What exactly does "powered multimedia speakers" mean?

[Supermercado]

For the past couple weeks, I've been trying to find a way to play music from my computer to my stereo without running any wires or having to buy a receiver. I think I may have found a product by Logitech that will do the job nicely (Logitech Wireless Music System for PC) but in reading about it, I came up with a question. It says that you can connect it either your home stereo or powered multimedia speakers. What exactly do they mean by that? The stereo that I want to do all this on is just your standard bookshelf stereo system (pic of stereo) with no connected receiver or amp that I know of.

I've tried connecting to the stereo from my laptop directly to the stereo with a wire into the RCA inputs but the quality wasn't very good (I'm certainly not an expert, but I assume this is because there's no amp), nor do I really want to have any more wires running around. This is what lead me to researching the wireless options that hopefully bypass the sound card. This Logitech solution looks pretty good to me, but I just want to find out if the speakers I have are going to do the trick.

Any thoughts or help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[NogginBoink]

Powered multimedia speakers have a built-in amplifier.

If the speakers for your soundcard also plug into the wall, they're powered multimedia speakers.

 

[NogginBoink]

If you want to send audio from your PC to your home stereo without running wires, that Logitech system is the correct solution for you. You'd find an unused input on your stereo and the Logitech would plug into that input.

 

[Supermercado]

The speakers in the picture are only connected via a speaker wire to the center unit. I had a feeling that that meant they were not considered powered, but I want to make sure.

Edit: NogginBoink: Even with the stereo that I already have?

 

[NogginBoink]

In the example given on the website, the stereo system has the amplifier that powers the speakers.

 

[Supermercado]

So they're considered to be powered speakers even though they don't directly plug into any outlet? The stereo itself does, of course, but the speakers are just connected via speaker wire. I know these questions make me sound really dumb, but if I'm going to drop $150 on something, I want to make sure that it's going to do exactly what I want. I appreciate your help.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

As long as something that the speakers connect to is plugged in, then they are powered. In your case the central control device (with tuner/cd player etc.) has an amp built in, so it's a powered set.

 

[Raduque]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
As long as something that the speakers connect to is plugged in, then they are powered. In your case the central control device (with tuner/cd player etc.) has an amp built in, so it's a powered set.

I hate to be confusing, but then, technically, even those tiny unpowered Walkman/Discman speakers are "powered".

I always took the phrase "powered speakers" to mean a speaker with a built-in amp: IE: a subwoofer that plugs into the wall seperate from the amp that sends it a signal. An unpowered speaker would be a speaker that needs an externam amp/reciever to power it and send it a signal.

 

[ThisIsMatt]

Speaker enclosure with built in amplifier = powered speakers.
Speaker enclosure hooked up to a receiver/boombox/amp = speakers.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: Raduque

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
As long as something that the speakers connect to is plugged in, then they are powered. In your case the central control device (with tuner/cd player etc.) has an amp built in, so it's a powered set.

I hate to be confusing, but then, technically, even those tiny unpowered Walkman/Discman speakers are "powered".

I always took the phrase "powered speakers" to mean a speaker with a built-in amp: IE: a subwoofer that plugs into the wall seperate from the amp that sends it a signal. An unpowered speaker would be a speaker that needs an externam amp/reciever to power it and send it a signal.

Yeah, I guess what I said didn't make sense.

In any case, I think we can agree that his set is powered.

Another thing you can look at is if your speakers have a wattage rating. If it's a wattage rating and not "power handling"... which will give you a range, then there's an amp in there somewhere. (Or in a separate amp/receiver)

 

[Supermercado]

YOyoYOhowsDAjello: So that's the best way to tell? If they're rated in watts instead of power handling? I'm pretty sure that on the front of the speakers, it does mention watts, but I'll check and make sure. I'll also see if I can find the manual for the stereo and see what it says.

I just want to make sure I don't waste $150 on something that isn't going to do what I want.

 

[Rubycon]

Term for noobs that cannot discern what passive and active mean.

 

[ThisIsMatt]

Originally posted by: SuperCommando
YOyoYOhowsDAjello: So that's the best way to tell? If they're rated in watts instead of power handling? I'm pretty sure that on the front of the speakers, it does mention watts, but I'll check and make sure. I'll also see if I can find the manual for the stereo and see what it says.

I just want to make sure I don't waste $150 on something that isn't going to do what I want.

d00d, it's really easy. Speakers within their respective enclosures that have a built in amplifier (requires a power source) are "powered speakers" - you can plug them directly into a low/line level output (computer soundcard, portable mp3 player, etc) and they will play full volume, no external amplification required. They usually connect to the source using a 3.5mm mini plug or RCA plugs. Otherwise you have speakers in their respective enclosures that are "passive" and require an external amplification source, they usually connect with bare wire or some sort of high level connector like banana plugs or speakon connectors. You don't plug a low/line level source directly to them and get full volume - you'll hardly get any volume out of them. Your stereo consists of an all-in-one cd/tape/receiver/amplifier with two passive speakers. You need to connect the low level output to an input on the all-in-one unit which will then amplify the signal to your passive speakers.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: ThisIsMatt

Originally posted by: SuperCommando
YOyoYOhowsDAjello: So that's the best way to tell? If they're rated in watts instead of power handling? I'm pretty sure that on the front of the speakers, it does mention watts, but I'll check and make sure. I'll also see if I can find the manual for the stereo and see what it says.

I just want to make sure I don't waste $150 on something that isn't going to do what I want.

d00d, it's really easy. Speakers within their respective enclosures that have a built in amplifier (requires a power source) are "powered speakers" - you can plug them directly into a low/line level output (computer soundcard, portable mp3 player, etc) and they will play full volume, no external amplification required. They usually connect to the source using a 3.5mm mini plug or RCA plugs. Otherwise you have speakers in their respective enclosures that are "passive" and require an external amplification source, they usually connect with bare wire or some sort of high level connector like banana plugs or speakon connectors. You don't plug a low/line level source directly to them and get full volume - you'll hardly get any volume out of them. Your stereo consists of an all-in-one cd/tape/receiver/amplifier with two passive speakers. You need to connect the low level output to an input on the all-in-one unit which will then amplify the signal to your passive speakers.

:thumbsup:

 

[flot]

Originally posted by: SuperCommando
I've tried connecting to the stereo from my laptop directly to the stereo with a wire into the RCA inputs but the quality wasn't very good (I'm certainly not an expert, but I assume this is because there's no amp), nor do I really want to have any more wires running around. This is what lead me to researching the wireless options that hopefully bypass the sound card. q]

I'm amused no one acknowledged this part. If you connected the stereo directly to your laptop, and were unhappy with the quality, there is no reason to assume you would be happier with the quality of this logitech device. It is possible that it would be better, but there should have been no reason that running a wire directly didn't work well....

 

[Supermercado]

I think the idea behind the Logitech thing is that it bypasses the sound card of the computer since it's USB. And I guess I also failed to mention that I would be connecting the device to my desktop and controlling it via the remote control. I originally wanted to use the laptop and just control the music from Winamp, but with the remote control, hey, even better since it takes my laptop totally out of the picture. I do remember connecting my desktop to the stereo a few years ago and that worked okay, if I recall correctly. I guess there's no reason why I couldn't do that now, short of the fact that it means running a wire and there'd be no remote control. I may do that, anyway, but I'm not crazy about the notion of having to remote login to my desktop from the laptop to change the song. It would work, yes, but it's not exactly what I'm after.

At this point, I'm sure I'm making no sense and you all probably think I'm a complete idiot, but I like to know exactly how something is going to work before I buy it, that's all.

 

[ThisIsMatt]

Originally posted by: SuperCommando
I think the idea behind the Logitech thing is that it bypasses the sound card of the computer since it's USB. And I guess I also failed to mention that I would be connecting the device to my desktop and controlling it via the remote control. I originally wanted to use the laptop and just control the music from Winamp, but with the remote control, hey, even better since it takes my laptop totally out of the picture. I do remember connecting my desktop to the stereo a few years ago and that worked okay, if I recall correctly. I guess there's no reason why I couldn't do that now, short of the fact that it means running a wire and there'd be no remote control. I may do that, anyway, but I'm not crazy about the notion of having to remote login to my desktop from the laptop to change the song. It would work, yes, but it's not exactly what I'm after.

At this point, I'm sure I'm making no sense and you all probably think I'm a complete idiot, but I like to know exactly how something is going to work before I buy it, that's all.

If you connected your desktop soundcard to your all-in-one stereo before and it was fine, then this should work, just wirelessly. Otherwise it's accomplishing the same thing (plus whatever features it has like remote control, etc). You would hook it up the same way on the all-in-one side...to an auxillary input. I don't know how much the thing costs, but there are also remote controls you can get, although I'm not sure how well they work or what applications they interface with...microsoft makes one, the media center remote I think...might ask in peripherals.