So you are ready to shop for a Home Theater speaker system and you have some questions; probably a lot of them. Hopefully the following information will help.

First, be sure and print out all of the spec sheets on all of the speakers you are thinking of buying. These will make wonderful lining for your birdcage, or make it easy to find packing material the next time you need to ship something fragile someplace. You see most if not virtually all of the specs on a speaker mean little or nothing to you. Things like anechoic chamber measurements, and made up power handling numbers do not tell you anything about how a speaker sounds; or how it compares to other speakers. Listening is how you choose speakers.

Great, so now what do you do? Go and visit a really cool store that has a group of people that know what they are talking about…that have listened to and installed a bunch of systems, and have a whole bunch of speakers actually on display that you can listen to. This would be here at Ask the Advisors for example. We also very strongly recommend that you never buy speakers out of a van in the parking lot of a mall.

Now start by letting us know where you would like your speakers to be. This would be floor standing, bookshelf, in-wall, in-ceiling or some combination. This is a good place to start because no matter how great a speaker is…it has to fit into your room to matter to you. The good news is the companies we deal with like B&W, Snell, Klipsch, Aerial Acoustics, Sonance, Velodyne and JL Audio make systems that can fit virtually any environment and provide great sound for just about any budget.

Now tell us what that budget is. I know this sounds dangerous, telling some low life commissioned salesperson how much money you have is just an invitation for them to figure out how to take it from you. Good news, no one at Ask the Advisors is commissioned or spiffed in any way…we are all paid to be here…and because we do not spend a ton of money on advertising we rely on you being thrilled with the system you buy from us so you will tell all of your friends how cool we are; then they will come and buy stuff from us. This only happens when you are completely happy with what you got from us. Also, the speakers are the best place in your entire system to spend a little extra money if you can. Better speakers will always be an improvement!

Now listen…to a pair of speakers…playing music…all by themselves with no sub-woofer playing. Or compare a couple of different pairs to find the sound you really like. What? But I am trying to buy a Home Theater system…have you forgotten that?

No I have not forgotten, and yes you are, and you need to know that a speaker that sounds good playing music can very definitely sound good playing a movie. If someone someplace else has told you that good music speakers are not good movie speakers; or that good movie speakers are not good for music…run from that place now. Think of it this way; there is very little that is more complex to play than music…so if a speaker is good for music it will be good for anything you want to put into it. A great speaker is a great speaker. Also, if you get a pair of speakers you really enjoy; you might find out you play more music on them as a side benfit. Also, we always recommend that you listen to even small speakers without a sub-woofer, because even though your Home Theater will of course have a sub-woofer; you have to be able to enjoy the speakers on their own to really enjoy them when the sub-woofer is added.

Great, so now you have a pair of speakers all picked out. From here we can guide you as to what is the correct center channel to match up to them, as well as recommend the correct rear and possibly side speakers to complete the system. If you have a large room the side speakers are added making your system 7.1 to aid in the delivery of sounds moving or panning around the room. Finally, we will make a recommendation on a sub-woofer that will match up to the speakers you have chosen; and provide enough output to fill the room your system will be in. You see a great Home Theater system is all about balance. Buying an amazing pair of left and right speakers and then skimping on the center speaker will not make a great system. We can make sure you get a system that plays well together.

You will also hear a lot of discussion about having 2 sub-woofers instead of just 1. Adding a second sub-woofer is a very good idea, and believe it or not this is not about power or playing louder. You see a sub-woofer has a lot of interaction with your room; this causes areas where there is a lot more or a lot less bass. 2 woofers placed correctly in the same room will help reduce these “room modes” dramatically and makes the bass much more even throughout the entire listening area. If your room and your budget allow it, add a second identical sub-woofer to your system.

So now you have a little bit of an idea where to start. So come on over to Ask the Advisors and let us help you pick out the speaker system that will make you happy for years to come.

Ask Ron About Your Speaker Selection

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