Features

Powered Speakers

Also known as "active speakers", these loudspeakers have an amplifier built in to the same chassis as the speaker drivers. Normally this means one of the enclosures will house the amplifier and the other enclosure(s) will be passive. This approach offers excellent sound quality because theoretically the shorter the speaker cables the better and it means the volume control is integrated into the "master speaker" - in other words the one containing the amplifier.

Subwoofers

The growth in subwoofers has been driven by the desire to have a have a less imposing full bandwidth audio system. Our brains are not able to decipher the direction bass comes from so a large subwoofer can be hidden away giving the false impression that all the power of the sound comes from the small visible satellites speakers. Almost all subwoofers have an amplifier built in (apart from rock concert versions) either to power itself, or to power itself and its satellites. In a speaker package the presence of a subwoofer is denoted by "1". So for example in the case of a 2.1 audio system, the "2" shows there are two satellite speakers and the ".1" indicates a subwoofer is included.

Passive Speakers

These speakers require an external amplifier to power them. The advantage of this approach is flexibility in placement; the speakers can be mounted in the ceiling for more even distribution of sound, but the volume control is still easily accessible at floor level. Some professional passive speakers are available in "100v line" format, where they have a transformer built in (they'll normally have a "t" in the part number). These speakers require a completely different type of amplifier and Maverick do not sell any of this type of system.