Home Audio Shopping Simplified: Understanding Quality, Performance, and Price

Hello World!  Welcome Friends! The joys of home entertainment are limitless, like the selection of speakers and related equipment. You need to spend time understanding quality and performance to determine your budget. Here’s a simplified briefing on home audio needs.

Bookshelf Speakers

Bookshelf speakers could be placed on your bookshelf, but the name refers to the arrangement. Two matching front speakers must bookend your television, computer, or stereo. However, price depends on how crafty and high-end you want to get. For example, some love power and sound yet hate the thought of having tower speakers infiltrate space in the room. In such cases, you can get equal power without any intrusion by placing speakers in the wall or ceiling.

Center Speaker

Think of the center speaker as the television, computer, or stereo’s mouth. Most of the dialogue and half of a movie’s soundtrack is going to come from here. As with above, price varies depending on size and quality. However, specialists suggest buying a center speaker that is aligned with one’s choice in bookshelf speakers.

Front Speakers

Front speakers perform like ‘bookshelf speakers’ but often used by gamers and those who want more performance from a personal computer or monitor. See a selection at RS Components. Compact surround sound systems are available so gamers don’t miss out on an enhanced A/V experience.

Surround Speakers

Here’s where things can get creative and really make your system stand out. Surround speakers are placed on stands, in walls, or in the flooring to create an intense and enjoyable experience. Traditionally, speakers were placed on stands or on the wall and fired in one direction. Today, depending on the manufacturer and willingness to do light construction in your home, you could have a number of speakers placed behind those seated that fire sound in multiple directions, making your home more like a movie theater.

Subwoofer

Do you need a subwoofer? It’s debatable. Does the implement make a big difference? Absolutely. The larger the driver of the subwoofer, the deeper the bass sounds throughout the room. A large room demands a woofer of 12” or larger. However, anything of that size will dominate a smaller room. If you really want that theater experience of bombs exploding and cars crashing, then the home ensemble is incomplete without a subwoofer. Unlike front speakers, subwoofers perform best when placed near a wall, and even better when arranged where two walls meet.

Arrangement Matters

Of course, your speakers lose potential when poorly arranged. Sonic performance improves as speakers move away from a wall. Otherwise, an adjacent wall will enforce the bass and hinder performance. The center left and right speakers are angled toward the listener in an ideal situation. (But it’s not uncommon for sofas to be arranged in a u-shape or distanced from another listener’s chair, so do your best.)

Furthermore, the center speaker should be right above or below the television. If possible, tilt the speakers toward ear level. Surround speakers are placed on stands or placed in the wall at appropriate levels. Installers and vendors help choose the right stand and whether or not to install speakers in the wall or floor.

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