Indeed - design is more important than the parts. Plenty of speakers use expensive well thought of drivers, nice cabinets and other expensive components and still sound terrible. A great design but with modest components can sound much better. All passive crossovers whatever the quality are optimised for power handling and also sit between the amp and the driver - regardless of your verying personal regard for different types of crossover.
IMHO PMC win out with clarity and lack of veiling - they are class leaders in this respect, at least with the three way monitors. The active versions are clearly ahead but that is to be expected and no way indicative of the the pmc crossovers being poor. You get a huge boost going from single to triamping and that still leaves the crossover in the loop. Single amped they can lack clarity.
IMHO PMC win out with clarity and lack of veiling - they are class leaders in this respect, at least with the three way monitors. The active versions are clearly ahead but that is to be expected and no way indicative of the the pmc crossovers being poor. You get a huge boost going from single to triamping and that still leaves the crossover in the loop. Single amped they can lack clarity.