Getting the right sound is one of the most important tasks when creating your own home theater. Let’s find out which speakers to choose!
When it comes to home cinema, we will want the best possible reproduction of music and movie sounds in our living room or bedroom. So an important aspect will be the layout of the speakers themselves, speakers or soundbars. True cinema geeks may opt for all of these accessories, but this will not always significantly improve the acoustic experience. Let’s review some basic speaker and speaker formats.
5.1 speakers are designed for large rooms where speakers would not look very aesthetically pleasing or there is no room for them near the TV. The 5.1 standard means that we are dealing with five speakers and one subwoofer. This is a fairly standard solution that provides a great experience thanks to the spaciousness of the sound.
2.0 speakers or 2.0 columns are solutions especially for small rooms. They can be used, for example, in a bedroom, where we usually don’t have that much space for equipment, and the TV itself is attached to the wall or placed on a piece of furniture on which it is difficult to fit a subwoofer. In this arrangement the woofer simply does not exist. Its absence is compensated for by better bass in the device itself, but quite often this is not an optimal solution.
Sets of speakers can occur in various configurations. We can meet with simple arrangements, such as the above mentioned 2.0, as well as with more “exotic” sets with a central unit, huge subwoofer and several speakers to be placed around the room.
Soundbars – simple, flat, popular. They are undoubtedly a very fashionable choice lately. It is simply a speaker that is located horizontally under the TV. This solution works especially well in smaller rooms.
More speakers in a given set translates into better spatial experience. The 3.1.2 configuration with two speakers placed under the ceiling will provide us with omnidirectional sound, which will make us feel like participants of the scene that is playing on the screen. A 2.0 set up, on the other hand, has very limited capabilities – usually the sound seems “flat” to us. This does not mean, however, that we always have to invest in the most expensive solutions. The ideal home cinema must first of all fit into our personal needs. It is also worth taking into account the amount of space available in the room.
During the selection process, we need to take into account the space in which we will be watching films. In a small bedroom you do not have to invest in the most expensive solutions. The power of standard loudspeakers is enough to provide us with an adequate audio setting and models with good sound can be purchased for as little as several hundred zlotys.
It is also worth focusing on other, more advanced issues. When we plan the space, we need to move on to choosing the equipment itself. There are many different proposals available on the market. Let’s find out what to pay attention to when deciding to buy speakers for your TV.
The power of the speakers you buy must be higher than the power of those built into the TV. It is an absolute basis without which you will not get a proper acoustic experience. The cheapest speakers have a power of about 20 W. In cheap TVs you will find quite similar systems with 10, 16 or 20 W power but they will not present such clear sound as the connected set. The power of top equipment, on the other hand, may reach over 100 W.
An important issue is also the frequency response range. It is advisable to choose solutions with a frequency range of at least 50 to 20 000 Hz. The optimal value, which can be found in most speakers, is 20-20 000 Hz. A wider bandwidth provides a better sound experience. The human ear can pick up even lower and higher tones.
It is advisable to read user reviews of online forums before making a decision. In the case of audio equipment, there is always a certain risk of making a wrong purchase. We should remember that reviews are usually written by laymen. When reading them, you should also pay attention to using appropriate testing tools.
Choosing the perfect speakers is not easy. It may be helpful to check the operation of the system you are interested in in a store. But remember that the acoustics in your home is completely different than in a store floor. There is no single, universal recipe for buying audio equipment. We must read descriptions carefully, buy products with high power (especially for large rooms), correct frequency response and positive reviews.
When choosing speakers, we must also pay attention to their connectivity. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are slowly becoming the standard, but in cheaper models we will still have to use audio connectors. Access to the network can open up new possibilities for the speaker. There is software that will take full advantage of its potential – voice assistants, for example.
It’s also worth investing in speakers that directly support apps like Spotify – a very nice addition. Some TVs, soundbars and speakers are integrated into a common IoT network. We can then use them from a smartphone. However, such solutions are more expensive.
