Reviews of Home Theater Speaker.

If this page does not appear properly also click to see the alternate Home theater speaker review page. To be honest, your choice of speakers for your home theater will make or break your system. Make the wrong choice and your system won't sound good and will not be enjoyable for you to use. That of course, is why I have written these reviews for you. At the bottom of the page are the links to the reviews of home theater speakers in several different categories, and also by brand.

You can buy the best receiver money can buy, go broke buying a DVD player and big screen TV. If you buy poor quality home theater speakers, your system will let you down. That being said, you don't have to break the bank on your home theater speaker system, though it will be easy to try and spend too much. Price doesn't necessarily equate to performance. There are some values out there.

The leaders in the home theater speaker field are Bose, Pioneer, Polk, Infinity, RCA, Sony, JBL, and Yamaha. I own a good quality Sony home theater speaker system with a powered subwoofer. It can rattle the glasses in my cupboards and relay top quality sound in any range. They are very compact as well. In the case of home theater speakers, size does not matter. Since systems can turn out be fairly large however, free shipping from online retailers is a huge bonus. Consider buying online very seriously.

Below are the links to my reviews of home theater speaker packages from leading manufactuers.
1. JBL
2. Bose
3. Sony
4. Cerwin Vega
5. Polk Audio
6. Harman Kardon

Traditionally for home stereo systems, speakers are sold in pairs. Not so for home theater speakers. Your speaker purchase for home theater will be a set of 5, 6, 7 or 8 speakers, in addition to a subwoofer. The front, main speakers provide most of the sound to the listener, as well as the sound for all stereo applications (CD, cable TV, VCR). The center channel (speaker) will provide the dialogue. A true center channel speaker is optimized to do so, don't expect to just hook up any speaker to fill this capacity. It will not perform well, and since the speaker is usually placed directly on top of the television set, it must me a "shielded" speaker. Center channel speakers are magnetically shielded and thus their internal magnets do not distort or disrupt the television picture as all other unshielded speakers will.

For any good quality home theater speaker system expect to pay between $400 and $1000. Anything within this price range is meant to do the job well. Brand choice is still a major factor to consider on this front.

Important Tip: - Systems with wireless home theater speakers are available and avoid the difficulties in wiring for rear situated surround speakers.

My greatest recommendation in this home theater speaker review is to not mix and match. Do not consider buying a bookshelf pair of speakers for the front channels and then individually adding on a center and rear surround speakers separately. I suggest you research a set (here on home-theater-system-review) and purchase a 6 speaker set that I outline in one of the reviews.

Truth be told, speaker selection is an art. It is also hit or miss. Stick with the standards, based on brand, and you will be safe. I don't want to alarm you; that is not my intention. BUT consider that if you imagine that all DVD players, big screen TVs and receivers are built the same, speakers are not. Choose wisely. I have given you that option here.

I'm going to outline some key features to consider when purchasing a new home theater speaker set.

Impedance - Measured impedance gauges how much power the speaker must request from the receiver to perform in its optimal operating range. Be sure to match your speakers impedance (usually 4 or 8 ohms) to the receivers ability to output this power range. If not properly matched (ie. a receiver outputting 8 ohms to 4 ohm speakers) your speaker performance will be noticeably affected. Most receivers however have switching ability between 4 and 8 ohms to accommodate this problem.

Wattage - All speakers purchased within a home theater speaker set should have equal wattage ratings. If not, some will be dimmer or less clear at any volume setting than others with different wattage ratings. As well, your speakers should be able to handle more power than your receiver can maximally supply. This ensures your speakers will never be overloaded when you are asking a lot of your entire system. If a typical home theater receiver can supply between 60 and 100 watts of power per channel, each speaker connected to that receiver should be able to handle in excess of that. Otherwise, damaging and unwanted distortion of sound will occur.

Many manufacturers provide home theater speaker packages. I recommend you choose within this field, following the above recommendations for the home theater receiver you have purchased. This will ensure your true enjoyment of your home theater experience.

In the end, what distinguishes one home theater speaker set from the other is their ability to faithfully reproduce the full range of frequencies required of them. "Fading", "buzzing", "roll off", "muffling", and "distortion:, are commonly used terms to indicate that a set of speakers are not equally matched to the challenge being provided by the receiver they are connected to. In addition, there are many bad choices out there. Don't experiment. Do not stray. Buy what is tested and proven. I've provided the information here. You will be satisfied.