Speakers

To produce noise, speakers are split into an amplifier (amp) and a driver. The amplifier boosts the audio signal high enough to move the driver, which in turn moves the air to create sound waves.

Active speakers

These speakers have both the amplifier and the driver contained in the same housing. This makes them portable and quick to set up, however the speaker needs 13A power from a wall socket in order to run the amplifier. They usually have XLR inputs. Such as our LVX-8, WAC's dB L160.

Passive speakers

These speakers do not contain an amplifier in their housing, so require an amp to be setup (and connected to power) somewhere else. The amp is normally in the rack room (so you'll need a WAC staff to turn the amps on for you each day), or for live stages at the front of house tent. They normally take speakon connectors as input, as these cables can carry the boosted audio signal from the amp to the driver in the speaker. Such as: our line array, WAC theatre/studio PA, MTW's passive speaker.