Speakers

Speakers are crucial in providing high quality sound and important home theater elements to consider. Like most components, not all speakers are created equal.

Every speaker in a home theater system serves a specific purpose. This section helps explain what features are important before shelling out good money for a bunch of speakers that won't do the right job.

Any speaker placed within 2' of the television needs to be magnetically shielded to avoid signal breakups and picture distortion. Most speakers marketed toward home theater are shielded, but it is an important item to verify.

A home theater needs at least six speakers: left front, right front, center front, two surrounds, and a subwoofer or bass module. For a Dolby Digital system, all six of these speakers should be capable of a full range of sound and be fairly equal in quality. For anything up to and including Pro Logic technology, there is some differentiation.

The left front and right front speakers carry the bulk of the music and sound effects in a home theater. These speakers should be high quality and able to handle a wide range of sounds.

The center speaker is the primary carrier of dialogue and should therefore be the same quality as the left and right front speakers. Ideally, it should be the exact same speaker, or at least matched in quality and power.

For most home theater systems, the surround speakers can be smaller in size because they do not need to carry the booming bass. They should put out at least half the power and match the front speakers as close as possible in sound quality and balance for an even sound.

Subwoofers reproduce the low bass sounds that make movie effects like explosions, sonic booms, crashes, and dinosaur footsteps seem realistic. These are the sounds that really pull you into the experience and a good subwoofer or bass module is needed for a full effect.

Shopping for Speakers

There are many good speaker brands to choose from, and generally they fall into the same quality vs. price range. So, the decision usually comes down to personal preference.

A lot of listening is the best way to figure out what speaker sound you prefer. Listen to a variety of music and movie sources for overall sound quality. Many stores have listening rooms set up with multiple brands of speakers just for this purpose.

Besides sound quality, other things to consider when buying speakers are size and price. When working with limited space and/or budget, it may be necessary to compromise.

If you are planning to integrate with existing stereo speakers make sure to write down the make, model, and wattage when shopping for new speakers. A knowledgable salesperson should be able to help you match the new speakers with the existing ones.

Also, when adding onto an existing system, it is vital to know what power capacity the receiver can handle. It's no fun buying speakers then finding out they won't work without also buying a new receiver or bigger amplifier.

Ideal Speaker Layout

The front three speakers should be set around the television at nearly equal heights to each other.

The center speaker can be placed slightly behind the left and right speakers if necessary, but never ahead of them.

The left and right front speakers should be as close to a 45° angle as possible to mimic the conditions set by the mixer at the film studio.

Many people think that the surround speakers go directly behind the viewing area. Actually the best place for them is 2'-3' above the viewing area and directly to either side of it.

Alternative Speaker Layouts

For best results, the three front speakers should conform as close to the ideal layout as possible. Surround speaker placement has a little more leeway. In-wall and ceiling-mounted speakers are popular aesthetic and space-saving alternatives for surround speakers.

Sometimes sidewall, in-wall, and ceiling-mount speakers aren't possibilities. In that case, alternate placement is necessary.

NO ADJACENT WALLS

If there are no walls near the viewing area, the surround speakers can be set to the sides and slightly to the rear of the viewing spot, faced upwards. Again, it is best if they are not on the floor, but rather slightly elevated like on end tables or opposite ends of a sofa table.

Speaker stands are another good alternative when a wall mount is not possible. Stands can be aimed at each other just as if they were mounted on side walls. Many speaker companies make speaker stands specifically designed for their surround speakers.

REAR WALL

If the only wall available for mounting is a rear wall, experiment with the positioning, aiming them at the front, at each other, or at the side walls until you feel like the sound isn't coming from behind you, but rather from around you.