Buying a speaker especially when you can’t listen to the end result can be a tedious job as you don’t want to invest into something that you trying to avoid the whole time. This is simple guide that will guide you through to buy ultimate speakers according to your budget and requirements.

What will you use them for?

It is not a rule that you need huge speakers with 7.1 channel surround sound to get great sound. Before you go thinking of trying to buy the speakers give a thought to your listening habits and for what purpose you are going to use it often.

If you are an occasional listener and don’t sit down to listen to music, then a pair of quality bookshelf speakers or probably in-wall speakers may be the ticket. If you want more bass, then a small subwoofer should do the trick to satisfy your needs.

However, if you are an active listener or say more of a person who loves partying with loud music, a pair monitors or floor-standing speakers may be in order.

Small floor-standing speakers with multiple drivers can deliver full sound giving a highly satisfying listening experience without taking much floor space.

If you just want to add to the sound of your television in general and enhance your movie watching experience with occasional music listening, a soundbar or a soundbar + subwoofer combination should be sufficient.

Survey your space

Consider your room size: An important part of process for buying speakers is to consider the space they will be operating in. It is important that the speakers are in accordance with the space in your room, they should not be large that take up the entire space in your room or be less powerful which don’t do their job effectively.

Ideally small closed rooms with walls on all sides are not a great environment for large speakers as they will take up more space in your room. And more importantly they will “load” the room with bass which will tend to result in a muddy sound. And conversely a large, open room with small speakers will deliver sound that is small and localized.

Speakers in furniture: if you plan to place your speakers inside an entertainment unit, you will want to avoid monitor speakers with ports that produce large bass. The huge bass will just end up bouncing around the cabinet and probably produce some unwanted reverberations.

Look for a speaker that does not place bass above 80 Hz or so and while we are at the topic, find a spot for your subwoofer which can be conveniently hidden around the entertainment unit but not inside it.

Speakers in the corner: Placing full range, floor standing speaker on either side of a TV may be aesthetic but comes with some challenges. As this arrangement has a tendency of cancelling out bass, it gets pointless as it is exactly the reason you pay for the high range floor standing speakers.  

Bass output:

A woofer size generally determines the bass it will produce. Big woofers make more bass than smaller ones but the cabinet size is also as equally important factor in determining the bass quality/quantity. If you are music buff you may want to own multiple woofers as they look quite impressive but don’t produce reliable bass oomph.

Impedance, sensitivity and other techie tid-bits

Speakers have an electrical characteristic measured in ohms called impedance. Think of it as a resistance your speakers give to the electrical signal your amplifier is sending them. Though you may think that resistance is something bad, actually it isn’t. The amplifier needs some resistance to the power it sends or else your speakers will just pump out power until they burn out. Most of the amplifiers and speakers have an impedance of 8 Ohm which is sufficient for your speakers to deliver quality music. If you look at speakers with 4 Ohm impedance you will have to seriously consider the damage it will cause to your speakers and if it is worth the investment.

However, if you consider buying low impedance speakers have a look at how powerful your amplifier is. Most manufacturers have amplifiers with 1000watts per channel which are sufficient for 8 ohm impedance.

It isn’t even a good option to load your speakers with power as this over powering may not damage your speakers but more over people ears will give out to the excessive volumes.
Another important specification you may come across is “sensitivity”. To talk about it in a nutshell, it’s simply a measure of how loud a speaker plays per watt. Speakers with low sensitivity will need more power to play loud volumes. Generally look for speakers with a sensitivity rating of 80 dB to 88 dB per watt for speakers at lower end while for speakers more towards the top should have 89dB to 100 dB per watt.