You want to be able to watch movies at home and have that full cinematic experience - you may well have already purchased a great new flatscreen (LCD or plasma) and now want to make the next leap forward. Virtually all TVs have speakers, but to be honest, they’re fairly rubbish. If you really want to be submersed then you need to consider buying some speakers… but how many? I will try to help you answer this question…
Do I even need rear speakers? Well, if you really want that all encompassing sound coming from every direction - like you do in the cinema then you do need rear speakers but you can ‘cheat’ slightly…
The ideal set up is 5.1, which means a pair of speakers on either side of your telly and a centre speaker, two rear speakers and a subwoofer (for all the bangs and crashes, and for deep booming bass).
However, there are some clever alternatives which enables fewer speakers - as few as one - which can ‘throw’ the sound around the room to make it seem that sound is coming from the back of the room, even though it isn’t…
The reason you may not want rear speakers is that it means lots of cables running through your living room and lots of extra boxes taking up valuable living space… they’re valid reasons and why most people shy away from this.
You can get wireless rear speakers these days, but they need power so you need to plug them in. It’s still quite new and I think I would probably stay clear for now - if this appeals then audition a couple and compare to either virtual surround (2.1) or a full-blown 5.1 setup.
Finally you can go all the way up to 6.1 and 7.1 with additional rear centre speaker (6.1) and side speakers (7.1) - my advice is simple - don’t bother unless you have a massive room and a massive budget - if this is the case then you should consider professional installation.
Virtual Surround Sound (single speaker)
If you want a surround system without the extra boxes you need to have a ‘closed’ room - if your living room has four walls and no obvious leaks then you can use speakers which bounce the sounds off the walls - there are several systems which provide this.
Single speakers - these actually contain multiple drivers, 23 in fact, which try to bounce the sound off the side walls to simulate effects coming from behind you - their effectiveness depends on your room - try before you buy. Start from around £400 such as the Yamaha YSP-900 below.
Virtual Surround Sound (2.1)
This works similar to the single speaker solution but uses two front speakers and a subwoofer - for many this is a reasonable compromise as it keeps cabling and numbers of boxes to a minimum but also provides more of a room-filling sound. Best one around is probably the Denon SmartLife S-301 (£750)- a nice bonus is that it’s iPod friendly so you can hook up your iPod direct to your hi-fi, though the dock costs extra.
Full Surround Sound (5.1)
Let’s assume you’ve decided you want to go the full hog - how many boxes do you really want in your living room - you now have to choose whether you want separates (dvd player, amplifier, speakers) or an all-in-one system (combined dvd/amp and speakers). The advantage of the latter is that you can buy one bit of kit which has been designed to work together and is one less box under the telly, whilst the separates means two boxes under the telly and loads more decisions to make about compatibility between DVD, amplifier, speakers and subwoofer.
You have two options in this category - lots of big boxes, or sub-sat (subwoofer / satellite) systems - the latter means the 5 speakers are all tiny which is room-friendly but leaves the sub to do most of the work - which is fine for 90% of people - if you are fortunate to live in a big house you might want bigger boxes to do the work… I shall assume you can live with this slight compromise.
Budget
I think there’s two major price points for most people £500 or £1,000 - so I’ll work with these - clearly if your budget is more generous then you should go straight to your local hi-fi dealer and talk to them about your needs - I recommend Sevenoaks, and Unilet in my local area - it’s easy to work out if they’re any good - talk to them and see whether they’re listening.. if they do then they will be happy for you to try some stuff to make sure you’re happy - if not, try someone else…
Speaker Systems (assume you already have DVD/amp)
KEF KHT2005.2 for around £600 - KEF virtually invented the sub-sat sector with their now famous ‘eggs’ - they work really work, provide a full and exciting sound and are easily integrated into most living rooms as they are pretty small…
If your budget can stretch there’s another range from KEF - KHT3005SE is about £1,000 and looks and sounds even better.
If your budget can take it there’s another system which you should audition from B&W MT-30 - it’s not cheap at £1,500 but it is multi-award winning - please don’t listen if it will offend your wallet.
Complete systems (one box for dvd/amp and 5.1 speakers)
This is ideal if you have a smaller room or just don’t want the hassle of separates - there’s two obvious candidates one is 2.1 (virtual surround) and the other is full 5.1
Samsung HTX200R is very stylish and is ideal for smaller rooms or even for bedrooms (or other places you have a telly) - at only £300 it is also very affordable.
Sony DAV-IS10 is a super compact all in one (£500) with just unbelievably small satellite speakers which shouldn’t work, but do. Worth a listen. What Hi-Fi Product of the Year.
DVD Player / AV (audio-visual) Amplifier
If you’re getting separates (as opposed to the all-in-one) then you obviously need a DVD player and AV amp - too many choices here to get into - just budget little for the DVD player because you can get really good ones for under £100 (eg. Samsung DVD-HD870 £70), and slightly more for a decent amp (eg. Onkyo TX-SR505 £250). Check out What Hi-Fi’s Awards magazine for further options, or better talk to your local hi-fi dealer.
Position of telly
Most British households have their telly in the corner of the room - it’s convenient but troublesome for speaker placement - the problem is that your front pair of speakers need to be slightly wide of the TV to separate the sound which is difficult in the corner of a room… For most, there’s not much of a choice - if there is then you will definitely appreciate having the speakers a foot or so wide of the TV.
Conclusion
Don’t buy without trying - talk to your local dealer and make sure you compare systems - all of these will sound great, but until you listen to two systems side-by-side you won’t appreciate the difference. Also don’t listen to stuff you can’t afford - it’s really upsetting…
Interconnects and speaker cables
Budget 10% for cables - there’s no point spending a grand on great kit and using crappy cables to join it together - you won’t believe the difference between cheap and ‘quality’ cables. £5/metre for speaker cable (eg. QED Silver Anniversary XT) is perfectly reasonable and £40-£50 for an HDMI cable (eg. QED HDMI-P) is also well worth spending… Check out the recommendations in What HiFi or talk to your retailer.
Useful links
