Powered v.s Unpowered

[Floydnirvana00]

i am looking to buy some moniters for myself but i keep seeing powered and unpowered i just wanted to know the difference before i wasted my money.

Also would i hook these up to the mixer or the computer to hear the playback?

 

[radiorickm]

power vs

"powered" speakers (monitors) have a built in amplifier.
regular un powered speakers, require you to power them with an external amplifier.

depending on the input of your amp (whether internal or external) you should be able to feed any audio source you desire into them.