[dusk]

So I'm in the market for a pair of speakers for my new computer. Audio first, games second.

However, in my research thus far, I have come across many different types of speakers. I know Active includes an amp, but isn't modular if I wanted to add one later.

So what is an "Active Loudspeaker?" A Monitor.. pre-amp.. power amp? Ugh...

I thought loudspeaker = needed external amp...

I'm so lost...

Anyway,

I am interested in Dynaudio MC 12, which claim are *Active* but in the description it says you can add a preamp?

Check 'em out:

http://www.dynaudio.de/eng/multimedia/index.php

Help a newb branch out to speakers!

- Alex

 

[voxr3m]

You're right, active speakers are powered and they usually have a volume control (althouh probably not a full fledged preamp.) The monitors you listed don't look like they have a dedicated volume control. So essentially they're selling a modular speaker/amp setup.

They're intending for the volume control to come from your PC soundcard, mp3 player volume, etc. Basically you'd be able to control the volume of your speakers using anything that has a volume control built in. If you had a DVD player you wanted to hook up (which does not have any sort of volume control), you'd have to hook it up to a preamp (and then to the speaker inputs) to control the volume. Otherwise the DVD player's line output would result in a constant volume for your speakers. You get the idea.

You can hook up a preamp to those speakers to control the volume in addition to switching between different sources. Then you could hook up all your other sources to the preamp.