What's good in Hz-KHz when rating speakers?

[pyrate83]

I'm not 100% sure what range would be good. I'm debating about making my home theater even louder by adding a couple more front speakers for watching TV. Anybody know?

[Ripper2860]

The ideal range would be what is typically said to be the range for human hearing; 20Hz to 20KHz. Very, very few speakers can operate across this wide a frquency spectrum efficiently. Usually it takes large multi-driver speakers or a set of speakers accompanied by a subwoofer. (BTW anything less than 100Hz is typically considered omni-directional and cannot be localized, which is why a properly designed subwoofer can be pratically anywhere in the room.)

There are several key factors to consider when selecting a speaker. Here's my recommendations of things to evalauate...

* One very important spec is how accurate or flat a speaker is across it's operating frequency -- that is how many + or - DB it varies in output from it's lowest frequency to the highest. The smaller or closer to "flat" the variations, the better.

* Another is the sensitivity or how much power does it take to drive the speaker to a certain volume level. You typically want speakers with similar sensitivity ratings so one set won't over-power the others.

* Another is Dispersion, or how the sound is projected into the room. This is meausred as the volume level in dB when measured off axis. Kind of like some projection TV's lose brightness off center, some speakers are very focused and loose their tonal balance when listening off center. In a home theater environment, wider dispersion is typically sought as when entertaining friends, they cannot all sit in the "sweet spot" typical of narrow dispersion speakers.

* Power Rating -- make sure that the speakers are capable of handling your amplifier's output rating.

Oh and there is a few more easy ones ...

* Appearence -- they gotta look good and they gotta fit in the room.
* You gotta be able to afford them -- so price
* and you personally have to like their sound

TIP: Go with a reseller that lets you try them at home and return them if you don't like them. All rooms are different and do affect the sound of a speaker. The demo room is one thing -- bit your living or theater room are another.

[pyrate83]

Thanks, that's good advice. I always like to take my speakers home and try them out before deciding also. The only time these speakers will be in use is when I'm watching regular TV becuase the rest of the time my entire system is going during DVD's and video games so the A and B speaker selection on my receiver is bypassed. I just want to make sure they can hold their own with my current floor speakers which really rock the place whether during a movie on DVD or regualr TV. 8)