(Btw im new to this "home recording" stuff )
Yeah, I'll say.
I have never heard the difference between home-audio speakers and
monitors (the most common name for "recording speakers") expressed like that- and frankly, it sounds like total double-speak, to me. Structurally and electronically, the two types of speakers are the same- a (usually) wooden box with two or three drivers mounted in it, and a crossover to send the high frequencies to the tweeter, the mids to the, well, mid, and the lows to the woofer. Perhaps a port of some sort to enhance bass response. Both types receive an electrical signal that corresponds to sounds, the coils transfer that electrical energy to mechanical energy, the cones and boxes amplify and "color" the sound. You can hook monitors up to a home-audio system, and by the same token, you can use, to some degree or success or failure, home-audio speakers as monitors. Computer speakers are nothing but small, relatively low-quality "speakers" that follow the same basic design.
The biggest difference is what they do with the signal they receive. Home-audio speakers are designed and built, to varying degrees, to make the music played through them sound impressive and "moving," so that the listener enjoys the experience. They often color the sound considerably, enhancing some frequencies so as to "grab" the listener's attention. Monitors, on the other hand, are designed to reproduce the
actual sound, with minimal coloration, so that the engineer mixing the sound gets an accurate hearing of what is really going on. If the speakers colored the sound much, some frequencies would be over-emphasized, other under, and when the recording was played in the real world, say in a car on a living room, it would sound unnatural and/or unpleasing.
Another difference is monitors are usually "near field," meaning the listener- usually only one or a few people- are sitting close to the speakers- maybe only 3 or 4 feet from them, and in the "sweet spot-" that place where the speakers do their job the best. Home audio speakers must sound good all over the room, which can be a relatively huge area.
That said, there are some home audio speakers that have turned out to be excellent monitors (there is a Yamaha speaker that is near-legendary as monitors,) and some monitors can be pressed into home-audio service with good results.