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If you’ve got a great HD or 4K TV, then you’ve got the visual component of your home theater system taken care of. But to really enhance your shows and movies (and music and games), an all-in-one home audio sound system with a subwoofer should be part of your setup.
Movies become instantly more intense when you feel that booming bass in your bones, and video games are taken to a new level of realism when you hear your virtual surroundings envelop you. Even without watching anything, a good home sound system can keep your party playlist playing, or let you get lost in your favorite songs.
How Do Home Audio Systems Work?
The best whole home audio systems are numbered to represent the contents of what’s inside, with the first number being the amount of speakers, and the last number being the subwoofers. For example, a 5.1 system would have five ear-level speakers, and one subwoofer. A 5.2 would have the same number of speakers, but with two ‘woofers, and so on. These can go way up to 10.2 and higher if you’re you’re an audiophile custom-building your own, but a 5.1 system can deliver the sound quality and all-encompassing experience, and meet (or exceed) the needs of a regular home theater setup.
A 5.1 system can give you great 360-degree sound, but this can heavily depend on where you put the speakers, and the shape of your room. The best way to find the full effect you’re looking for is simply to play around with your speaker placement, observing audio from all angles.
These systems all start around a central subwoofer, and fan out with satellite speakers from there, but all offer different attributes depending on what you’re looking for, such as beaming Bluetooth from your phone, various inputs like a USB or SD Card reader, or a remote with different capabilities.
What Are the Best Whole Home Audio Systems?
Finding the right system for you involves a bunch of individual factors based on what you watch, play, listen to, and how your home’s architecture is angled. We’ve selected of our four favorite systems here to get your setup sounding great.
