Home Theaters

    Lately it has been a real problem to find a speaker that is both affordable, yet sounds good with a wide variety of material.

    For many, the loudest, most sparkling [not in the good way] is what people look for with a home theater system. They are looking for the same sort of sound quality that they get in a THX theater setup. I don’t wish to step on anyone’s toes here, but anyone who has the idea that THX theater sound equals accuracy is seriously mistaken.

    I have had the displeasure of attending showings in theaters that have had the THX certification, and it was no joy for many reasons. Also I must state that in a number of cases I refer to, the certification had been obtained very recently, removing the idea that somehow things were right but were changed later.

    In every showing, the bass was overemphasized, which many consider the hallmark of good sound, and the amplifiers were clipping [subjectively] 30% of the time when the volume was loud.

    So where does a person, on a limited [either enforced or decided] budget obtain speakers which will transport them into the quality theater experience, without breaking the budget, or sounding hideous at various times during the listening?

    One of the possible choices, if a person is somewhat handy, and wants to maximize their dollar, is the build-it-yourself choice. During the 80’s, and into the early 90’s, there were many choices for the serious builder. Most of the places have dried up and blown away, along with the neighborhood audio-video store. There are a few places in the really large population centers where a showroom for builders can be found, but that leaves out much of the country.

    A really good choice for parts, ideas, and general help, is Madisound Speaker Components. This is a company with a long resume, having been around for over 25 years, and they have fully integrated into the information age. By going to their website, it is possible to read about, compare, and purchase all things needed to build a really superb set of speakers. If you subscribe to the theory that the same drivers for as many of the main channels as possible will yield the most coherent sound quality, you can build a system with tweeters and mids identical, and bass extension changing with choice of woofer and enclosure size.

For those who wish to not fret about details and calculations, Madisound offers many fine kits, which make building speakers of great quality only slightly more difficult than putting Legos together.

Speakers and kits may seem expensive at first blush, but remembering that these speakers are used in some of the most expensive designs available, then making a comparison, both aurally and economically, it becomes easy to see why this company has survived, and thrived.