Choosing Home Theater Speakers
Mar 28 '01 (Updated Aug 24 '01)
The Bottom Line Even if you're on a budget, you can design a home theater system that sounds surprisingly good for a relatively low price.
This opinion is about designing a home theater speaker system. Epinions doesn't seem to have a category dedicated to home theater so, this seems like the most appropriate place to put it. If anyone knows of a better place, leave a comment and let me know.
What kind of home theater system can you buy for less than $800? You might be surprised. The price of my system is around $650 as it stands. I've heard systems of some of my friends that cost $1,000 or more and don't sound as good as mine. If you're willing to do a lot of research and buy online, you can probably get a very good system for less than $1,000. This sounds expensive. However, the key to my approach is buying the individual components as you budget allows.
You can buy reasonably priced home theater packages that include the receiver and all required speakers. However, these packages usually have very small, inadequate speakers. If you have a little more time and money, I recommend taking the alternate route of purchasing a really good receiver and choosing your own speakers. I chose this route and I've been a lot more pleased with my system as a result. Well, actually, I've yet to purchase a really good receiver, but I'm working on it.
If you're not an electronics type of person, this can be a little intimidating but knowing just a little important information goes a long way in helping you make the right choice every time. I also can't stress enough the importance of doing some further research before rushing into a purchase. I'm into electronics and I know a fair amount about them but I'm no expert. The best place to obtain detailed information about electronics is usually in a good, quality electronics publication such as Sound & Vision Magazine. Their reviews are done by people who know exactly what they're talking about. This review is only meant as a guide to beginners.
The speakers that you will require for a 5.1 Dolby Digital system are as follows:
A center channel speaker.
The center channel speaker is the most critical speaker in a Dolby Digital system. If you're going to skimp anywhere, you don't want to do it here. This speaker carries the main dialog and much of the action. A cheap, poorly designed center speaker will ruin an otherwise fine system. Voices may be muffled and really hard to hear clearly. You'll want to buy the best center channel speaker you can afford. More expensive isn't necessarily always better but it's a good indicator. Decent center speakers can be had for the starting price of about $150. As always, it's a good idea to try to stick with the same brand. This seems to be more important for the front three speakers than the rest.
Two front main speakers.
These two speakers carry the remainder of the dialog, music and action. These are slightly less critical than the center speaker but you still will want to try to purchase high quality left and right front speakers. These speakers don't have to be extremely large because most of the bass is sent to the subwoofer in a Dolby Digital system. My front speakers are three way Sony speakers. Certainly not the best you can buy but they do a remarkable job, considering their low cost. Mine were $99 for the pair.
Two rear surround speakers.
If you're going to skimp anywhere in your system, this is the place to do it. I'm not recommending that you go out and buy a pair of $15 bargain speakers but almost any small speaker will do. I would advise against buying dirt cheap speakers though. Their performance is often very bad. Keep in mind that these speakers will need to be mounted on the wall in some fashion, so you need to watch the weight unless you have a sturdy mounting method.
A subwoofer.
This speaker is almost as critical as the center channel speaker. A cheap subwoofer can rattle, vibrate and resonate in ways that will make your system sound, well...cheap. Expect to spend at least $200 for a decent subwoofer.
There are a few things you need to keep in mind when shopping for speakers. You need to know the wattages for each channel of your receiver. If your receiver says 100 watts x 5, then each speaker in your system needs to be rated to handle at least 100 watts. On the other hand, you don't want to hook up speakers that are rated for 200 watts to a 70 watt amplifier either.
Another thing to keep in mind is to try to match the impedance of all the speakers in your system. Look on the back of the speaker and you'll see it listed in Ohms.
It's also very important to listen to the speakers you're thinking about purchasing (Together if possible) before buying. One speaker that has a significantly different timbre from the rest can make that speaker stand out more than the rest and your surround effect will be lost. For this reason, it's usually best if all the speakers in your system are made by the same manufacturer. This doesn't ensure a perfect match but it's a pretty good starting point.
Unless you're buying floor speakers for your front left and right, you'll also want to make sure you can find stands for them that will put them at about the right level for good sound. Most people say that the tweeters should be at ear level.
Frequency Response
Always check the specifications of any speaker you're planning to purchase. Check the frequency response. For a three way speaker, about 50HZ-20KHZ is a decent range. The low number is for the bass frequencies and the high number is for treble. For bass, the lower the number is, the better. 20KHZ is about as high as you're going to find at the high end though. Don't go by specifications alone. Always listen for yourself. Good specs are meaningless if it doesn't sound good to you.
Speaker Types
Speaker types vary but there are three basic types of speakers that you'll come across. It's important to know the difference between these because it can make a major difference in the way they sound.
Full Range Speakers
These speakers have a single driver that carries all of the sound. These are usually the cheapest of speakers and are usually to be avoided.
Two Way Speakers
These speakers have a woofer for the bass and a tweeter for the high frequencies. These usually sound much better than full range speakers. They are also more commonly used for home theater setups than either of the other two types.
Three Way Speakers
These have a woofer for the bass, a midrange driver for the mid frequencies and a tweeter for the highs. These are the best of the three and it shows in the price.
I've been very impressed with the sound quality that I've gotten from my system. It sounds vastly superior to most of those complete packages that sell for under $800. All in all, it's been a lot of trial and error. I'm still working on getting my system exactly the way I want it. Some of the best advice I can give in the end is to start out with the very best receiver you can afford. This is the heart of your audio system. The best speakers in the world can't make up for a lousy receiver.
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Epinions.com ID:
Ahab1973
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Member: Brian
Location: USA
Reviews written: 132
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