Building the perfect HiFi system isn’t necessarily about buying the most expensive components available, nor is it about picking big name brands and being done with it. It’s about considering what you want, what you need, and what matters most to you when it comes to enjoying your music.
That goes for every HiFi component you buy, but by far the most important aspects of any HiFi system is, of course, the speakers you choose. They’ll transform the electrical impulses sent from your amplifier into gorgeous, room filling sound that delights time after time.
However, from floor standing to bookshelf speakers and from sensitivity to speaker placement, there are countless aspects to keep in mind when you’re on the hunt for your perfect HiFi Speakers. Like all things HiFi, it’s about research.
But what do you really need to know when you begin your search for those elusive, wonderful speakers? In this guide, we’re going to take you through everything you need to know. So, join us as we guide you towards your next speaker purchase.
1) Decide on a Budget and Consider your Requirements
Before you start thinking about any speaker purchase, it’s vital that you really think about the budget you want to play with. Speakers, like any aspect of HiFi equipment, can vary wildly in price – even within the product range of one brand.
For example, Q Acoustics’ award winning range runs all the way from their 3010 Bookshelf Speakers at just £159 ($199) all the way to their Concept 500 Floorstanding Speakers, which come in at £3999 (+$4500). Both are terrific speakers at their price point, but before you take the plunge, you need to decide which sort of pool you’re keen to play in. Tremendous speakers can be had at every price point, whether you’re looking at £500 or £5,000 ($750 or $7,500) speakers, but it’s important to know your requirements.
Though value scales very well indeed in speakers, there’s no point in buying unless you know what your requirements are, which leads us to…
2) Understand the Types of Speakers Available
Is your room large? Does the type of music you favour bass or a more expressive midrange? Are you intending to upgrade the other elements of your system soon? These are all questions that you need to ask yourself before you buy. With an idea of what you need from your ideal speakers in mind, join us as we talk through the version types of speakers available. But first, what is a speaker?
At their most basic level, speakers take an electrical signal created by a source (be it CD player, iPhone or otherwise) and amplifier, and convert it into vibrations through drivers, which are amplified by cones and reach your ears, producing incredible audio.
Almost all speakers produce sound in this way, but the sound level and frequency response that a speaker will be capable of generating can vary wildly, depending on the number and size of the drivers it uses. Even the smallest speaker will be able to produce the majority of sounds audible to the human ear, but bass response is typically an issue for these units.
So, what kind of speakers should you go for?
Floorstanding or Bookshelf?
With your budget broadly set and an understanding of what you’re looking for, it’s important to have a good understanding of the types of speakers available.
Generally, you’ll find that speakers come in one of two flavours; floorstanding or bookshelf (sometimes called standmount). Thankfully, to avoid confusion, you’ll find that their names are pretty accurate descriptors of what they look like, with floorstanding speakers being significantly taller and standing on the floor, whilst bookshelf speakers are small enough to, well, fit on a bookshelf.
Floorstanding Speakers
Sometimes known as tower speakers, these are designed to stand upright on the ground and, as a result, are generally at least 60cm tall, and can even rise to two meters tall, in some models. Inside these larger cabinets is room for more drivers and more dampening material, offering a less resonant cabinet and, therefore, cleaner sound.
Advantages:
Though there are wonderful speakers in both shapes, floorstanders generally offer the larger, more expressive sound of the two. This is thanks to a number of factors, including a larger cabinet design which can incorporate better resonance (vibration) dampening and more driver units.
They’re also, broadly, more sensitive, meaning that they require less power for amplifiers to reach higher volumes. With more drivers, a floorstanders is capable of producing richer bass, more defined mids and the same high-frequency response that a bookshelf speaker enjoys.
You’ll also find that floor-standing speakers require less dedicated furniture – all they need is a flat bit of floor and they’re ready to go.
Disadvantages:
On the downside, their large size means that they won’t be suitable for every space, and the lack of wall mounting options available will hinder their suitability for some buyers. There’s also the issue of cost, with floorstanding speakers generally being more expensive than their bookshelf counterparts.
You may also find that floorstanding speakers are more demanding on partnering equipment, often requiring a more powerful amplifier, though this varies from model to mode.
Bookshelf Speakers
Meanwhile, bookshelf (or standmount) speakers are designed to sit on an object, be it a shelf, a rack or a dedicated stand to help them reach your desired height.
Customer Photo Credit: Cedric Ligonnet
Advantages:
Bookshelf speakers boast much greater flexibility than floorstanders thanks to their size, but can also produce some truly incredible audio. You’ll also find that they’re generally a little less fussy when it comes to pairing and an amplifier, making them a simpler choice for many.
Disadvantages:
Bookshelf speakers often have to work a little harder to get to the same level of audio fidelity that floorstanders offer, thanks to a generally lower number of drivers.
However, you’ll find that despite their smaller size, manufacturers have become extremely adept at crafting incredible bookshelf speakers with stunning audio.
If you’re struggling to choose between the two and budget isn’t an issue, our advice would be to not make a decision either way. Having a selection of bookshelf and floorstanding speakers in mind as you move through the rest of this guide will mean that you’re better able to figure out which is right for you – it’s not vital that you decide right at this moment.
Passive or Active?
Beyond the floorstanding/bookshelf dichotomy, you’ll have the option of passive, active or powered speakers. Here’s a brief, simplified description of each type:
- Passive – The vast majority of speakers available on the market today as passive, so be prepared to encounter plenty of them when you’re on the hunt for your perfect speakers. Passive speakers don’t do anything on their own, instead relying on an amplifier to produce sound. Passive speakers receive direct the signal to separate drivers via a crossover.
- Powered – Powered speakers feature their own in-built amplifier. This requires active speakers to have a separate mains supply.
- Active – Active speakers feature their own in-built amplifier, with the signal being separated into frequency bands and being amplified from within the cabinet and sent to individual drivers. This requires active speakers to have a separate mains supply.
The advantages of active speakers are plentiful, with most active speakers not requiring a separate amplifier to drive them. This, in turn, can lower the cost of your overall system purchase and result in a more compact HiFi set up. However, they’re not without their issues.
On top of (generally) being more expensive than comparable passive speakers, active speakers aren’t upgradable in the same way that passive speakers are. Consider for a moment the fact that a HiFi set up based around passive speakers will include a source (be it CD player, record player, iPhone or otherwise), an amplifier, interconnects and speaker cable (at the least), and that each of those components can be upgraded or replaced to improve audio fidelity.
However, because active speakers combine amplifier, speaker and cable, if you’re looking to upgrade or replace, you’ll have to do so with the lot, all at the same time. That can make them both inconvenient and expensive in the long run, despite their initial convenience.
The choice, ultimately, will be yours, but we’d recommend passive speakers for most use cases. By building your own system, you can customise the sound profile to your choosing, whether that’s bombastic or neutral, as well as upgrading at your own choosing.
3) To Biwire or Not to Biwire?
These days, you’ll find that many passive speakers have four terminals at their rear for you to plug in your speaker cables. This is for ‘biwiring’, the process of connecting two speaker cables to the same speaker. Why?
Well, with a single speaker cable, all frequencies across the high, middle and low end are sent towards your speaker simultaneously. However, if you’re using two sets of speaker cables to biwire your speakers, your amp can drive upper and middle/low-frequency signals separately, theoretically delivering a purer sound to your speakers.
Opinion is split on whether such an arrangement is worthwhile, and you do need an amplifier which supports biwiring, but if you’re interested in biwiring, it’s worth checking to see if your speakers support it.
4) Match your Speaker Choice to your Amplifier
Choosing the perfect speakers isn’t just about reading reviews and setting a budget, it’s also about ensuring compatibility and synergy with your amplifier. It’s a surprisingly complex subject, and one we’ve covered in a previous guide (click here for that), but in an effort to save you a click through, we’ll cover some of the basics here.
Impedance
Impedance relates to both speakers and amplifiers and is a measure of electrical resistance in your components, measured in ohms and represented by the Ω symbol. Speakers typically have ohm ratings between 4 and 8, whilst amplifiers usually operated best and are rated within a specific range, like 6 and 12 ohms.
You can find the impedance of both amplifiers and speakers on their spec sheets, and our broad advice would be that it’s perfectly fine to connect speakers with a higher impedance to an amplifier capable of operating with a lower impedance, but what you shouldn’t do is connect speakers with a lower impedance (say, 4 ohms) to an amplifier with a higher minimum impendence (10 ohms, for example). By keeping to that rule, you’ll be able to ensure a safe speaker and amplifier pairing, which is always a good idea.
Power
When we speak of ‘power’ in speakers and amplifiers, we’re talking about the amount of power a speaker can handle, and how much power an amplifier is outputting. Both are measured in watts, but there are a few wrinkles which complicate the matter somewhat.
Specifically, there are two terms you’re going to come across which might well confuse: continuous power and dynamic power. Continuous power delivers a fixed wattage to a fixed number of ohms, like 50 watts per channel into 4 and 8 ohms, and is the best indicator of an amplifiers general power.
Dynamic power, however, is designed to ensure that in moments of particular intensity, an amplifier can drive more power to speakers to ensure effective audio delivery. Again, we’d recommend checking out our previous article on the subject.
However, for our purposes, you should be paying attention to continuous power readings from your amplifier and comparing it to the recommended amplification levels on your speaker choice. If your speakers recommended amplification level is within the minimum/maximum power output from your amplifier, you’re on to a winner.
Sensitivity
Sensitivity is a term used only in speakers, and refers to how loud a speaker will be in decibels when one meter away from the listener and being driven by just 1 watt of power.
For example, a pair of Q-Acoustics 2050i Floorstanders have a 92dB sensitivity rating. So, with 1 watt of power (way less than any amplifier would provide), the 2050i’s would produce a sound pressure level of 92dB from 1 meter away.
Now, I know what you’re thinking – won’t these speakers be dangerously loud when driven by any amplifier? The answer is no, and for one simple reason: amplifier power output has to double to increase a speaker’s sound pressure level by 3dB.
So, by keeping with our 2050i Floorstanders example, it would take 2 watts for the 2050i’s to hit 95dB, 4 watts to hit 98dB, 8 watts to hit 102dB, 16 watts to reach 105dB and so on, until your ear drums can’t handle it anymore.
Couple that with the fact that the further you move away from your speakers, the faster sound pressure (volume) drops off, and you need to ensure that your chosen speakers are sensitive enough to hit the volume levels you desire in whatever room you’re placing them in.
5) Read Lots of Reviews
Buying a new pair of speakers is a serious financial commitment and not one you want to get wrong. So, how do you cut through the marketing jargon and really find out whether a speaker is worth your time? The answer comes in the form of professional reviews.
Professional and well-respected review ‘sites like What HiFi, HiFi Critic, HiFi Choice and more all provide fully independent, balanced and authoritative reviews on the subject of HiFi equipment, like speakers and amplifiers. They’ll help you understand the strengths and weaknesses of any given speaker on the market, as well as help you compare them against other speakers you may have an interest in.
Another invaluable resource for discovering the true value of your speakers are dedicated online HiFi forums. You’ll discover there’s a plethora of advice, discussion and debate on these forums, alongside plenty of people willing to give you a hand in figuring out which speakers are for you. We can’t recommend investing a little of your time into researching what experts and fellow enthusiasts are saying about a product before you put your money down.
6) Think about Speaker Placement
Setting up your Hi-Fi speaker for best sound
Speaker placement can have a huge effect on the overall sound that your speakers output, so do take the time to think about your speaker placement. Though different speakers will thrive in different environments, there are some general rules to follow.
Those include trying to avoid placing your speakers directly against a wall or in a corner, but in general, we’d recommend paying attention to manufacturer placement recommendations. Manufacturers test every product they release extensively, in a wide variety of positions and configurations.
As such, it’s always worth checking out the manufacturer recommendations for speaker placement, to see whether they’re suitable for your planned set-up. However, we should stress that manufacturers know that the vast majority of people won’t be able to adhere to their guidelines exactly, so we wouldn’t worry about it too much. At Q Acoustics, we’ve noticed many of our customers prefer to wall-mount their new speakers, which is why we’ve made modifications to our bass, enabling modification through foam bungs.
7) Consider Aesthetics
HiFi equipment can be absolutely beautiful, or, it can be something of an eyesore. When you’re deliberating over which speaker to buy, pay a thought to the aesthetics of the speaker. Though they’ll blend into the background over time, they will remain a prominent fixture in whatever room you place them in.
That means that not only should you speakers sound brilliant, that should look brilliant too. At Q Acoustics’ we’ve always understood the value of aesthetics in HiFi design, and though it shouldn’t lead your decision making, the way you speakers look is important and should be kept in mind.
From glossy blacks to stark whites and natural wood finishes, there’s a speaker design to suit your home – so don’t settle for anything less than something which wows you every time you look at it.
Here’s some photos sent in by our customers which might provide some inspiration!
(Customer Photo Credit: Jorge Urrutia)
Customer Photo Credit: Jaco Hage
Customer Photo Credit: Jan Wildiers
Customer Photo Credit: Cedric Ligonnet
Customer Photo Credit: Patrick Grefhorst
Customer Photo Credit: Ryan Sensati
Q Acoustics speakers are available in North America at https://www.qacoustics.com/ and in the United Kingdom at https://www.qacoustics.co.uk