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SpeakersIf the picture is the heart of the home theater than the speakers are the soul. We get allot of questions about which speaker is "best" for a given setup or a given room size, and we almost always decline to answer, because speakers (more than any other component) are the most subjective item in any theater set-up (home theater or otherwise). What sounds good to you may not to someone else. And something that sounds good in the showroom, may sound less impressive when you hook it up to your amp in your listening room. Our best suggestion is to try and find a place to purchase your speakers that will let you try the equipment in your environment prior to purchasing it. Although this may be difficult, most retail stores don't allow this, many custom home theater designers do.
How many speakers you use in your environment depends on your TV or receiver. Larger TVs are almost all stereo and some have built in Dolby Pro-Logic surround. Stereo has only two speakers, front left and right. Dolby Pro-logic has five speakers, front left and right plus a front center, and two surround speakers (sometimes these are incorrectly referred to as "rear" speakers.) these surround speakers provide environmental sounds (like crowds, rain, crickets) and are monaural in Dolby Pro-Logic systems. The next step up in home theater audio is a 5.1 sound system, the two currently available are Dolby Digital (AC-3), and DTS. The five channels are the same as the ones listed above accept that the surround channel become stereo, the .1 is a low range effects channel (LRE) that only produces bass below a certain range (usually 80 Hz) using a subwoofer. Speaker wire and Audio interconnectsMany many pages have been written in audio books and magazines regarding the wires used in Home Theater / Stereo setups. Again, let your ears be your guide. There is a good chance that your ears will not be able to tell the difference between a $25 cable and a $250 one. Please visit our Hardware Review Section for more Home Theater info. |
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Once the speakers are installed in your listening environment, it will be
necessary to calibrate them using tests tones (Like the ones generated by 
