Monitors> Difference between Powered and Unpowered?

[EXEL THE BRAIN]

Whats da deal?
I'm planning on buying me some monitors but I dont know shit about them........ whats the difference between powered and unpowered............................ ? which ones are better? and what kind of connection would i need? please holla back
one

 

[Fade]

From what I understand, powered monitors have their own power supply inside, so you just need to hook up the cables to your mixer for example. Unpowered monitors don't have their own power supply, and they need to be powered by your mixer. So the difference is that with unpowered, they suck the juice out of your mixer/amp where as powered monitors stand on their own, with only the main cable connecting to your mixer/amp.

 

[fiz]

i was wondering about this too - i need to get some monitors - how would i hook it up to monitors so i can hear what im working on in Cool Edit Pro? do i just line out to an amp and hook the monitors to the amp?

 

[joeburnem]

Powered is the way to go.
I have the Roland DS 50s
They aren't the best but they are flat enough to get a good mix.
(There perfect for someone who lives in an apartment or with parents.)
By going smaller I don't over do it with my low frequencies.
DS 50 can be hooked up three ways
1. Optical cable
2. XLR
3. 1/4 inch phono

 

[MaximeRobin]

The big difference between powered and unpowered is that there is a small amp in the powered monitor. (I know I'm not the first to sais this...). For good sound you need good speakers and a good amp that go well with these speakers. Now powered monitor speakers have their own amp so the amp are made to adapte perfectly to the speakers. Some will argue that powered speakers are not as good as unpowered, that is probable truth. But powered speakers cost less and are easy to easy to use. The amps are made for them so there is no need of ajusting the amp. Even is you have the best unpowered monitor and the best amp there is, if you know nothing about how to set them right, you'll get shitty sound...

For the record I have a pair of SP-5B powered monitor speakers from m-audio. Small but effective. Flat.

 

[N.U.G.]

what do you mean by "flat"?

 

[joeburnem]

Flat- not colored, true sound

 

[N.U.G.]

Originally posted by joeburnem
Flat- not colored, true sound

ok cool