thanks to everybody for all of your experiences with various speakers/amps. I like the idea of powered speakers for convenience. Setup would be no more than plugging one cord from the mixer to each speaker... the other devices could stay permanently plugged into the mixer in my rack.

Cost wise it appears to be about the same price to buy regular speakers and a rackable PA amp, So that approach could end up being equally convenient. So my decision would probably end up being made on what I could find on Ebay or Craig's list at a good price.

One other question: if the powered part of an active speaker fails, can it still be used as a passive speaker? Or do you lose both speaker and amp at the same time?