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what powers an unpowered stage monitor?


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There are "active" speakers and "passive" speakers. Active speakers have amplification built into the cabinet, so you need to run power and audio cable to the cabinet. Passive speakers are separate from the amp so you need to run an amplified signal to the cabinet, and that would come from an amplifier (audio into the amp, the amplified signal to the monitor). For your Yamaha monitor, you would send an amplified signal. You could send a signal from your bass amp to that monitor but you might not like the results as monitor speakers are more or less designed to hear vocals and some audio, but not necessary the deep audio like bass guitar and drums, particularly the bass drum and large floor toms. Also, I don't know the ohm rating of that cabinet and the requirements of your amp. Be sure they're compatible.

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The ohm rating of the Yamaha A12M is 8 ohm (300 Watts). My Peavey Minimax is a 500 W amp. Could I actually pair both together if I were using a guitar synth pedal such as the BOSS SY-300 or am I actually better off using something like a powered PA speaker like the Alto TS212 or TS312 or something like the Electro-Voice ZLX?

 

Or do I actually need a powered mixer instead to power up the Yamaha A12M?

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How are you running this? Guitar into the BOSS; BOSS into the bass amp; bass amp into the monitor? That's how it should go.

 

Your bass amp is 500 watts but into what sort of load? If it's 500 watts into 8 ohms, you can use it but you have to dial it way back or you'll blow the monitor. If it's 500 watts into 4 ohms or 2 ohms, you're probably somewhere around 200 - 300 watts into 8 ohms which means you should be okay. Just don't push it and don't expect wonderful results out of a speaker that's meant to monitor vocals with some instrumentation.

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Yes, that's how it should go. I should just get something that's meant to be used for the equipment its made for. Now my question is; what powers an unpowered stage monitor (since I shouldn't use my bass amp)? Is it a powered mixer or a power amp?

 

How much wattage minimum should I look for in an amp and the cab? This is for for vocal purposes. Must it be stereo or mono?

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I wouldn't use the bass amp unless you KNOW it is flat...most bass rigs I know (I am not a bass player) are optimized for making bass guitars sound good. Smiley-face EQ, compression, etc.

 

Try a Crown XLS1002 or something like that.

 

Or better yet, buy powered speakers and get really good system engineering baked into the box.

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Amplifiers power speakers.

 

Speakers with amps built in are called "powered speakers"

 

Mixing boards with amps built in are called "powered mixers"

 

The "engineering" I speak of includes

- correct matching of amplifier to speaker

- correct limiting

- some EQ correction to make the speaker's response flat

 

If you're thinking of building a PA, consider acquiring good quality powered speakers. If you're just playing your basement and have all this crap kicking around, though - no harm in hooking it up as long as you don't overpower the wedge.

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A mixing board requires power to operate but that doesn't mean it's a powered mixer. A powered mixer has anywhere from one to four amplifiers built into it whereas a non-powered mixer doesn't have any internal amplifiers but still requires power to operate. There may be powered mixers with more than four internal amps but I don't know what those are.

 

If you have powered (ie. active) speakers, you most likely would want to use a non-powered mixer with them. However, you could also used a powered mixer and just take the line-out to the speaker rather than the amp-out to the speaker. If you have non-powered (ie. passive) speakers, you will need a powered mixer or a non-powered mixer with an external amp. If you have a powered mixer which doesn't meet your power requirements, you could also take a line-out to a beefier amp and run that to the speakers.

 

The "engineering" mentioned above concerns active speakers. These speakers have internal amps which are matched to the components of the speaker be it a sub-woofer, two-way box, or three-way box. They will be internally mono-amped, bi-amped or tri-amped and will have some digital processing to optimize the sound, size, performance, etc. of the box along with various filters and active cross-overs.

 

Advantages of an active box includes all that engineering. Also, let's say you have two speakers designed the same but one version is active and one is passive. The active one will likely weigh a little more than the passive one because it has more electronics built into it. It will also cost more than the passive box. However, what you pay for a pair of active speakers will likely be less than what you would pay for a pair of passive speakers and an amplifier. Also, the total gross weight of two active speakers will likely be less than the total gross weight of two passive speakers and the amp.

 

The big disadvantage of an active box is that you have to run a/c (electricity) to each box along with the audio signal. With a passive box, you simply send the amplified signal.

 

Majority of the time I'm happy to have active boxes but there have been some gigs where I longed for passive boxes and didn't have to run a/c to the speakers.

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I see. Is something like the JBL EON208P something you're describing? It's a portable PA speaker system that consists of a pair of speakers and a mixer. Are the speakers here passive and the mixer powered?

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Well, I was describing a few different things. The JBL EON208P is an all-in-one unit. It has a powered 8-channel mixer and two passive speakers. It's meant for something like an acoustic act (acoustic guitar and some vocals, some keys), low volume pre-recorded music, or for use at a meeting or a presentation. It's certainly nothing you'd want to use in a regular band type of setting with drums, bass guitar, horn players, etc.

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