Important Terms You Must Learn About Home Sound Systems

Do you love watching movies and going to the cinemas? Most likely, you appreciate the stunning visuals, sound effects, and 3D surround sound that make viewing movies in the cinemas an experience like no other. The speakers of your television cannot recreate that kind of viewing pleasure. That is why home theater systems with audio components have become a hit among movie buffs and audiophiles alike. With home sound systems, cinematic viewing experience can be brought right at the comforts of one’s home.

If you want to upgrade the home sound system in your living room, there are several things you need to do to make sure that you get more value for your money. It would be very helpful if you know the individual audio components before you go shopping. Also, it would be better to acquaint yourself with some of the technical terms that are commonly used to refer to speakers and other home audio components. Most homes already have TVs, receivers, and DVD players. What home entertainment components do you have at home?

Take some time to understand the important terms used in home audio systems regardless of the audio component you decide to purchase—be it an expensive sound system that costs thousands of dollars or just a few extra speakers for your TV. It is because you will inevitably encounter these terms once you start shopping for home audio components. And you can make better buying decisions if you are familiar with them. Listed here are a few terms you may need to know about home audio systems.

1. Watt is the unit of measurement of power. In a receiver, watt is associated with the loudness of the sound system. In a subwoofer, its bass is described in watts. So if a subwoofer has more watts, that means it has more bass.

2. Timbre refers to the quality of a sound’s tone apart from the frequency and amplitude. Speakers from different manufacturers may not have similar timbres—you can detect that when you hear a sound that moves from one side to the other side of your room. To prevent discrepancy in the timbre of your speakers, make sure that you test them together and check if their timbres match. Testing for timbre is especially important if you are buying your home audio components separately.

3. Decibel measures the loudness of sound produced by an audio component. In particular, it measures loud noises from a sound at a specified location. Decibels are not an absolute measure of loudness, so do not base your product comparisons and judgment on this measurement alone.

4. Subwoofer is the speaker driver or loudspeaker that generates the lowest sound or bass audio frequencies. Sometimes bought separately from speaker systems, subwoofers complement the main loudspeaker, thus adding some depth to your listening experience. Because subwoofers are hard to localize (meaning it is hard to detect or locate the sound coming from it), they can be placed at any spot of your home.

5. Midrange is the speaker driver that generates—as the name suggests—the midrange sounds.

6. Tweeter is the speaker driver that creates the highest frequency of sounds. Together with the midrange, tweeter is sometimes included in a speaker system.

7. Surround sound envelopes the listener with an environment that’s very different from the almost obsolete two-channel stereo. It is a recent audio technology in home sound systems that recreates a listening experience closer to real life.