Home Speakers

Your scribe fondly remembers his time at university. There was some studying in the library. There was also time in class, exercise, work (as in part-time jobs), and an excessive amount of time spent listening to music in a living room with five other dudes. Music is a big, big deal when you are in your late-teens, early 20s. It defines us. Music tastes communicate to others what type of person you are – the quiet reflexive type (jazz), the peaceful drifter (the Grateful Dead), the aggressive go-grab-life guy or gal (hard rock), etc. The list is endless. But perhaps more vital than the music itself was the apparatus with which to absorb it. The speaker, be it in the car or home, was a critical investment. A bad set of speakers could put a real damper on a party. This reality hasn’t changed much over time. Yes, folks are on their computers more than listening to music. But music is still being consumed in large amounts. There are some things to keep in mind before running out to purchase a set of speakers, however. The first thing to take into account is the size of the room where the speakers will be. Does the room have vaulted ceilings, or is it a typical medium-sized room with 8-foot ceilings? For example, floor-standing speakers are perfect for large spaces, while stand-mounted speakers (in-wall or on-wall) is better for smaller rooms. Another consideration is what the room will be used for. If you have kids, speakers mounted on the wall are your best bet. You don’t want little Sammy batting a ball into a thousand-dollar pair of Bose stand up speakers. There is a lot of research on this online, so do some initial searching. Second, the different speakers in a speaker set play distinct roles. In a typical surround speaker format, the center channel will be the one that sits above your TV. You can also place it below as the technology has advanced considerably. You then have the right and left speakers, otherwise known as bookshelf speakers. These are placed on you guessed it – bookshelves. They can be floor-standing as well. After this, we get to the surround speakers. These will be placed beside your seating area or behind you. These can also be bookshelf speakers if you have bookshelves to place them around the room. And lastly, the subwoofers. These can be a set or only one, all up to your budget. Some of the best bookshelf speakers on the market are Elac Debut 2.0 B6.2. These deliver a fantastic frequency range, and the sound is well-reviewed. The average price online is $245. If you’ve got your eyes on a complete set, the Pioneer SP-PK52FS is a set of 6 speakers. You get a dedicated subwoofer, two floor-standing speakers, a center channel, and two bookshelves. Best yet, his all comes at an astoundingly affordable $490. And lastly, for you big spenders, the GoldenEar Technology Triton Five. Only for the most serious audio enthusiast, these two massive floor-standing speakers are not only amazing pieces of technology, but they look great as well. For roughly $2,000, you can get your hands on the GoldenEar. Featuring four, 8-inch passive bass radiators, your neighbors won’t be thrilled, but who cares, you never liked them anyway. Some things to consider here, right? Bumping Bob Marley on a Saturday afternoon will never be the same. Now time to save up those pennies, this type of entertainment doesn’t come cheap.