The best in Portable Active Loudspeakers for your venue

What is an “Active" Speaker?
Definition - A speaker cabinet with a built-in internal amplification.

What is a "Passive" Speaker?
Definition - A speaker that requires separate external amplification.

Active Speakers vs. Passive Speakers:

Active speakers are cabinets that have built-in amplifiers. They can be connected directly to a mixing console or line level sound source, without the need for a separate amplifier, although they do require a mains power feed to each speaker. While not a major problem, and sometimes a major advantage in systems that change their configuration with different uses for the space, the requirement for mains power can make their cabling requirements a little more complicated.

Alternatively, a passive speaker (or un-powered speaker) is a speaker which requires a fully processed and amplified signal as its input. Passive speakers are lighter and lower in price than the active variety although, requiring heavy-duty specialize speaker cables to feed them. Some passive speaker cabinets use a single signal from the system amplifiers and divide this up internally (via a crossover network) into the different frequencies required for the various low, mid and high frequency speakers/drivers in the cabinet. Other, usually more high-powered loudspeakers, require separate amplified (bi-amp or tri-amped) feeds for each driver in the cabinet.

The following distributors all offer a variety of Portable Active Loudspeakers. Please click on their logo for more information.