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Picking The Ideal Home Theater Speakers

When it comes to home theater, controversy can often reign supreme, with so many choices and decisions in our modern day world. What does it mean to have a killer system, and why so many brands and different philosophies? How does one choose? How do you know where to start and where to end getting something that'll not only fit your needs, but your budget as well? One reader certified as J. Dogg breaks down the basics and informs as well as educates what you need to look for in a home theater system and filter out the moonshine so you can guarantee to stay on top of your game.

The first objective is to start with a decent home theater receiver or going with separates that'll enable a better sound quality that may fit your liking. Receivers are a one-stop shop, while separates consist of 2 units that require more than one shelf in your rack and often cost more than a receiver. With separates, one piece of equipment does the processing capabilities, while the other does the amplification.

Speakers are the next choice to fulfill your hoss setup. By going with the same series and type of material used for each driver will ensure the best timbre match. Regardless of 5.1 or 7.1, movies will sound more life-like when you ensure you have a good timbre match. You'll want to first start by choosing a center, then the mains, next your surround backs (4th and 5th channels), and last in the case of 7.1, a pair of speakers for side surrounds. A good choice for side surrounds are often a set of dipoles as you can disperse more sound in opposite directions of the room, creating a larger feel similar to that of a movie theater.

A set of speakers for the front left and right of your TV should be the first set of speakers you invest in. This decision should be based off the fact on whether you're going to be using these speakers for movies, 2-channel music, or both. The size of room you're placing these speakers is also a big factor in terms of choosing between a tower speaker and a bookshelf. Tower are generally recommended for 2-channel music, as then you wouldn't necessarily need a sub to achieve a low end response. Having towers are also beneficial for movies, where a full and more accurate response would be created for movies. If your room is on the smaller side, bookshelves may be the way to go.

It's been often said that the most important speaker in a home theater setup is the center channel. This is because about 60% of the information in a movie comes through this channel. Once you have this speaker chosen, the rest is downhill. The larger the center, the fuller vocals will be. This allows the volume of each channel to remain the same and an overall sense of balance.

Information being sent to the rear channels is often in the form of treble and midrange. Because of this, it's not as important to have as large of drivers in these speakers as that of the center and front mains. Dipoles are usually recommended, as they present a larger than normal response, having one tweeter in each cabinet with a reversed polarity. This will make surround sounds or background sounds seem farther away than what you'd expect; similar to a small movie theater in terms of size. Keep in mind the reversed polarity in dipoles is not listening-appropriate for SACD or DVD audio. This type of setup would be more inclined to having a direct design speaker, like a bookshelf or small tower speaker.

A subwoofer is needed if your primary choice of movie type is action/adventure films. Without a sub, explosions just won't sound the same. Even better would be the existence of 2 subs; one in each corner of the room. This would provide an equal bass response or pressure, and wouldn't necessarily have to turn up one sub to its threshold, as you would then have 2 subs distributing the bass load. The most common type of sub is the port-hole design. This design allows the internal cabinet pressure generated by the driver to be released through the port hole. This allows the driver to obtain greater depths of excursion and lower frequencies.

Another type of subwoofer is one with no port hole built in or known as a sealed enclosure. This sub will play tight and accurate with the rest of the frequencies, making this sub the most musically sounding and versatile to play with both movies and 2-channel music. The bass response isn't generally as low as that of a ported design, but often sounds cleaner and more refined in the sealed enclosure type due to increased decay.

A third design, though not as popular as the first two is the passive radiator. With this type, you now have an active driver producing the bass pressure while a secondary 'bass reflex' driver reacts in the same manner as the active driver, producing a much lower frequency response than the active driver alone. Subwoofers of this design are utilized more in movies to obtain this lower frequency response, but can also be used for 2-channel based music systems. Often more times than not, there may be a slight delay experienced with music, but beneficial to movies with a passive radiator.

Speaker wire will be needed to transfer the electrons from your power source to each channel. The thicker the gauge, the greater the electron transfer potential to each speaker, resulting in a better sound. A good rule to follow is any length over 25 feet should be 12 gauge or thicker. Keep in mind, this is also dependent on the amount of power your amp is generating, with greater power requiring a thicker gauge of wire.

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Don't buy any home theater system, make sure you read our home audio blog for excellent information on speaker systems, audio, DVD, and custom installations.

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