Speakers Buying Guide

Speakers buying tips

When it comes to buying speakers, consider three points before any others: price, location and connection:

• Price: Even at Overstock.com, you can spend a lot of money on speakers--we know, it's hard to believe, but it is possible. You can buy very small speaker systems (such as a couple of unobtrusive bookshelf speakers) or very expensive home theater speakers (including center channel speakers and 5 or 6 satellite speakers placed all over the room). Before you begin, decide how much you're willing to spend on your stereo and then pick the audio speakers that fit your budget.
• Location: Even iPods and MP3 players can make great core components in small stereos, and small DVD or CD players can provide the signal for a big home theater, so you can save money by integrating your mobile and home stereos. This is also true of car audio; newer models can connect to mobile components. However, if you're looking to build a major home theater system, you need to plan carefully to get the audio equipment that best fits your needs. A 10-foot x 10-foot room doesn't need the same audio system as a 15-foot x 20-foot room. Does the room have large doors or arched walls? Where are the electrical outlets and cable hook-ups? How is the room's traffic flow? Does it have a flat, peaked or cathedral ceiling? You don't have to buy everything at once (although, if you insist, we'll sell it to you all at once and save you a mint on shipping!), so if you have a plan, you can get more suitable home audio equipment at better prices.
• Connection: It may seem like a small thing, but audio cables come in an amazing variety to deal with the amazing variety of speakers. Some speakers just use bare wires; other connectors have specific shapes to meet specific electronic design criteria. Make sure you plug the right audio cable into each audio accessory. (Most of the time, incompatible plugs and outlets will not fit together.) Good digital cables are relatively inexpensive. The top of the line, gold-plated audio cables are pricey, but they do provide superior signal transfer, and that is the point.

When you know what you need and want, come to Overstock.com and get that audio equipment at a lower price than you'll find anywhere else.

Speaker terminology

If you want to get the right home speaker, you'll need to understand a little techno-jargon:

Power: Measured in watts (abbreviated W), it is the amount of electrical energy each speaker can use before exploding (okay, before being damaged). This varies widely and may carry two numbers, normal and maximum power (which is almost always twice normal power). A speaker rated for 75W at normal usage would be marked "75W RMS/150W peak power" or "75W continuous/150W peak" (RMS = "root-mean-square," a meaningless phrase unless you're an engineer). Cranking up the volume puts more energy through the speaker, causing more wear on the components. Think of wind--your house might survive a steady 75-mph wind (your basic hurricane) for several hours, but it's much less likely to hold up against 150-mph gusts (Katrina revisited). Some people think there's no such thing as too much power; these are people who regularly buy new speakers and hearing aids.

Impedance: Measured in Ohms (abbreviated by omega, the horseshoe-shaped Greek letter), it exists because wires and microchips are solid objects that impede (ever so slightly) the flow of electricity. Think of a water pump connected to two pipes--the larger pipe would have lower impedance because more water can flow through it. Amplifiers and speakers are usually rated at 4, 8 or 16 Ohms. They work best when the numbers match; mismatched components can give you bad sound or damage each other.

Volume: Measured in decibels (dB), it gauges both air pressure and sound volume. Think, "How hard do I have to hit the drum to make a noise that loud?" In theory, 0dB is the threshold of hearing-the softest sounds people can hear, though many individuals are higher or lower. Loud sounds can, of course, damage your hearing, and hearing loss is usually permanent. Avoid anything over 90dB (jackhammers, airplane engines, exploding H-bombs) and do what your parents kept telling you to do when you were a teenager--turn your stereo down!

Frequency response: Measured in Hertz (Hz), it is the range of pitches. Most human ears hear 20 Hertz to 20,000 Hertz (20Hz-20KHz). Frequency response is also the range of sounds a speaker makes:

• Super-tweeters can go well beyond 20KHz; some people (and many dogs) think this really makes the high-end frequencies sound better, even though you can't actually hear what it puts out (unless you're a dog).
• Tweeters get up to 20KHz
• Mid-ranges are 500Hz-3kHz
• Woofers reach 500-200Hz
• Sub-woofers go deep, close to 20Hz; a few may even get below audible range
• An earthquake, for comparison, is around 5Hz; you can't hear it, but you can feel it in your bones!

Subwoofers, by the way, were invented because newer model speakers are much smaller, and these smaller speakers are unable to reproduce good low frequency audio. "Subs" are usually placed near the center channel speaker. However, since the human ear can't really tell where low frequencies (those under 120Hz) originate, you can place a subwoofer pretty much wherever it looks best in the room and still get great sound. Most subwoofers today are powered speakers. Some subwoofers are as small as 8 inches and 50W RMS; they commonly go as high as 15-inch duals at 1,000W RMS, almost enough to crack your foundation (just kidding).

In theory, frequency response is steady. That is, 50Hz at 10 dB is as loud as 2KHz at 10dB, but perfection is still a few years off, so you may see "20Hz-20KHz +-3dB" meaning frequency response will vary by 3dB across the range. Better speakers have a wider frequency response with lower variance.

Sensitivity: Like volume, it is measured in dB and describes how much volume speakers put out for a given voltage. There is no universal standard, so, for simplicity, if speaker A's sensitivity is rated 3dB higher than speaker B's, then A needs less juice to put out the same volume as B. Higher sensitivity means a lower electrical bill.

Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR or S/N): Also measured in dB, SNR is about clarity. "Signal" is the sound you want to hear; "noise" is the unavoidable audio background clutter; the higher the ratio, the less noticeable the clutter.

Total harmonic distortion (THD): Measured as a percent, THD is similar to SNR. Imagine an amplifier as a copier set to enlarge; it won't make a perfect copy. These imperfections are "distortion." Good audio equipment has a THD around 1 percent; really good audio components are below 0.1 percent.

Speakers components

Stereo Amplifiers and Receivers are necessities for most speaker systems

Basically, all devices that make sound have amplifiers. (When integrated with radio tuners, they're called stereo receivers.) The amplifier, or amp for short, takes the digital audio> data from a source (CD, radio, etc.) and translates it into an analog signal the speaker can reproduce. Most of the time, amps also provide electrical power to speakers. "Powered speakers" have a built-in amplifier, which means they plug directly into the source and to an electrical outlet. In some situations, two amplifiers are needed; the second is called the pre-amp. If a source has a very low signal or a lot of distortion, a pre-amp can clean up the signal, then the amplifier will boost the power to speaker level.

If your amplifier will provide power to your speakers, you need to be sure it has enough juice to make your woofers woof and your tweeters tweet. Match the amp to the peak; that is, if your speakers are rated at 50W RMS/ 100W peak, your amplifier should be rated 100W per channel.

Speakers can be sold individually or as multi-unit speaker systems:

• Mono: Single channel audio signals are really hard to come by anymore.
• Stereo: Often used to describe any multi-speaker group, stereo speakers are, correctly, 2-channel audio, meaning there are two sound tracks and each speaker gets one. Most music is still recorded in stereo and a pair of good tower speakers can really make your CDs sound the way they are supposed to sound.
• Surround sound: Multi-channel speaker systems identified by the number of channels or speakers in the group: 5.1, 6.1 or 7.1 are most common. The ".1" is the subwoofer, and the other numbers are the other speakers in the set: 5-channel has a center channel speaker, left & right speakers and left & right surround sound speakers, 6-channel adds a single rear surround sound speaker, 7-channel adds two rear surround sound speakers. Each channel is a different audio signal, allowing sound engineers to blend volume, pitch and other factors to produce realistic 3-dimensional effects.

Speaker systems always include a center channel speaker (or, simply, center speaker) for the core sound, dialogue, music, etc. All others are called satellite speakers:

• Left & right speakers: Generally placed in front of listeners (close to the screen, when talking about home theater) to put more power into the soundtrack
• Left & right surround speakers: Work well when placed just behind listeners, adding width
• Rear surround speaker: Speaker placed (singly or as a pair) well behind the listener's usual position, adding depth.

Other features

Floor standing speakers do just that, and most floor speakers are well-crafted enough to make attractive furniture pieces. If they are very tall, they're called tower speakers and they can combine small woofers, mid-ranges and tweeters in a single unit.

Bookshelf speakers are small, unobtrusive units that sit quietly (well, not so quietly sometimes) between Robert Heinlein and J. K. Rowling. Many book shelf speakers are also wireless speakers, for obvious reasons.

Outdoor speakers are weatherproofed, as water and electricity don't mix well. Of course, being able to stand up against the elements doesn't prevent an outdoor speaker from working quite well indoors.

Wireless speakers use radio transmission instead of wires, giving your audio set up an uncluttered look. Since a wireless speaker is a distinctly different design from most amps, adapters are usually necessary.

Wall mount speakers and ceiling mount speakers also called in-ceiling or in-wall speakers, are designed to be mounted in recessed boxes in the wall or ceiling.

Speaker mounts come in two basic types: Walls mounts are the hardware needed to attach the speaker to the studs. Speaker stands get floor speakers off the floor.

Speaker stations for iPods and MP3 players allow these portable stereos to power a small home audio set-up. iPod speakers and MP3 speakers are ready to receive newer, dock-enabled players, and many have audio cables to connect to the older, dock-less players' headphone jack. Some stations are also portable, turning your player into a little boombox. Others are strictly for home use, with added power for bigger, better sound.

Speaker care

Since there are few moving parts, audio equipment doesn't require much care, but dust, heat and humidity can cause problems. Electrical components will wear out eventually, so extend their service life by not abusing them:

Wipe down the exteriors regularly. Buy a can of air and blow clean the openings and air vents. Never blow them clean yourself; the humidity in your breath is not good for them. A room dehumidifier or air purifier (available in our housewares department) is worth considering.

Electricity flow generates heat, so be sure the components get proper ventilation. Don't place them in completely enclosed cabinets. If your home theater gets hot, use a fan or air conditioner and always turn components off when not in use.

Speakers are generally not a do-it-yourself fix, although some replacement parts can be fairly simple to install. If you want the best sound from a speaker, take it to a professional if it needs service.

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