Network loudspeaker

A conventional loudspeaker is an electromechanical transducer that converts an electrical signal into sound. If locally powered, this can also be termed an active loudspeaker, meaning it contains an audio power amplifier that drives the loudspeaker. A network loudspeaker implies the ability to send audio to such a device from a network connection, usually over an Ethernet network or the Internet. In many cases this type of speaker also contains digital signal processing (DSP) to provide the audio crossover and other tonal functions that exist in conventional speakers. Network speakers are also known as IP speakers. In many cases the IP speaker is created from an IP audio endpoint — a device with the requisite network connection and ability to process audio packets, but without the actual physical speaker portion — that provides amplified audio to a conventional loudspeaker or unamplified audio (i.e. line-out) to an amplified speaker or system.