Speakers
Would you like a 5.1 system with those speakers?
There was a time when all you had to do was come home with the biggest, baddest boxes filled with the most intimidating drivers and plunk them down on either side of the listening area. Today there are a variety of audio formats available to complicate things and at the same time make your speakers do more than they're used to.
The basic voice coil/driver loudspeaker technology hasn't changed much. But modern space age materials are changing how newer speakers do the same old thing. Cardboard and paper cones are reserved for cheap speakers. Today we have space age polymers like polypropylene that can toe the fine line between strength for deep impacting bass and sensitivity for the most delicate details in sound.
There are of course alternative technologies to the conventional driver; planar and electrostatic speakers are more popular than ever among audiophiles. Some clever manufacturers have engineered quality designs that comprise a hybrid between different technologies. A popular design will see drivers for mid, bass and tweeters or midrange speakers made from magnetic planar materials. There are the famed Martin Logan's that employ a sub with a large electrostatic speaker for the no-compromises audiophile. These hybrid designs are expensive to make well and should cost a premium price if you find them. If they are made poorly it will be difficult for them to produce the flat frequency response you're looking for in a speaker system.
Fortunately for today's home theater enthusiast there are many complete 5.1 or even 7.1 speaker kits you can bring home. A complete set of speakers, all speakers timbre matched of course, including a subwoofer can be purchased for every price range. Complete 5.1 kits on a budget can go for less than $1000 from quality names like Energy and Hsu Research. These are smaller speakers that get rave reviews. At the bottom of the heap, somewhere below $500 for a complete set are the micro-satellite speaker systems that you might find with a home theater in a box system. Therein lies a problem with speakers today.
Of course it's a matter of personal taste, but more and more consumers today will spend several thousand dollars on a display device but wouldn't dream of spending more than $1000 on a complete set of speakers. You end up with a really nice display with an anemic sound that will fail to involve the audience. There are people who unknowingly limp along with a sub-par sounding system. They are often blown away by the quality when a friend actually puts a few more dollars into a speaker system to fill the room properly with sound. That's the trick; you don't need to be a wealthy audiophile to get true home theater sound.
If you're planning your home theater system and don't yet have a room, pick a smaller room if you want to go a bit cheaper on the speakers. The speakers need to be the right size for the room to get the full spectrum of frequencies they're capable of into the ears of the audience. Go too small as most people do and you get a thin sound that lacks impact. Go too large and you get imaging and soundstage problems; separation is difficult and cancellations of certain frequencies abound. If you're reading this, you're truly interested in doing the right thing by investigating every angle for your home audio system. Read on, our speaker section is full of shopping tips and help for consumers and everything is in plain English.