Home Theater System?

Marna Liddie: Well, an outlaw reciever would definitely have a better power supply , generally better specs, and by the way, better inputs and a bass module output for using a sub built into it, to simplify things. A lot of theater speakers are intentionally more beamy, and often not the most accurate, but this is not writ in stone, and depends on the system. Generally, the need for a sub woofer for music depends on the choice of stereo speakers and what you listen to. Usually, it is unnecessary. there are no special effects in music. No loud aircraft collisions, no dynamite explosions, no earthquake to simulate. If you do a lot of trance and club music, A rock speaker would be best.Tecton, for example use a lot of pro bass drivers in their designs, making them super efficient and ideal for rock, jazz, trance, and register an exceptional soundstage. http://www.tektondesign.com/gallery.html For orchestra, symphonic, Jazz, blues etc, a more classical and detail oriented sp! eaker system will prevail. https://www.goldenear.com/http://www.stereophile.com/category/floor-loudspea...Listening (auditioning) with your own best materials before deciding is paramount to getting what you want. being close to a wall does not alter the tone produced by the speaker. It does, often, cause early reflections which muddy the sound. There are zero comparisons to a guitar involved. To change pitch, you would have to fill the room with helium or some such. A true sub- woofer is not a woofer. Woofers operate from at highest,about 2 to 3 000 hz down to about 45 -30 hz depending, with lower sounds rapidly declining in volume and including increasing odd harmonics. All this depending on the speakers build, and its cabinet, or lack of one.. True sub-woofers operate from about 100 hz down to about 16 Hz. The lowest functional tones made by music instruments are the double bass bassoon, the kettle drum, and the Pipe organ, Only the very lowest notes of these three i! nstruments impact the range of a true sub woofer. Any frequen! cy chart on line will show this, as well as the useful ranges of most band instruments. There are better and worse speaker builds, thus your need to audition....Show more

Armanda Hertel: A LOT of my audiophile friends use subwoofers. These are a lot easier to place in the sweet-spot for bass reflections. The location of the left/right speakers are done to "image" the sound for the listener, but these locations are usually bad for bass. A separate subwoofer is actually easier to calibrate, not more difficult. I asked a salesman about the difference between speakers for music and speakers for home theater and his answer was interesting but seems to be true: "Music is about accuracy, home theater is about impact." This is why you can buy a set of 5 speakers for $500-$1,000 and have a great home theater, but when playing good music (from a CD and not a highly-compressed MP3) you can sometimes hear the compromises that had to be made for the low price. Some of my fr! iends have a budget-but-decent HT system in the living room for movies and family, but put their 2 channel music system in a different room. (This is because of practicality - Most rooms are not large enough for 7 speakers or 2 racks of electronics and when Dad wants to chill out with music - he has to bump the family out of the TV room.) So my suggestion is you DO want 2 audiophile quality speakers and a separate amp but so you can put it in a separate room. MY OTHER ADVICE: Take time. "Anticipation" is a part of this hobby. Get some audition CD's of your favorite groups and music and take them around to stereo stores to audition speakers. Make notes, read reviews, plan your purchases. Have fun. Remember: it is about the journey, not just the destination. If it were me and on a budget - I might put together this system: - Magnapan MMG-1 speakers: $660/pair - Subwoofer kit from Dayton Audio: $325 - Pair of 150 wpc Monoblock amps from auction site like Audiogon: $! 200 - Either an AV receiver with pre-outs to drive sub/monoblocks or a ! pre-processor from Outlaw or Adcom or others: $300 ( I like the idea of an AV Receiver with pre-outs for the music system because it gives you options for later use. A pre-amp system for 2 channels can only do 1 thing. ) Hope this helps....Show more

Dick Maisenbacher: Well, without knowing more of the makes and models of the gear you presently have, it's hard to advise you as to what kind of gear to move on up to. Good home audio speakers can handle both home theater and pure audio functions. However, cheapie speakers that come with all in one systems, not so much. If your current home audio receiver is a Denon, then you already have a good receiver for both purposes. Can you get a better receiver ? Of course, the top end of quality audio gear can take you into five and six digit cost areas. There's always gear that's better than whatever one has. The real question is, what gear is both good enough for all of your intended uses and that fits within your ability ! to pay for it. Most pure music systems don't tend to use subwoofers, so yes, getting your front main pair of speakers with one eye towards them being able to go as low as you want them to is one of many considerations. But, 40 Hz is often more than enough for most people, as not everyone can really distinguish sounds (As opposed to, well, vibrations) lower than that frequency area. Since most pure music uses tend to be stereo in nature, then having the best front pair of speakers is the key, even over going from a very good receiver to a very, very good receiver. And, that's leaving aside the issue of moving from a receiver to a system where you have separates, so a power amp, a pre-amp, and a tuner....Show more

Lorine Helwick: Any speakers that are good for music will be good for home theater.Period.As it would be for anyone else, the rest is a matter of educated guesses and experiments, limited only by your budget and your patience....Show more

Luther Plagmann! : Are home theater speakers different then home music speakers. Yes in! many cases unless you are using music speakers as part of a home theater system which is possible as well. But yes manufactures do design home theater speakers differently then home music speakers. Home theater speakers are typically designed with greater directionality to give you greater localization of sounds. Where as home music speakers are designed just the opposite to give you a more open sound field which gives you a more natural and realistic image when listening to stereo music. Yes most music is simply stereo, two speakers left and right, which is again a more realistic image for stereo music. So a good high end music system will consist of only two speakers. Your audiophile friend is right to say there is a difference in the sound of stereo receivers. There is a difference in all audio equipment, everything matters in a good stereo system. In my opinion most people out way to much emphasis on the speakers and then short change themselves on the equipmen! t thinking a stereo receiver is good enough. Not to say speakers are not important, they are, but the equipment driving them is equally if not more important. Here is whyThe detail in the music comes from the equipment and source material. Speakers can only reproduce with the quality of the source given to them. So good speakers and cheap equipment will produce a poor to average sound. Good equipment with moderate speakers will produce a sound that is more impressive, with greater detail and overall sound. A receiver will never produce great sound, there are to many compromises in design and parts quality. Integrated amplifiers are the first step into higher quality sound, as many use simpler cleaner signal paths to minimize degradation of the audio signal, and many use higher quality parts which also contributes to better sound. There is a lot to learn about designing a high quality music system, so unless you want to take years to really learn about it, then your b! est bet is to go and discover your local independent high end audio vid! eo store.. They carry the better brands of speakers and equipment and the salesmen at these stores typically have many years in designing higher quality and sounding music systems. Do not go to your chain stores to get a music system 98% of what they carry is low end and the salesmen at these stores have no clue about designing a system properly.Also do not be surprised if your not familiar with many if not all the brands these higher end stores carry. You will not see higher end brands in chain stores so most people never see them. Its also endless what you can spend on a good system so do not be discouraged by the prices as there is also some exceptional sounding a priced budget gear as well. Yes it does get better with more expensive gear but if you choose carefully you can have a nice sounding music system that you can also be proud to own.Kevin40 years high end audio video specialist...Show more

Marcelina Schossow: "Home theater speakers and music speakers a! re (generally speaking) two different beasts, right?" Yes, YES, YES!!! - and No.There is a different end-goal. Someone told me this sage advice:"Music speakers are about Accuracy. Home Theater speakers are about Impact.""But, from what I understand, stereo speakers generally don't use subwoofers because it's extremely tough to calibrate with the rest of your system. So your stereo speakers need to be able to handle the entire range (20 - 20k)"Wrong, WRONG, WRONG!!!Your Grandfathers system probably had big woofers in a pair of stereo speakers. While classic, it is far from ideal.SPEAKER PLACEMENT & ROOM ACOUSTICSWith stereo speakers you try to place the 2 speakers in a triangle to create a 'image' in front of the listener to mimic a stage.With home theater speakers you spread 3 speakers in front to mimic a wide movie theater sound system.These speaker placements are usually ok for the tweeters & midrange but almost always bad for Bass response in the room.It is much, much ! easier to adjust a system with bookshelf sized speakers for your mains o! r left/right in a stereo system, but have a powerful subwoofer near a corner.YOUR WALLS ARE GUITAR STRINGSYou actually get more bass volume from wall reflections than from direct.Ever pluck a guitar string? Nice low sound. But squeeze one of the frets to shorten the string and pluck and you get a higher tone.If your woofers are in your tower speakers on either side of your TV, this is like squeezing a fret to shorten the string to produce a higher tone.You want to take advantage of the length of the wall to bounce the lowest possible frequences. This means locating the woofer near a corner of the 2 longest un-broken walls. Somewhere between 2/5 or 1/3 the length of the wall is usually ideal. But it is very hard to place tower speakers in these spots.So a superior system for both home theater and music is one with bookshelf type speakers, and a good self-powered subwoofer."Talking to a friend from work (a MAJOR audiophile), he mentioned that receivers also affect the so! und that they output"Well... every part of your system affects the sound. The speakers are the MOST IMPORTANT part of your system. Followed by speaker placement.Then I would say the 'source' is the next most important part. A MP3 player (compressed) is not nearly as good on a audiophile system as a CD (uncompressed). Don't get me started on streaming (compressed).Then comes the amplification. Then comes acoustic treatment for some rooms, then perhaps the wires/cables.WHAT YOU SHOULD DOIt is tricky to have a mix home theater and music systems together.You want audiophile quality speakers for music, but then you have to buy matching center & rear speakers so you are spending $,$$$ on speakers that really do nothing to improve the sound.Some of my major audiophile friends actually setup a music system in a different room. This gives the family a sound system centered on the TV, but a smaller, but more audiophile grade system elsewhere.Shopping for a nice used receiver and au! diophile speakers can take months, but be a fun hobby....Show more