We still have a big 4-way passive PA System and we bought a Mackie active PA.
The result after 4 years:
We still have both PA Systems , but mostly we use the Mackie because of the easy handling. Of course you have to supply power to every active speaker. But this does take not so many time than wiring the passive components up. (Another thing to mention: The power cabling can be done by the stage dummies…the passive speaker wiring you have to do by yourself … )
I was also unsure in the beginning, but now I really prefer the active solutions. You save a lot of time at the setup with this units. And the quality (especially with MACKIE) is really no argument anymore.
Another thing: For real big power PA Speakers you always have to use ultra-heavy-big speaker-cables 8). (They are really heavy !). You can forget about this with active components. The power cable looks always the same for a small active component or for a big active component …