new equipment

I know this might sound like newbie stuff, but I searched long and hard for some answers to this, and no one talks about it.

I have a PM G5 2.3 with 2.5 ram, and Final Cut Studio. I've used FCP for some time, and I'm about to start learning Soundtrack Pro.

My question is, given a budget of around U$400 (Excluding a deck), what other equipment should I buy? I started thinking a set of headphones would do the job, but got some different opinions; some say I need an amplifier, some say my current speaker set up is fine (two celestion speakers with a pioneer mini system)

Do I need an amplifier with monitor speakers? active or passive speakers?
Headphones, which are the best?
Do I need a deck?
What should I be looking for in speakers/headphones?

Bernardo

If you currently use speakers that work with your computer and they show up in the Audio setup, they should work fine with STP. I personally use HarmonKardon USB speakers for STP and GarageBand.

As long as you can use your current speakers as sound out from the computer, you can use them from STP.

I've heard I need Monitor speakers, that speakers made for listening to music (the ones I currently have) won't be ideal, and that I need an amplifier to decode digital to analog signal.

Can I edit sound for something that's going to tv in regular music speakers? Without that amplifier?

Depending on the final destination of the show, you may need self powered Studio monitors or something less expensive. My personal setup is for general audio I use the HarmanKardon SoundSticks (USB) for video work and Mackie HR824 Studio Monitors for more intense audio work. The Studio monitors are connected with a MOTU 896HD Firewire interface.

Pre-amplified speakers can add noise that I personally don't like and self powerer units tend to eliminate this problem.

There are many different solutions depending on your needs.