How do I choose the best speakers for my needs and preferences?

It is important to start by defining your listening habits and priorities. If you value depth, precision, and a lifelike reproduction of the music, floorstanding speakers may be the best choice. They reproduce both the deep octaves and create a large, spacious soundstage. If space and flexibility are a priority, compact speakers or active speakers will be an obvious choice. You should also consider whether you prefer a wireless solution with streaming options, which can be both practical and aesthetically suited to modern interiors.

What advantages do active speakers offer compared to passive speakers?

Active speakers have a built-in amplifier, making them easier to set up and more streamlined in appearance. This is ideal if you want minimalism and simplicity in the installation. They also often offer streaming via Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or AirPlay, which is ideal for those who want convenience without compromising on sound quality. However, passive speakers provide greater flexibility in the choice of amplifier, allowing you to upgrade and fine-tune the sound to your exact preferences.

What is the best placement for my speakers to achieve optimal sound quality?

Placement is crucial for achieving the best sound quality. For traditional stereo speakers, they should be placed in an equilateral triangle with the listening position. Make sure there is adequate distance between the speakers and the rear wall, typically 20-50 cm, to avoid distortion and achieve the best bass response. Speakers should be avoided in corners, as this can cause unwanted reflections and overly emphatic bass. In addition, it can be an advantage to angle the speakers slightly toward the listening position to achieve an optimal stereo perspective.

How do the room's size and acoustics affect the choice of speakers?

The size and acoustics of the room are crucial when choosing speakers. In larger rooms, floorstanding speakers are ideal, as they fill the room with rich, powerful sound, especially in the lower frequencies. In smaller rooms, compact speakers may be a better choice, as they can more easily be adapted to the room's acoustics and do not require the same amount of space as floorstanding speakers. If the room has hard surfaces, the sound can become too sharp or "lively," so acoustic adjustments such as rugs and wall panels can help create a balanced soundstage.

Speaker

Speakers

The speaker is an essential component in the production of sound and music. They are found in large numbers in our everyday lives and are used everywhere we go. In the car, in our mobile phones and TV sets, etc.

What is typical of a speaker is that it requires some form of power to play. It receives this through an amplifier, which is capable of setting the speaker’s diaphragm in motion, thereby creating sound waves/vibrations that we perceive through our ears as sound. This is the short and simplified explanation of how a speaker works.

Speakers come in many forms, types, and sizes. Most importantly, however, you should choose the speakers that match your exact needs.

Passive speakers

A passive speaker has no built-in amplifier and therefore needs a separate amplifier to produce sound. This type of speaker is what we typically know from a classic stereo system with two speakers, an amplifier, a CD player, etc.

Active and wireless speakers

Unlike the passive speaker, the active speaker has a built-in amplifier that enables it to play without the use of a separate amplifier. We typically encounter these active speakers in everyday life as soundbars, boomboxes, and the well-known kitchen radio. However, in recent years, a number of great-sounding stereo speakers have also entered the market for even serious listening. Several of these active speaker solutions also include built-in options for streaming from various services via Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Chromecast, or Airplay2.

Active and wireless speakers are the perfect solution for anyone who wants excellent sound without taking up too much space. In addition, several of these active solutions also offer so-called “multi-room sound,” allowing you to have audio in several rooms at once.

Floorstanding speakers

The floorstanding speaker should be regarded as the ultimate sound reproducer. Unlike the smaller compact/bookshelf speakers, this type of speaker is capable of reproducing all aspects of music, especially the deeper octaves found in music, which are necessary to achieve a fully realistic reproduction as the music was originally intended.

A floorstanding speaker delivers a realism and scale of sound that the smaller alternatives cannot reproduce in the same way. This is typically because a floorstanding speaker has a larger physical presence in the form of a bigger cabinet, but generally also larger and more speaker drivers. The downside is that this type of speaker takes up more space in your listening room compared with the compact speaker solution.

A floorstanding speaker also tends to place greater demands on the environment in which it is placed, and here the size and nature of the room have a major influence on the overall result. However, this is the type of speaker where you find the ultimate sound experiences.

Compact speakers

These smaller alternatives to floorstanding speakers are typically used in smaller rooms where space matters more than it does for users of floorstanding speakers. However, many compact/bookshelf speakers are mounted on a base or stand, which ultimately means that they take up the same floor space as floorstanding speakers.

With compact speakers, the size of the room is also crucial, as the smaller speakers do not play as deep or as powerfully as floorstanding models. Therefore, compact speakers can be easier to adapt acoustically in a smaller room. Although these compact speakers do not have the same depth and weight in the sound as a floorstanding speaker, there should be no doubt that you can still get sublime sound reproduction from smaller speakers.

How do I choose my speakers?

1. First, think about what your musical needs are. How often do you listen to music, and how much does sound quality matter to you? This can ultimately serve as a “guideline” for how much you should invest in your new speakers.

2. Think about how much space you have available for your new speakers. Should they be passive or active speakers, should they be floorstanding speakers or a compact/bookshelf speaker solution? Here, the size of the room is crucial. How many square meters do you want to fill with sound? This always matters whether you choose a passive or an active speaker.

3. If you choose the passive solution, pay attention to which equipment your new speakers will be used with. Here, we are thinking especially about which amplifier you will be using. It does matter which speakers you use with your amplifier. Seek advice and guidance here if you are in doubt.

What does a speaker consist of?

A speaker basically consists of a cabinet in which some speaker drivers are mounted and connected to a so-called crossover.

1. Tweeter

The tweeter is the driver that handles the highest frequencies in music; this is where harmonics in voices and instruments are typically found. The tweeter is possibly the most critical driver in your speaker, as it is crucial to the stereo perspective. In other words, it matters for your speakers to interact properly with each other.

The tweeter is also where all the fine and delicate nuances arise, so a good tweeter is very important for the overall sound reproduction. Typically, there are two types of tweeter drivers: the more traditional “dome” tweeter and the lesser-known ribbon tweeter. These two types perform the same tasks in the speaker, but they can sound very different. Here, it is a matter of listening to which type suits you best.

2. Midrange

The midrange is the driver that primarily handles the frequency range where the core substance of voices and instruments is found in music. The human ear is quite sensitive in this very range, and therefore it is also important here that the midrange is of high quality.

3. Bass

The bass driver is the driver that reproduces the deeper octaves in music. The larger the bass driver, the deeper and more powerful the bass it can produce. This is especially where you should pay attention to the size of your room and the placement of the speakers in the room.

If you choose speakers that have large bass drivers, you should be aware of whether your room is large enough to match the bass reproduction from your bass drivers. Otherwise, it will typically result in a “booming” and exaggerated bass reproduction.

4. Crossover

The crossover mounted inside the speakers has the task of distributing duties to the different drivers in the speakers. It is the crossover that determines which drivers should play the various frequencies in the music.

Your speaker cables connect to the speaker terminals located on the back of your speakers, and from the speaker terminals there is a direct connection to the crossover, which then sends signals to the speaker’s various drivers.

5. Watts and power handling

Watts are the unit of measurement for electrical power, and in a speaker, the watt rating indicates the amount of power the speaker can tolerate. The more watts, the greater the load the speaker can generally handle.

Power handling indicates how many watts must be supplied to the speaker for it to produce a sound pressure level of 96 dB measured at a distance of 1 m. Simply put, power handling expresses how much power the amplifier needs to drive the speakers. At the same time, it is an indicator of how powerful an amplifier you need to use with the speakers in question. It is always important that the speaker’s electrical characteristics match the amplifier that will be driving them.

6. Speaker placement

How you place your speakers has a major influence on the overall sound quality. As a rule, a set of stereo speakers should be placed facing the preferred listening position, so that the speakers’ drivers are directed toward the listener.

Ideally, the speakers should be placed so that they are approximately the same distance apart as they are from the listening position. In other words, in an isosceles triangle. Put another way, it has significant sonic importance that the speakers are the same distance from the preferred listening position. Otherwise, it will impair the perception of the stereo image. In addition, it will affect the rhythm and not least the timing in the music.

Most traditional stereo speakers also need a bit of space around them to sound as intended. Therefore, as a rule, they should have some distance from the rear wall. Typically 20-50 cm. If possible, placing the speakers directly in the corners should be avoided, and it may also be necessary to angle the speakers slightly toward the listening position in order to achieve a good stereo image and a coherent soundstage.

Some speakers place higher demands than others on their placement in your listening room, and here you should seek advice and guidance if you are in doubt. At Lydspecialisten, we are always ready to guide you and answer your questions. That is why we are here.