monitor speaker
- noun
- /ˈmɒnɪtər ˈspiːkər/
- Specialized
:
monitor
- During the concert, the sound technician placed monitor speakers facing the performers to help them keep in tune.
Examples
-
The band used four monitor speakers to ensure that each member could hear the music clearly during their performance.
-
The auxiliary bus sends an audio signal to monitor speakers on a stage.
Academic text (2012) -
We connected the PZM to a monitor speaker so the conductor and the orchestra could hear what was happening on stage, and we also set up a video monitor so they could watch the stage action.
Academic text (1994) -
Regardless of name, the buss serves the same function—sending signals from the channel strips to an amplifier that, in turn, is sent to monitor speakers on stage so that performers can hear themselves.
Academic text (2012) -
To hear themselves better, the singers adjusted the volume on their monitor speakers before starting the show.
Synonyms
A speaker on stage that faces performers so they can hear themselves
How Loud
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun is compositionally built from 'monitor' (a device that checks or feeds back signals) + 'speaker' (a loudspeaker), so the meaning 'a speaker used for monitoring/feeding sound back to performers' is directly inferable. Although the term is somewhat domain-specific (live performance/stage), the relation between the constituents follows normal English noun + modifier patterns and is therefore transparent to a B1 learner who knows both words.
Etymology
Monitor speaker comes from a simple stage idea: a speaker that lets performers monitor their sound. That's why a monitor speaker is a speaker put on stage facing the performers so they can 'hear themselves' while they play.