Speakers
Understand speaker types and choose speakers for your space and listening needs.
Articles in Speakers
Speaker specifications: what the numbers tell you
Speaker specifications become useful when you keep their measurement conditions attached. Frequency limits need a tolerance; sensitivity needs an input and distance; impedance changes with frequency. Power handling, maximum output and recommended amplifier power describe different things. Use a specification sheet to identify requirements and unknowns, then check the amplifier and intended installation separately.
Bookshelf vs floorstanding speakers: how to choose
Choose between bookshelf and floorstanding speakers by comparing the installed footprint, suitable placement, listening distance and required bass output. A small cabinet on a stand may occupy as much floor space as a tower. Neither format guarantees better sound, easier amplifier matching or a good fit for a particular room size.
Active, powered and passive speakers: what is the difference?
Passive speakers need power amplification outside the speaker system. Powered speakers include it. Active, used precisely, describes a crossover that divides the signal before separate amplifier channels drive the different frequency bands. A powered speaker can use either an active or a passive crossover, so the label alone does not tell you the internal arrangement or which inputs and controls it provides.