric equalizer would work, but not a graphic one.

I wold recommned that you try the passive eq that MArtin does, and keep your signal path simple to start with. If you are just using one driverm, then there is no choice but to use passive components or a parametric EQ.

-akhilesh