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Speaker Systems Shopping Tips
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- Set a budget.
- Listen, listen, listen! Take your favorite CDs and
DVD movies and do a LOT of critical listening before you buy. You know
what sounds good to your ears. Listen at louder volumes and at more
moderate volume levels and note the differences. Use a wide variety of
material, both delicate and raucous.
- While conducting your listening tests, pay close
attention to bass response, since the bass speaker/subwoofer is often
the first part of a speaker system to exhibit audible distortion. With
pop music, listen for the drummer's kick drum and the bass line. For
classical recordings, listen for instruments like the timpani
(kettledrums), bass violins, and low brass. In DVD movies, play scenes
with a lot of action. Explosions are an especially good way to gauge a
speaker set's bass response. Bass response is especially important for
DVD movie and gaming audio.
- Disconnect the speakers from the test PC's sound
card, set the volume control at about 50 percent, and listen closely
for "hash" or "hiss" sounds. Substandard amplifiers generate hissing
when idle, and this can become quite annoying after a while.
- Decide what speaker configuration you want for your
PC before you walk into the store, or at least narrow down the list.
- Don't rely on store salespeople for correct product
information. They often know less than you do.
- Don't buy more speakers than you need.
- Get a set of speakers with a headphone jack so you
can enjoy your desired listening level, even late at night.
- Make sure the box of the speakers you're buying has
not been opened. An opened box might indicate that the speaker set was
returned and is damaged, defective, or missing pieces.
- Make sure that wherever you buy your speakers,
there's a 30-day return policy.
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