Theater Speakers

Choosing Home Theater Speakers

When selecting speakers for your home cinema system, it is important that you keep compatibility in mind. You want your speakers to be compatible with your receiver or amp. To ensure that your speakers have the potential to handle the full volume of your receiver without damage, it is good practice to multiply your amp’s power by 1.5. So for instance if you have a 200 watt receiver, you want to get speakers that are 250 watts.

For optimal balance and compatibility, it is also best if you could get speakers identical in size, especially the three frontal speakers, the front right, left and center speakers. The front right and left speakers are responsible for the majority of the music and sound effects and the center speaker carries most of the dialogue as well as some of the music and sound effects.

If you do not have the budget or the space to purchase rear or surround speakers that are the same size as your frontal speakers, you could get smaller surround speakers without sacrificing performance as much. How you place the surround speakers depends on the type.

Speaker location is important because you do not want to be conscious of the speaker location when you are watching your favorite heavy sound effects movie. You shouldn’t be looking up at the speakers located throughout the space but rather should feel all sound is connected to what you are watching on the screen.

For the standard Dolby Digital 5.1 set up – which consists of Dolby, the most commonly used, formatting and the most common 5.1 speaker set up of three front speakers, two rear, surround speakers and a powered subwoofer – the left and right surround speakers should be an equal distant apart from the listening area, above ear level, ideally two feet or more above ear level and should be at an angle of 90 to 110 degrees.

The three main types of speakers are:

• Floor-standing
• Bookshelf
• In-wall

Based on the height and how you mount the speakers, you could follow the suggested criteria with any of these types of speakers. Dolby Digital, Dolby Pro Logic II and DTS 5.1 are all compatible with the described set up.

What types of home theater speaker setups are there?

1. 5.1 – the standard set up of three front, including center, left and right speakers, left and right rear or surround speakers, and a powered subwoofer.
2. 6.1 – three front, including center, left and right, speakers, three rear speakers and a powered subwoofer. DTS-ES uses a center rear speaker while Dolby Digital EX adds a rear channel that is split into the left and right rear speakers. Signal information is decoded by the receiver’s logic circuitry since HD systems and DVD audio provide only 6 audio signals
3. 7.1 – This is most utilized in large home theaters. It incorporates Dolby Pro Logic IIx, which uses three front, including right, left and center speakers, four surround channels, including rear right and left speakers and left and right side fills, and a powered subwoofer.
4. 2.1 – This type of set up includes two side speakers, a subwoofer and software that provides the illusion of surround sound. This is for home theater rooms with less space.
5. Sound bar style – software is used to simulate all surround sound for smaller spaces or for an aesthetic that is clear of big bulky speakers and wiring cables throughout the space.

If you are going to make the investment in a home theater system that will last and perform to your standard of quality, you should rely on trusted makers of speakers.

There are many manufacturers producing high quality speaker systems. One of the best is the Bose system.

The Bose home cinema speaker system has moved to wireless technology. Though they are not the only manufacturer to gain this technology they are certainly one of the best. Bose has always been well known for their radios and audio quality. This has only improved. Bose is now making a wireless speaker system. This means the hub of the speaker system plugs into your TV and transmits the digital sound signals to the speakers. The speakers are smaller in design and therefore less intrusive to your home

Other respected names in the speaker industry include:

• JBL
• Klipsch
• Cerwin
• Vega
• Infinity
• Onkyo
• Yamaha
• Polk

Home theater system speakers that are gaining recognition for their modern look matched with high quality include:

• KLH
• KEF
• Orb Audio

Speakers that are high quality options for those on a tighter budget include:

• Athena
• Fluance

Subwoofer Facts

The powered subwoofer should have a high amount of clean power and have the highest level of power in your entire speaker collection. It should have twice as much power as your surround speakers.