Just for clarification a passive and active monitor are the same thing. The only difference is in the passive xitone you need an external poweramp in addition to the cabinets, a powered monitor is the same as a passive monitor only it is powered by itself with no external poweramp connected. Both sound like "a guitar amp through a nicely mic'd speaker" (as long as you are using a cabinet IR in both cases of course)
For additional clarity, they are not the same thing (sorry, I'm going to be nit picking here).
They are both full range speakers, they both require use of a Cab Block in the Axe, and they often contain the same speaker/tweeter/driver/woofer.
But....a passive monitor with an external power amp, it is not the same as an active monitor.
Generic explanation - passive boxes use Xover components to separate high/low frequencies, so that he highs are sent to the tweeter, and the low/mids are sent to the driver/woofer.
A good active box with an internal power amp will use DSP to perform Xover duties and contain 2 channels of power (amp), so that more tuning (xover, eq, phase alignment) can be performed 'in the box', usually yielding a better result than the Xover in a passive box.
I don't remember if Mick's Daytona power amps are multi channel, but they do have DSP to 'flatten' them. Passive versions will not have that same feature. Does that matter? Maybe, maybe not....depends on what you want and like. But they are not the same.
Google 'FIR filters'. Those are used within the DSP of my Yamaha DSR112s. I have yet to find a speaker that sounds as loud and clear, in such a small package.
I'm not saying passive wedges don't sound great (I own and love my Passive XiTone)...but active speakers do offer features (usually better tuning) that passive speakers with a power amp do not offer.
You 'can' use Xover filters in the Axe, and run 2 channels of power amp into a passive box....and possibly tune it as well as the DSP within an active box...but that's tedious and not cost effective.
