How to Choose an Active Bookshelf Speaker: Buyer’s Guide

Smaller active or powered speakers are ideal when you want high-quality sound without committing a large portion of your room to traditional loudspeakers. Like passive bookshelf or standmount speakers, they are suited to smaller spaces and situations where size, placement, and aesthetics matter. Choosing them involves balancing room size, interior design, and the sound impact you desire.

Key Positioning Considerations

The same principles regarding speaker placement apply as with passive models. Avoid corners, give them space on a shelf, and experiment with their distance from walls, especially if they feature rear-firing bass reflex ports.

Benchmarks:

• Leave at least 15–20 cm between the speaker and walls.
• Avoid boxing speakers in with books or other objects on shelves.
• Use stands or decoupling pads to minimize contact with surfaces.

Also, audition speakers with and without grilles, as the difference in sound quality can be significant. Decide whether you can live with the aesthetic of the speakers “undressed.”

Active vs Powered: What’s the Difference?

First of all, the fundamental difference between “active” and “powered” loudspeakers concerns the way they power their drivers. A “powered” speaker amplifies the audio signal and then uses the crossover filter to direct different frequency information to the drivers best equipped to deal with it. An “active” speaker, meanwhile, sends the signal through the crossover before it’s amplified – this means each driver has its own amplification which should, in theory, produce better sonic results.

And it will almost certainly result in a more expensive product, too – even a two-way active speaker will need four times the amplification circuitry of a two-way powered speaker.

That’s because in practice, where a pair of powered speakers are concerned it’s generally the case that one speaker takes care of all amplification and drives its partner (which is, in effect, a passive speaker) via a length of speaker cable. This means that only one speaker requires mains power, so you only need to be sure that one speaker is close enough to a mains socket for it to be plugged in.

With active speakers, though, both speakers contain amplification and so both speakers require mains power – they communicate with each other wirelessly, or sometimes via a length of CAT5 cable. So as well as considering the optimum position for the speakers as it relates to their performance, you also have the practical consideration of their need for access to the mains.

Active designs are generally more expensive due to the additional amplification circuitry. They offer more precise driver control and potentially better sound.

Integrated Amplification: No Need to Worry About Impedance or Sensitivity

One advantage of active or powered speakers is that the amplification has been optimized for the drivers. You do not need to concern yourself with sensitivity, impedance, or power-handling. The manufacturer has already accounted for these factors, simplifying your decision-making.

Connectivity and Inputs

For both active and powered speakers, one speaker will be in charge of physical and wireless inputs – so you need to be sure your speakers are capable of supporting the sort of system you have in mind.

For powered speakers, especially the more affordable models, wireless connectivity usually consists of Bluetooth – check on the standard of Bluetooth your prospective pair of powered speakers use (we’re currently at v5.4, and anything less than v4 can safely be struck off your shortlist). And check on codec compatibility too – the codec is the method of packaging and transmitting digital audio information via Bluetooth, and some (the aptX Lossless codec being the current state of the art) are much better, where sound quality is concerned, than others.

Active speakers and better-specified powered speakers will also include Wi-Fi connectivity. This means wireless streaming from a smartphone or a local network is unlikely to be any kind of issue, and it often means you can integrate your favourite streaming service into the control app (should there be one) and leave your smartphone free to get on with other things.

But where support for source equipment beyond music streaming services is concerned, this will have to be considered on a case-by-case basis. For instance, if you want to use a record player, then a phono stage is an essential input. Plugging in a CD player, a tape deck, or even a games console will require the appropriate input to your main speaker.

Some active and powered designs even include an HDMI ARC socket so your television can have its sound boosted by your stereo speaker system – if you like the sound of that, make sure your prospective purchase includes it.

Digital-to-Analogue Conversion (DAC)

When it comes to your digital sources, especially those streamed wirelessly, it’s important to make sure your active or powered speaker system is up to scratch where digital-to-analogue conversion is concerned.

CD quality may be “only” 16bit/44.1kHz resolution, and the free tiers of Spotify and Apple Music (for example) stream at much lower resolutions than this – but plenty of streaming services have content of far higher quality. Qobuz and TIDAL, for example, routinely offer music at 24bit/192kHz. But you won’t get the sonic benefit of all this information if your speaker set-up doesn’t have the necessary DAC to accept and process it.

A DAC capable of at least 24bit/96kHz ensures compatibility with most high-resolution streams.

Listening and Performance Expectations

Small active or powered speakers cannot replicate the bass depth or scale of large floorstanders, but they should provide:

• Clear midrange detail
• Natural-sounding highs
• Adequate dynamic range
• Rhythmic accuracy

Play a variety of music at realistic volumes and listen for clarity, instrument separation, and tonal balance. Compare with known references if possible.

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