14 DAY TRIAL // There was a time when having great audio in the intimacy of your own room was a goal rather impossible to attain because of at least two reasons: first of all, there was the price for good-sounding gear and secondly, the gear itself which was rather rare. Now times have changed a lot and you don't have to search too much to find high-performance audio equipment as one can buy a huge pile of such gear from almost any store down the block. However, there still is the money problem when it comes to hi-end audiophile gear; but this is what high-end means, after all, isn't it?
At the same time, though, one does not necessarily need to spend the entire annual wage on gear to obtain a good listening environment inside the house: since audio equipment is becoming more and more reliable and its performance increases day by day, exceptional solutions are to be bought from virtually everywhere at almost unnoticeable financial efforts.
Though quite few people know that there is more than buying something big and loud to having a good sound in your living-room and there are some things whose importance is at least as big as the importance of the money you are about to spend or have already spent.
I. 12" woofer or 5" woofer?
One of the most important aspects concerns the dimensions of the gear you want to buy. And at this chapter, every sound professional will tell you that bigger does not mean necessarily better, nor louder. Bigger is just for bigger and that's all: after all, you're not planning to load an outdoor sound reinforcement array in your living... or are you? Indeed, the larger the speaker membrane - the more air it will move, but you must also think at what will produce the power to drive the large speakers... Today's technology has made many steps towards obtaining almost the same sound you'd get from a 12" woofer but coming out from a 5" one; think about this as you buy speakers.
II. 500W or 30W?
Most people think that louder is better, which is usually false. Louder and better is actually better! High volumes on gear which has not been designed for heavy duty in such conditions will instantly result in sound distortions and a pile of crap. People tend to buy gear which either promises or even delivers huge power levels - question is: do you really need 200W in your room? I am sure you don't, because 200W in your bedroom almost means windows off and ears bleeding.
Many usual living-rooms will be filled in a very good manner with just 30-50W. And even when it comes to loudspeakers and amplifiers, it is not about raw power you should think of; the speakers' sensitivity is the key-element for hearing them loud: this value is expressed in decibels and the higher - the better.
Sensitivity measures the amount of decibels (units of measure for loudness) a speaker produces at a distance of 1 meter when a 1 Watt-power signal is applied to the loudspeaker's coil. It is quite obvious now why the sensitivity of a speaker is far more important than the actual power: a 3 dB higher sensitivity value means double power - 50W through a 92dB speaker will sound as loud as 100W through a 89dB one! Look for this value on your future gear and choose accordingly.
III. What goes with what?
Many people who are building up a home theater system for themselves make the mistake of forgetting about a very serious thing: to get the best sound, all components of their sound system should match; and this isn't about size or color, as I assume you have already guessed.
All the parts in your gear must "go" with each other and the most common mistake is that of mismatched amps and speakers impedance. On a very short term this causes no harm, but at high loads and over larger periods of time things go bad, namely amps or speakers are damaged. Even more, it is impossible to get the best from your gear when running it in such mismatch conditions.
IV. Top brands or top brand?
If you're looking for a smooth acoustic response from your speaker system and are a fan of even sound across your listening room, you must consider that the "sweet spot" is more easily created and felt when the sound comes from matching speakers.
Imagine having JBL front-R/L speakers, Jensen rear-R/L drivers, Logitech front and back units and a Harman-Kardon woofer: things are a total mess since each driver has its own specs regarding positioning, sensitivity, frequency response and so many parameters which differ from the rest.
In order to get to "know" your sound you must get to know how ALL of your speakers behave in given conditions - knowing this, you can think and analyze the way sound itself behaves in the room and see to the best positioning of the audio signal sources. Rather than having more than one type of speaker in your audio system just because you thought the X brand would be a plus to your gear-array or you had the opportunity to buy the Y expensive speakers for a bargain price, it's more recommended to run your music through a one-name system.
Well, this rule does not apply to amps, AVRs and the likes since here things are really guided by your needs and tech specs.
V. Positioning? Sweet spot? Huh?
Finally, after going all the way as briefly described above, it's time to set up your audio system. Nothing really much to tell you here except that you should definitely think of the spot where you will most likely position yourself and then adjust the other hardware's position accordingly.
Besides the modern audio gear's ability to modify the listening center, you must think that no digital enhancement can completely eliminate a physical, hardware flaw: no matter how hi-end your amp is and how many exquisite features it has, it won't be capable of re-shaping the sound generated by badly-positioned speakers or the nasty reflections the improper walls usually give.
Last, but not least, never underestimate the power and role of the center speaker as it not only provides with better localization of the sweet spot (the place with optimal listening conditions) but it also gives definition to your media as the most dialog in movies is placed centered in the 3D space.
Well, having said all these, I hope you'll cease running after systems with zounds of powerful watts or made of 5 brands of gear just for the "coolness" of owning big names. The most important is always how it sounds and almost never how it looks or who made it.
