Active Performance & DJ PA Speakers

Your Guide to Buying Active PA Speakers on eBay

Active PA speakers are a core piece of equipment with many public address systems. They are made by lots of different professional audio manufacturers, and are rated for various output levels. These devices can be used to provide audio at discos, for live bands, and for public speaking. Although you can find individual active PA speakers for sale on eBay, many are sold in pairs - sometimes with a mixer included - so you can generate a well-balanced stereo output.

Some active PA speakers are designed to be fully portable and will have wheels, while others are designed to be mounted on ear-level speaker stands, making them useful for amplifying a band. Connectivity may allow wireless input from a system like Bluetooth, or require a cable from the audio source. Other important features include:

• The wattage of the speaker, which indicates how loud it will go.
• The size of the woofer speaker, which indicates how much it can transmit bass sounds.
• The weight of the PA speaker, which indicates how portable it is.

Yes, if you have a passive PA system with a power amp supplying signal to the main front of house speaker cabinets. In these circumstances, you can use an active speaker or two as a wedge monitor system by taking a line signal from your mixer. Most will have a design that allows them to be laid on their side, pointing up at the performers from the floor.

In theory, you can use a microphone with any active PA speaker. Some PA speakers are not designed for this, however, so you ought to have a mixer unit or a pre-amplifier process the microphone's signal before it passes to the PA speaker to prevent overpowering. If the unit you are looking at has an XLR input, then it is usually okay to plug your microphone in directly.

A crossover unit splits audio signals according to their frequencies so each cone in a speaker cabinet receives the signal that is relevant to its design. For example, high frequencies go to tweeters and low frequencies go to woofers. In a passive PA set-up a crossover might be required, but an active PA speaker will do the for you without the need for a standalone unit.