Choosing Speakers for Home Theater

Almost all home theater systems include the following speakers:

• Front left and right speakers
• Center channel speaker
• Surround speakers
• Subwoofer

These speakers work together to create the surround sound experience of a movie theater in your living room. While there are many brands
and models that do a great job reproducing sound, you will want to be sure that the various speakers in your home theater system work well together as a cohesive unit. Check out what each speaker's job is, and some of the things to consider before buying.

Before you start, consider voice-matching. Voice-matching is key to effective home theater sound. If your speakers do not produce a similar tonal quality and share the same harmonic characteristics, the sound will be disjointed when it travels from speaker to speaker. With voice-matched speakers, the sound moves effortlessly around you, creating a seamless surround effect. The best way to ensure voice-matched speakers is to choose speakers from the same "family" of speakers, by the same brand. (If you'd like to add center and surround speakers to an existing pair of stereo speakers, and you don't think that series is in production anymore, a call to the manufacturer may help you identify a newer series which will be tonally similar.)

by Julie Govan