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Questions and answers
About buying home theatre speakers
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Talking transducers
Q. What are the main factors I should look for when buying a set of surround sound speakers for home theatre.
A. In home theatre scenarios, all the factors applying to music reproduction apply here too, because your surround speaker system is going to have to play music as well as create movie magic.
In essence, there's very little that's different in the attributes of speakers, only the application in which they find themselves used. One of the main effects to look for in a home theatre speaker system is the same type and character of sound must come from each speaker.
Get a sound track or music played in each speaker individually and repeatedly to make sure this happens. Uniformity in sound character improves every area of surround performance and reduces the chance of fatigue when listening. Make sure the various levels of surround sound in each speaker are adjusted to your liking. If they're not, or you merely want to check, ask the salesperson. Play a variety of movies you know and listen for the effects coming from the speakers.
The centre channel speaker must link dialogue clearly and cleanly with the actors on the screen and reproduce other sounds naturally. The subwoofer must shake the rafters when action movies are replayed yet have the ability to allow small sounds to come through equally well. So remember to listen for them.
Listen for the tracking or direction of movie sounds that move across and around the room, particularly sound effects and surrounding sounds. Make sure you feel at the centre of the movie's sound stage - in the middle of the action if you like - and that you feel part of the action.
When auditioning any speaker, don't be afraid to ask for assistance and make notes for comparisons later on. And remember, your personal taste and liking for a particular sound quality or character, and thus a speaker product itself, is as valid as anyone else's. There's no real good and bad in speakers these days, just degrees of difference. Some of those differences are there because they'll appeal to you.
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