Term: Active or Powered Monitors

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Self-powered monitor speakers with built-in crossovers. Active speakers contain multiple amplifiers preceded by an active (often DSP-based) crossover which divides the frequencies to each amplifier. Powered speakers contain a single amplifier followed by a passive crossover which divides the frequencies to each speaker. Both active and powered monitors connect directly to a line-level output from an audio source such as a mixer, audio interface, or monitor controller.