How to distinguish between multimedia speakers and home speakers?
First of all, we must understand the difference between passive speakers and active speakers.
Active speakers usually refer to speakers with power amplifiers, such as multimedia computer speakers, active subwoofers, and some new home theater active speakers. Since the active speaker has a built-in power amplifier circuit, the user does not have to consider the problem of matching with the amplifier, and it is also convenient to directly drive it with a lower level audio signal.
In addition, there are some professional recording monitor speakers with built-in power amplifier circuits and electronic crossover speakers with built-in electronic crossover circuits and amplifiers, which can also be classified into the category of active speakers.
Passive speakers are ordinary speakers that we usually use without power amplifier circuits inside. Although passive speakers do not have amplifiers, they often have crossover networks and impedance compensation circuits.
Active speakers are usually marked with parameters such as the output power, input impedance and input signal level of the built-in amplifier. The active subwoofer also marks the frequency characteristics of the input signal (such as full-band signal or low-frequency signal), low-pass filter characteristics and other parameters. Passive speakers are generally marked with impedance, power, frequency range, etc.
The difference between the power amplifier materials of home speakers and multimedia speakers:
1. Multimedia audio generally refers to "active speakers". That is, the power amplifier is integrated into the main box, and the speaker is directly driven to produce sound; household audio generally uses a combination of "external power amplifier + passive speaker".
- The power of household audio is generally large! Generally, it is above 50W*2 (8 ohms, RMS); the power of multimedia audio is relatively small.
- Speaker unit and frequency divider. Household audio generally adopts 5----12-inch woofer unit. And most of them design more professional two-stage frequency divider to obtain very ideal sound effect. Multimedia standard 2.0 is general Using 3----5-inch units. The quality of the frequency divider is mostly not as good as that of home HIFI.
- The difference in gain. Generally, when multimedia manufacturers design multimedia audio, the main consideration is the matching with the sound card. The computer sound card itself has a built-in low-power amplifier, and the output driving voltage is relatively large.
For now, multimedia speakers cannot completely replace traditional home HIFI speakers, but the characteristics of home HIFI speakers displayed by multimedia speakers are the trend of future development.