big speakers

How loud is loud? I know loud when I hear it, but if you want a number, I'd say at home anything over 90 dB is getting up there, and might annoy neighbors in adjacent apartments, especially after 10 p.m. If you live in a house, 90+ dB would definitely disturb other family members not watching the movie or listening to music. Of course, the volume at concerts and movie theaters is much, much louder than most people would ever tolerate at home. Loud music, games, and home theater takes on an almost physical quality; you don't … Read more

I love little speakers, especially when they're as fine as the Music Hall Marimbas I wrote about recently, but the best little ones can't touch the big guys for sheer power. If you've only heard little speakers at home, you have no idea what you've been missing. Big speakers sound, well, bigger, and more like live music.

That's why I'm so jazzed by the Tekton M-Lore. This 34-inch high tower sports an American-made 8-inch natural fiber woofer and a European-designed 1-inch silk dome tweeter, so the M-Lores can really belt out a big sound. … Read more

Live concerts are louder than ever, but home audio systems that sound great turned up loud are increasingly rare. If you're into loud music and lucky enough to live in a place where maximum volume won't get you evicted or arrested, or earn the wrath of neighbors, treat yourself to a set of big speakers.

Sure, small satellite speakers with a powerful subwoofer can sound great, but not in the same league as large speakers. Big systems really do have huge performance advantages over even the best small ones. If you've got the space to accommodate a pair of Klipsch Reference RF-7 II speakers, they deserve an audition. The only downside to listening to the RF-7 IIs is you'll never be satisfied with a Bluetooth speaker ever again.… Read more

I keep hearing that more and more people are watching movies and TV shows on their iPads or other tablets. That's amazing; every single one of these folks probably owns a large flat-screen display, but the "convenience" of watching a tablet in bed or on the train is a better fit. It's a lifestyle issue, where size really does matter.

Sure, they haven't completely stopped watching their 50-inch displays just yet, but give it another five years and I guarantee some of them won't be replacing their old sets when they break. The people … Read more

I've heard a number of Verity Audio speakers over the years, and it was always the company's smaller, more apartment-friendly models like the Finn and Leonore that most impressed. Small Verity high-end speakers are still pretty expensive, but when I heard that Verity was about to introduce something a lot more extreme, I wanted to know more about the design. The Monsalvat is very much in the Verity tradition, but the $325,000 speaker system breaks new ground for the company.

Design details are scarce right now, but as statement speakers go the Monsalvat isn't huge: its … Read more

Twenty years ago, most people listened to music at home. They'd pop on an LP or put in a CD and listen to music on their hi-fis or home theater systems. Sure, they also had music in their cars, and maybe some sort of portable tape or disc music player, but home-bound music listening was still pretty common. If you asked me in 1991, "Will people always listen to music at home?" I could not have imagined what would change that. I knew the technology would continue to evolve, but what could possibly replace music at home? … Read more

I'm an audiophile and know a lot of 'philes, so I know from where I speak. We share a common passion for music and the gear we play music on. Non-audiophiles don't have a problem playing music over good-enough gear; audiophiles obsess about how the music sounds, almost as much as the musicians who recorded it. Are you an audiophile?

You might be an audiophile if you sometimes listen to music without doing anything else.

You might be an audiophile if you paid more for your hi-fi than your car.

You might be an audiophile if your speaker … Read more

When it comes to speakers, size does matter. Big speakers clobber little ones in two ways: they can play louder and make more bass. But since the market demands increasingly smaller speakers the question comes up: can small speakers ever sound better than big ones? Well, the answer is sometimes and in some ways, but great-sounding small speakers are never cheap.

The best-sounding small speakers I've heard in quite some time came from a pair of Anthony Gallo Acoustics Reference Strada speakers ($995 each). The speaker is comprised of two small, stainless steel spheres, each with a 4-inch woofer; the spheres straddle a cylindrical tweeter that produces exceptionally broad dispersion. The Strada doesn't make much bass, so I heard it with the matching Gallo TR-3 cylindrical subwoofer. The system was sweet, detailed, dynamically alive, and very, very natural sounding. But it costs over three grand and doesn't have the muscle of a hefty floorstanding speaker for the same or fewer dollars.

So if you plan on never, ever listening to loud music or having a party, and room-shaking bass isn't a priority, wee speakers might be the way to go. How tiny is tiny? Obviously, size is relative, but I'd rate any speaker that is either less than 7 inches high, or has a smaller than 4-inch woofer as a tiny speaker. If your room is large--say anything bigger than 15 by 20 feet (300 square feet)--don't even think of buying small speakers. … Read more

Yes, it might seem reasonable to expect that a home theater system will automatically sound equally good with movies and music, but that's not easy to do. With speakers especially, the difference in performance requirements is significant.

And though there are some specific models from Klipsch and Dynaudio that are adept with both forms of entertainment, most speakers skew one way or another. For music, overall sound quality is the top priority, for home theater it's more about clarity and the ability to handle the extreme dynamic range of special effects such as explosions.

For maximum home theater thrills you'll need as much power as you can afford, a potent subwoofer, and speakers that perfectly blend with said sub. With home theater your attention is focused on the picture; sound plays a supportive role. As long as the receiver and speakers don't overtly distort when they're playing at the volume level you want, and there's enough subwoofer bass to make special effects come alive, it's mission-accomplished time. Achieving reasonably good home theater sound isn't all that demanding from an equipment point of view, but careful speaker setup and room placement are crucial for best results.… Read more