(Excepted and adapted from Introductory Guide to High-Performance Audio Systems by Robert Harley © 2007 by Robert Harley. To order, call 800 888-4741 or visit hifibooks.com.)

August 21 - Your first decision in choosing loudspeakers is whether your system will reproduce 2-channel music, multichannel music, film soundtracks as part of a home-theater system, or all of these. No matter what loudspeaker configuration you choose, the three starting criteria for making your short list of candidates will be the same. Let’s look at those criteria:

1) Size, Appearance, and Integration in the Home
After you’ve designated a place for your loudspeakers, determine the optimum loudspeaker size for your room—the urban apartment dweller will likely have tighter size constraints than the suburban audiophile.

Some listeners will want the loudspeakers to discreetly blend into the room; others will make the hi-fi system the room’s center of activity and won’t mind large, imposing loudspeakers. When choosing a place for your loudspeakers, keep in mind that their placement is a crucial factor in how your system will sound. (Chapter 12 includes an in-depth treatment of loudspeaker positioning.)

Next: Size, Appearance, and Integration (cont)

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