| The Director's Chair May 2001
Choosing a System -- The Logical Approach: Part 1
I’m often asked for advice about which home-theater
components to buy or how to assemble a pleasing system. The advice varies greatly
depending on the person’s priorities, budget, and room, just to name a few variables.
Like most of you, I know what works for me, and lent itself to most folks I've given
advice to over the years. Although this is just one approach, maybe it can help in sorting
through some of the confusion.
Initially you will have to decide on two things: your
budget, and exactly how the system will be purchased. Sound simple? Here are a few factors
to think about. The budget part may sound simple enough; you have a certain amount of
money and that is what you will spend on your home-theater system. But how many components
will you buy with that budget? It’s much more useful to decide exactly what the
system will be used for before you decide on your budget. In other words, decide on the
components you really want and need, and then set the budget. It may mean you
won’t have to spend as much, or that you can buy better quality by buying fewer
boxes.
Often a consumer will appropriate dollars to certain
components that will likely never see any use. They do this because they feel the system
will be incomplete without everything. If an insignificant component (to you) is
left out of the budget, more can be allocated on the more important aspects of the system.
This will mean that the components you need, if chosen correctly, will be of higher
quality. The next question is whether the system will be bought in its entirety now, or if
some upgrade money will be allocated to the system later. If there were a two or
three-tier approach to buying the system, it would most assuredly change my
recommendations. It’s always a good idea to maximally fund the components that you
know will be around for a long time, while possibly sacrificing a bit on the gear that
will likely be replaced within a couple of years. For the sake of this article let’s
assume you will buy your home-theater system in a single expenditure, and that you already
have a good video monitor. This will allow us to look at the audio portion of the system.
Regardless of what you have heard in the past, the speaker
system will play the most prominent role in how your system sounds. That’s right, the
speakers are the largest determinant of sound quality, and not by a small margin. Since
speaker technology is fairly mature, especially compared with digital components, your
speaker system will likely also be a long-term purchase. You can be assured that your
speakers will improve with improved ancillaries for years to come, and that, in all
likelihood, will not be rendered obsolete by the next processing mode or audio/video
standard. The rest of your system will be based around the speaker system, so it makes
sense to have that in place before buying the other components. After all, how do you know
exactly how much power you will need until you have the speakers? Also, are they 8-ohm
speakers or a more demanding 4-ohm type (some amplifiers are not capable of driving 4-ohm
speakers)? These questions must be answered before buying an amplifier or receiver.
And as for processing, it’s good to know what type of speakers (and how many) so that
the appropriate processing functions can be established for the speaker type.
So, my first recommendation is to listen to as many speaker
systems as you can, primarily those centered in your price range, but also those over and
under a bit. By doing this you can determine if you can spend less and be happy, or if
maybe you need to save just a bit more to be fully satisfied for years to come. It’s
also important to look at your room before deciding on speakers, as placement limitations
will invariably come into play. Will you need wall-mount surrounds, or will floorstanders
be more easily placed? Do you have space for a subwoofer, or will you need full-range main
speakers? And of course, are there decor factors that need to be considered? A good dealer
consultation will be invaluable in making these decisions.
We review a lot of speaker systems at Home Theater &
Sound, and that is not by accident. We want to inform you of as many of your options
as possible. So remember, speakers first, and then the rest. Next month we will examine
the next phase in choosing a system: the electronics. We will also have a look at some
actual readers’ home theaters and the choices they made. Stay tuned to the
Director’s Chair for part two in building a system, logically speaking!
...Jeff Fritz
jeff@hometheatersound.com
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