Studio Monitor Speaker Hookup

[Venom]

Alright so exactly how do monitors work? (speakers) ... I noticed that they all are powered externally so they plug into an outlet, but i also noticed that some have XLR inputs rather than the positive and negative wire input as traditional speakers do. So how should they be ran?

And for the one with the pos and neg input should i be hooking them to a conventional stereo or do i need an upgraded sound card to get them working properly? what?

Im new to all this so help is greatly appriciated..

 

[Nate74]

I'll take a stab at this.

There are two kinds of monitors that you'll run accross. Passive and Active. Passive don't require external power but they do require a power amp, which in turn requires external power (an outlet). Active monitors have the amps built into them so they require power directly (an outlet).

That's the power side of things.

Then you have to send an audio signal to them. Since you refered to a soundcard, I'm thinking you'll want to buy a set of active monitors, so you'd take a 1/4" TRS out of your soundcard (assuming it has this sort of connection) and send the signal to the monitors. Monitors can have just about any sort of connection made. 1/4" TRS, 1/4" TS, XLR, Banana, Speak-On. Get the cable that fits the monitor and you're set.

Does that answer your question a bit, or is there something else to it I'm not getting.