Consider the Area

Before choosing home theatre speaker systems you should take a careful look around the room that you are going to be placing them in and you should pay special attention to what the room looks like from the seating area. Consider making a quick sketch of the room including the shape, contents, windows and openings to other rooms. You should take this sketch when you shop to help you decide where each speaker will go and whether it will be mounted on the wall or placed on the floor. This will help you to determine if you need to buy other accessories for home theatre speaker systems such as wall mounting brackets or speaker stands.

It is also a good idea to have room dimensions. This way a salesperson can help you determine what home theatre speaker systems will give you the best audio experience for your home theatre room. You will also want to take into account how many speakers you can afford. Today five speakers and subwoofer isn’t the standard approach to home theatre speaker systems. There is now 5.2 systems which have five speakers and two subwoofers which gives a more complete, bass response. Then DVDs led to 6.1 and 7.1 channel speaker systems which help increase the surround sound experience.

Depending on the room you are using for your home theatre system you will also want to consider the dilemma of cables. Do you want cables visible throughout the room or are you willing to tear apart the walls to thread the cables. If neither of these options seem acceptable then you may want to consider the new wireless home theatre speaker systems. Although some of these systems will still require that you plug them into a electrical wall outlet. There are also new pseudo-surround home theatre speaker systems which use a special sound process to create the illusion of surround sound without the need for a lot of speakers. Some only have two front speakers and still have a surround sound to them.

Try to shop during off-peak hours since this will allow you to have a more relaxed shopping experience. This helps you to enjoy your experience and take the time to think out your decisions. You should also remember to try out the speakers in the store if they have a display before you purchase them. You don’t want to get home and find out you bought something you don’t need or like. Even when shopping on a budget it is a good idea to visit specialty stores since they may have home theatre speaker systems you can get elsewhere and offer better advice.

The Center Speaker

Your home theatre speaker placement should start with the center channel speaker. The position of your television will influence where you place this speaker since it acts as an anchor for your dialogue and other on-screen sounds during a movie. You should center this speaker directly above or below your television. If you are mounting it above you television then the front edge of the speaker should be aligned with the front edge of the television. This limit’s the amount of distortion you may get from sound reflecting and diffracting off the TV cabinet.

Right And Left Speakers

Home theatre speaker placement should also focus on these front speakers since they are responsible for handling your movie soundtracks and giving you all the sound related to stereo music. They should form a slight arc when positioned in line with the center speaker. They should all be placed the same distance from you seating area and aimed at your ears. It is best to precisely measure the distance since a noticeable difference can result if you are so much as an inch or two off your measurements.

Surround Speakers

Next your home theatre speaker placement should focus on your surround speakers. These speakers are used to provide you with atmospheric sound and for special effects during the movies. While there are some tips to home theatre speaker placement for surround sound, you should always experiment since these are the speakers that will vary in their placement depending on the individual.

You want these speakers to be in line with or slightly behind your listening position. You should have them slightly high so that they don’t play directly to your ears when you are watching a movie. It is generally best to place them at ear level while you are standing so they will be at the best level when you are seated. Just experiment with placing your speakers until you get the ideal sound you are looking for.

Familiarize Yourself About Different Components

You should start off by familiarizing yourself with the different components of the home theatre speaker package. There is the distinct possibility that you can find the different components in one package, though you may want to get more from their system by buying each component separately to get the best of their each element.

The best home theatre speaker package should include midrange speakers, tweeters as well as sub-woofers to get the full surround sound experience. In addition, you may also want to consider whether your home theatre speaker package should include wired or wireless design, and you may need to compare each design to ascertain which the best one is for your needs. Also, your home theatre speaker package should have a good crossover design, which makes the driver sound better, and if you don’t have good crossover, it can even cause a good driver to sound bad.

You should also decide on the number of speakers required for your home theatre speaker package, and choose small speakers for getting surround sound, while the larger tower speakers would work better for stereophonic effects. Also, small speakers work well with a single sub woofer, and five speakers should be adequate for great surround sound output. You can choose from among Dolby Pro Logic, Virtual Dolby as well as Q Surround for your surround sound system.

You must also evaluate different speaker for their costs so that you don’t end up paying too much for your home theatre speaker package. This you can achieve by visiting electronic shops and understanding the capabilities of each speaker system, evaluating their features as well as of course, comparing their prices. You may even want to do some comparison shopping online, and read up on unbiased reports regarding different home theatre speaker package before settling on a particular one.

You should also listen to individual speaker systems to know how they sound and maybe then go online and make some more checks by reading reviews as well as do some more price comparisons. With such guidelines on hand, choosing your ideal home theatre speaker package should become a lot easier as well as smoother.

The Differences

Many feel the DTS home theatre sound system is superior because it has a higher data rate than Dolby which normally implies better sound since there is less compression in the encoding process. Although the Dolby home theatre sound system doesn’t have a high bit rate they make up for it in more efficient operation at lower levels. This means you can’t simply view the bit rate and determine if one home theatre sound system is better than the other. Rather you need to consider all the main difference between these two options to help you determine which is the best for your home theatre experience.

You start to get a feeling of the real difference between the two home theatre sound system formats when you consider compression. Surround sound formats always have too much data to store which means the system needs to process it in an efficient and economical manner during playback of your movie. Therefore, looking at compression ratios along with bit rates is very important. Without a good compression ratio you won’t be able to enjoy your bit rate no matter how high it is.

The Bottom Line

When it comes to choosing a home theatre sound system you want sound quality but it isn’t always easy to determine what has better sound. When it comes to Dolby and DTS you will hear many arguments and debates over which is the better home theatre sound system and how they differ. The bottom line is basically that you can get similar results for your surround sound whether you are using Dolby or DTS. You cannot look entirely at the bit rate since DTS has a higher bit rate, but you lose out on the efficiency of data utilization.

This means you can’t specifically point to one home theatre sound system as being better than the other when it comes to sound quality. It is even difficult to determine which of these sounds better in movie theatres compared to home theatre applications. When dealing with these two formats there is no straightforward answer as to which one is the best home theatre sound system. Rather you should listen to each system separately and change the playback to see if you notice any changes in the sound quality. In order to have superior sound quality it is best to listen for yourself and determine what you like.

How Many Speakers Should You Use?

The number of speakers you use in your home theatre audio system, is entirely dependant upon how large of a room your theatre occupies. A smaller room will require far fewer speakers, and a larger home theatre audio system will need many more. To safely gauge how many speakers you will need, divide the number of square feet in your theatre by ten. That should give you an accurate estimate of how many speakers to use in your home theatre audio system.

If you have a moderate sized theatre, six speakers should be more than enough. Be sure that you have: a center speaker, which will provide the in front of you sound for when people onscreen are talking; two front, side speakers and two rear, side speakers, which provide the surround sound effect; and a good subwoofer. I prefer a subwoofer with a dial control, so that I can manage my home theatre audio system with greater ease.

How Much Should You Spend

When purchasing the speakers for your home theatre audio system, you will find that there are high quality speakers available in every price range. A good rule of thumb, is to spend no more than one third of your total home theatre audio system budget on speakers.

Speaker Layout And Function

Remember that there is a defined layout pattern when you set up the speakers for your home theatre audio system. Understanding what each type of speaker does, and placing it appropriately is essential to getting the best sound out of your home theatre audio system. A speaker put in the wrong place, could cause audio feedback, or even interfere with your picture quality.

Your center channel speaker should always be placed directly above our theatre screen. This allows for more realistic sound when listening to people on the screen talking. Be sure, if you haven’t already, that your center channel speaker is video shielded. Most are, but it is always a good idea to check to make certain.

To get the best quality sound out of your home theatre audio system subwoofer, you can either place a wicker basket over it, or face it toward a wall. Facing your subwoofer toward a wall, turns the entire wall into a giant subwoofer.

No matter what your budget is, if you shop around for the best deals, you can get a great home theatre audio system that will carry you and your family away!

Nothing short of perfection is expected in our home theatre audio systems. Home theatre systems are becoming more and more popular in today’s society. We want all the features that a cinema has to offer, but with the creature comforts of home. With so many new people installing home theatres, home theatre audio systems have been brought to task, and are evolving at the speed of sound.

Setting Up Your Home theatre Audio System

When setting up a home theatre audio system, one of the most important things to take into consideration is the size of the room you will be installing it in. With a smaller room you may only need the bare minimum of speakers. Three, to be exact, is a good number of home theatre audio speakers to install if your room is quite small. Be sure that you have one subwoofer, and two side channels if you are only going to be using three speakers. The speaker on your television set will provide the center speaker home theatre audio sound that you would otherwise gain with more speakers.

With a larger room, I have found that a home theatre audio system sounds best when it includes: one center speaker, two front side speakers, two rear side speakers, and one subwoofer, for a total of six speakers. A good way to get the most out of your home theatre audio system’s subwoofer, is to either cover it with a wicker basket, or to turn it so that it is facing a wall. Turning it toward the wall will, in essence, turn the entire wall into a home theatre audio system subwoofer.

Quality And Value

When shopping for a home theatre audio system, it is easy to mistake high price for high quality. While many systems that are higher priced do have better sound than ones less expensive, such is not always the case. It is a good idea to ask your sales representative if there is a listening room, where you can hear the sound quality of several home theatre audio systems, before making a final choice. Most stores have one, and are happy to show off their various systems available.

My personal favorite is the Bose home theatre audio system, as it allows for the sound quality of a large system, while only utilizing a few speakers. Whichever system you choose, if you choose wisely, you will have many years of enjoyment from your home theatre audio system.