Our interests are subjective because our experiences. We’re all different and so our choices, including music and movies that influence us over time. While enthusiasts could argue over a number of things, fortunately for us, nearly all of us think good music and movies are a good way to spend quality time. It seems like a great way to enjoy an evening after work, or spend a lazy, rainy afternoon on the couch. It’s even more enjoyable in the midst of close ones and of course, good food. Gone are the days of finding content, practically all of it is now available on-demand over music and movie streaming services.
We’ve all used speakers and headphones leading up to this point, but our only experience of impressive sound has been movie theatres. They are crowded, distracting, uncomfortable, not to mention, expensive. A couple is likely to spend no less than Rs.800 over a movie, more if you add something to nibble on, and taxes. A good audio solution at home, such as a home theatre can do wonders to your entertainment setup. It can be your first step into the world of Hi-Fi, an age-old term, an apt one nonetheless. A home theatre setup can last a decades, adding a lot of value to your life on the way.
Through this feature, we hope to help you explore things you need to know about good sound, how much it could cost you, what you can start off with, what you could upgrade, what all the complex jargon means, and how to listen to.
Why buy a home theatre?
There are many obvious answers to this question – they’re much louder than your TV speakers, your laptop speakers and the headphones we’re so used to. Volume of sound isn’t everything though. If it were, you can find seemingly cheap speakers offering you hundreds of watts of power but we’re not looking for that. We’re looking for pristine audio quality, precision, characteristics that only come from finely tweaked hardware, not by brute force. With the right kind of hardware, amplifiers and speakers you can upper-tier audio performance for not a lot more money. 
The lesser, but also important benefits of putting together a good setup are the wonders of modern day advancements – smart features that let you stream music from any device in your home, or the web straight to your system. Some of the other benefits can involve controlling all of your remotes using a single remote, reduced cabling and much more.
What makes a Home Theatre?
The simplest home theatre system that is an infinitely large upgrade over existing speakers or TV speakers includes two key components – an amplifier, speakers and some cables. As users progress, we may upgrade to owning better and a variety of sources, a DAC and better cables but it’s not necessary when you’re starting off. We’ll talk specifically about speakers and cables in more detail a little later through this article.
Why an amplifier and receiver? Why not just speakers or HTIB? Also, what’s an HTIB?
Let’s start with the last question – HTIBs are collection of a DVD/Blu-ray player, with a tiny amplifier and speakers. They are technically not categorized as home theatre systems. Soundbars aren’t, either. Standalone speakers may look like a home theatre setup but they aren’t. They have some inherent disadvantages. The obvious one being, you can only connect to one device at a time or so. You may need to manually keep switching cables to use it. These kind of speakers aren’t designed for high-end audios, to mimic the look and be loud. Don’t lose focus of our goal, we’re looking for high-end audio not (only) loud audio. It can be an obsession in itself.
An receiver-amplifier allows you to connect a number of media sources to it, such as your laptop, Blu-ray player, gaming console, smart streaming solutions and your set-top box. All of the audio from these devices is played on your speakers through the amplifier. You can switch between sources using the same remote control. Amplifiers also let you configure the audio to be played on the speakers without having to keep your TV on.
Do I choose Stereo or Surround?
Before you begin, you need come to terms with the hard truth – whether you are setting up this system to listen to music or if you want all the bells and whistles of a surround-sound setup. This matters because some amplifiers were designed for stereo sound only – they’re just a tiny bit cheaper but they were designed to render music incredibly well. They’re outright amazing.
If you’re not so sure, it might be advisable to choose a surround sound amplifier, connect stereo speakers now then add surround speakers to the back of the room at a later point. Yes, this is something you can do with this sort of setup that you just cannot with the out-of-the-box HTIBs or standalone speakers. In fact, you can change speaker anytime you want to, a few years or a decade later. You can even keep the existing speakers and choose a better amplifier. It’s entirely customizable.
This is one part of the journey towards setting up a good home theatre setup. The next steps involve choosing the right kind of amplifier and speakers.
First and foremost, buy a good amplifier
The amplifier is the true heavy-weight so pay good attention to what you buy. It’s also likely going to cost you a lot, sometimes even more than the speakers themselves. Besides being (physically) heavy, it powers all the speakers and it behaves as the central hub for all your devices – your set-top box, your laptop, gaming console, Blu-ray player and mobile phones as well. All of these devices are directed to a single TV, through the amplifier, which separates the audio from your devices, sending them to the speakers. An amplifier with 3 to 4 input HDMI ports is a good place to begin. Don’t fret, most amplifiers have older RCA connectors (coloured red and white) if you’re using an older DTH set-top box. Optical and digital coaxial inputs while present, won’t need to be bothered with, at least not for the majority of us since HDMI does the job equally well. 
Supplying power to the speakers is also what the amplifier does. Choosing an amp can be it quite intimidating. It’s hard not to be left perplexed by the jargon, numbers and specifications listed around the power output. In simple words, the only thing that should matter is that the power output per channel (with ohms) on the amplifier should nearly match the rating the speakers’ power ratings. The reality is most speakers and amplifiers operate in the 75-125W range at 6 or 8 Ohms impedance.
An amplifier rated with per-channel output of 200W paired with a speaker of 50W is a terrible misfit. It’s a big no-no! An amplifier with a rating of 125W at 6 Ohms, and a speaker with a similar rating is perfect. You’ll find that they’re incredibly easy to figure your way around. Don’t be too bothered by wanting even more powerful speakers. If you have a decent sized room, two speakers rated at around 100W each are going to be very loud.
Network and wireless capability
Some of the newer amplifiers come with a bunch of features and one of the more important ones is network connectivity. A good home entertainment setup will have high quality music stored locally on the network, say on a laptop, PC or even a cloud storage device. This is usually to ensure the highest quality audio and video. Most network-enabled amplifiers have a feature called DLNA that lets you stream content from any device to the amplifier, while using your phone as a remote control. Look for amplifiers that come with this feature. 
Some of the more affordable network-enabled amplifiers may use wired Ethernet connectivity but if you don’t have a router nearby, you should really opt for a wireless model. Some of the amplifiers also have support for some internet radio channels, so you can easily stream music off the internet without any additional device around. While you’re looking for amplifiers with network connectivity, don’t forget to consider a good WiFi router that lets you stream your favourite music effortlessly from your devices to the amplifier. If a network streaming amplifier is out of reach, don’t worry too much about it. There are easy ways to enable this using a separate Google Chromecast 2 or Amazon Fire TV stick.
Smart features
Some of the newer amplifiers also let you control it using a mobile phone application like you would control say, your smart TV. You can change settings, adjust zones and some of them even let you stream music to it. This is a feature only found in premium models, so you might be expected to shell out quite a bit on them. Some of the newer models also have Bluetooth so you can stream music directly from your laptop or phone to the receiver.
HDMI connectivity
One of the reasons to buy an amplifier is because it lets you to channel audio of all the media sources, through the amplifier. The number of input ports are an important factor while choosing an amplifier. Most amplifiers have at least 3 input HDMI ports, and that’s a good number to have. This means you have the provision for everything from your laptop, set-top box, gaming console, smart TV solutions.
Zone support
Some of the more premium amplifiers have something called a zone feature. This name might differ from one brand to another. What this lets you do is configure multiple sets of speakers for different rooms. That way you can have one amplifier in the living room, but multiple sets of speakers, some for the living room while others go into your bed room. Even if this is not something you need currently, it’s worth making the investment now for use later.
Acoustic sound calibration
Every amplifier has its own sound, as do the speakers both of which maybe from different brands. These two put together may sound different in a showroom and will sound different at your home. This is because of all the changing factors such as the furnishing at home, objects and different seating positions. Some amplifiers come with a calibration feature that uses a microphone, which you’re expected to place once exactly where you might be seated. The amplifier sends a sequence of test sounds from the various speakers at your residence. The amplifier listens to these, analyses them then makes tweaks to the volume, delay and the characteristics of the sound so you get a near-perfect audio from your new home theatre.
How important are Dolby, THX, etc. standards?
If you’ve looked at the brochure of any popular amplifier, you’re likely to run by a whole bunch of labels and stickers such as Dolby, THX, etc. These are standards, they’re what movies are recorded using and that’s important. If your amplifier does not support some of these standards, you might not be able to play the movies with the right kind of surround effect or in some rare cases, the movie may not play at all. Thankfully, there aren’t too many standards to worry about and most of the popular ones are already supported by every mainstream amplifier.
Bookshelf speakers or floorstanders
When it comes to the subject of speakers, there are many more options to choose from than there are amplifiers. The first part of the question was answered in our first part of the feature – whether you want to build a surround sound setup or a stereo setup. The second step is to choose between bookshelf speakers and floorstanders for the front speakers. Floor-stander speakers (or floorstanders) are tower speakers that stand from the ground up. They are usually a bit more expensive than bookshelf speakers, also heavier. They may have a little more bass as well than bookshelf speakers because of the larger housing area. They don’t need additional stands to place them on.
Bookshelf speakers are table-top speakers that require a surface to sit on, or even stands. They are a little more affordable and are ideal for music fans who don’t need the additional bass. Movie buffs can buy a subwoofer separately if they want the extra thump and rumble in their movies. The same goes even for floorstanders. They have some level of bass for casual watching but not the room-trembling bass we’re used to experiencing in movie theatres.
Choosing the right speakers for your amplifier
The amplifier choice was one part of the purchase, but the speakers are not any less important. Now that you’ve decided whether you want floorstanders or bookshelf speakers, you can focus on the characteristic of the speakers. It is recommended that you listen to the speakers before buying them. Although, there are some features that you can look at to understand what you’re getting.
It’s important that you pick speakers that are compatible with your amplifiers. Don’t get confused by powered speakers. Those are standalone speakers that do not work with amplifiers, because they have their own built-in amplifier. Another term used to define the performance of the speaker is SPL (sound pressure level). The higher the number, the louder the speaker is considered to be. But remember, the loudness is not everything.
While you’re choosing speakers that aren’t surround sound ones (which include two rear, and one centre), you might want to consider a centre speaker for your stereo speakers. This centre channel is responsible for voice and dialogues. These centre speakers don’t cost much and can add a lot to your experience.
That was our guide on choosing the right speaker and amplifier. If this is all still too much to take in, there are some amplifier-and-speaker setups that can be purchased from our web site. We also have some of them on display at our stores that you can visit.
