Speakers with their own amps


Was just wondering,

Are there speakers out there that have their own amps to drive the whole speaker?
Not just internal amps to drive the subs but also amps to drive midrange & treble.

I see 2 advantages to this.
1. One could drive the speakers with just a preamp avoiding the cost of amp/amps.
2. Would allow the designer to voice the speaker to their design and how they wanted them to sound.

Would probably still allow the consumer to balance their systems sound, to one's liking, via a preamp, processor, cabling, etc.

I have the ability to drive my speakers from my preamp leaving my amp to drive the mids & highs.
I've come to like this option.

Thoughts?
128x128joysjane

Showing 2 responses by joysjane

Hey Bob_reynolds,

My Infinity Prelude MTS Speakers have a built in amp for the subwoofer section.
My line level output from my preamp goes to the "Line" input on my subwoofer instead of my amplifier. That line level signal goes to the sub's amp. Then I run from the output line "level" of my subwoofer to my amp. Then out of my amp and to the speaker inputs w/speaker wire.

The sub and the towers are two pieces that screw together to make one unit.

Man, that sounded confusing!!!

That was the recommended version of hooking up these speakers from the man that designed these babies.

My amp doesn't get burdened with driving the subs it only drives the mids/tweeters in the towers.
Not that my amp would have any issues driving the speakers with just running speaker wires to them. It's just that after talking with the designer he was adamant that the speakers sound their best when using the preamp to send the signal to the internal sub amp. I have to agree with him on this.

Did that make sense?

Skip
Meaning... you're driving those subs with a line level signal? As in a sub out on a processor or receiver?

I've heard of some folks taking out the crossovers in the Infinity MTS' speakers and using an external one they designed themselves.
Way too far over my head!