| In a typical home theater setup, there should | | | | members in your home theater speaker setup. |
| be six home theater speakers: two front | | | | If you have a small room, choose bookshelf |
| speakers, two surround speakers, a center | | | | speakers. Larger rooms will require larger |
| speaker and a subwoofer for the lowest | | | | speakers; in this case, powerful |
| frequency ranges. There are two ways to | | | | floor-standing speakers is the choice to go |
| obtain all these speakers: buying each of | | | | with. |
| them seperately, or buying a home theater | | | | |
| speaker set. | | | | I often hear that it is advisable to have the |
| | | | exact same speakers for surround and front. |
| Home Theater Speaker Sets | | | | This is true, but it's not very practical: |
| | | | movie sound mixes don't use surround speakers |
| If you're low on budget, you should think | | | | as much as they use the front speakers. So, |
| about one of these. But remember: don't spare | | | | you can choose smaller and less-powerful |
| on speakers, they're very important. There | | | | speakers for your surround setup, it won't |
| are lots of cheap home theater speaker sets | | | | make significant differences anywhere except |
| on the market, but you shouldn't buy one of | | | | your wallet. |
| them, because these are of poor quality. | | | | |
| Usually, sets manufactured by well-know | | | | The surround and front units were good, |
| brands (Klipsch, Bose, for example) produce a | | | | old-fashioned hi-fi speakers used for a home |
| decent sound. This way you'll still not spend | | | | theater setup. The case is different with our |
| as much as you would on separate speakers. If | | | | center speaker. It's a special speaker with |
| you're thinking about buying one of these | | | | unique frequency response. If it's possible, |
| sets, read our article on home theatres in a | | | | have the center speaker from the same brand |
| box. | | | | as the surround and front speakers. This unit |
| | | | is also often overlooked, but it's very |
| Going One By One | | | | important, because this speaker is used for |
| | | | voices and talking in a sound mix. |
| So, you're serious about your future home | | | | |
| theater, and want to spend a little more on | | | | The subwoofer is used to reproduce the lower |
| the speakers? Buying speakers separately has | | | | frequencies. Sometimes, it's optional: the |
| many advantages: it's the best quality you | | | | front speakers can be powerful enough to rock |
| can have, and another, often overlooked | | | | the house, and an additional subwoofer is not |
| advantage is that you can don't have to buy | | | | needed. However, in larger rooms, it's |
| the whole set at a time, so if you haven't | | | | inevitable. Subwoofers require lots of power, |
| got the money, you can still have high | | | | and in most cases, they require their own |
| quality speakers in your setup. | | | | power input (these are called "active |
| | | | subwoofers"). |
| Your front speakers should be the strongest | | | | |