Get More Bass From Your Speakers

Even if you have a small bookshelf or tower speaker, if it has a rear port, you can likely get more bass than you are getting today.

The rear port on a  bass reflex speaker design is there to increase the bass response of the speaker. These ports are usually tuned to a frequency that compliments the overall tonality of the speaker.

Simple Changes that Increase Bass
Ideally a rear ported speaker should be at least 1 to 2 inches off the wall. Speakers create sound by moving air. The port on the speaker creates sound in the same way as when you blow in to an empty or partially empty bottle. If the speaker is against the wall or the back of a bookshelf, then you're keeping the air from coming out, as well as the sound. Blocking the port will also add additional air pressure against the inside of the cabinet,changing the way the main driver will sound. Not good.

Experiment with Speaker Placement for Optimum Bass
As we mentioned, keeping the speaker away from the wall will change the sound. Moving it different distances from the wall will also change the sound. Play with it until you get the sound that works best for you. It is also recommended that:

• Each speaker is at an equal distance form the wall
• The wall is material is the same for each speaker
• The speakers are at the same height

Special Note on Corners
Corner placement of a speaker can have undesirable consequences and is best avoided if possible. If you must put a speaker in a corner be sure to play with the placement till you get an acceptable sound.

Boston Acoustics vs Polk Entry Level Soundbars

 

Soundbars for bedroom or second room home theater setups are one of the fastest growing speaker categories. It's easy to see why. Why, here is a list.

• East to set up
• Take up little space
• Usually has a wireless subwoofer
• Much easier to use than complex AV receivers
• Relatively cheap
• Virtual Surround Sound has gotten much better (don't need rear speakers)

However some soundbars can be very expensive, upwards of $1,000. So we decided to highlight two entry level soundbars we believe will meet most folks needs from Boston Acoustics and Polk Audio.

Below is a table comparing the features of each. As you can see there is not much difference in the overall specs. In fact these two brands usually have a very similar sound profile as well. Both BA and Polk have solid industry reputations and should meet your small home theater needs for a long time.


Boston Acoustics TVee Model 25 2.1-Inch System with Sleek Sound Bar and Wireless Subwoofer (Black)


Polk Audio Surroundbar IHT 3000 Home Entertainment System (Black)

Main Features	Polk audio Surround bar IHT 3000	Boston Acoustics TVee Model 25
Wireless subwooer	Yes	Yes
Optical and analog inputs	YES with included optical cable	Yes
Virtual Digital Surround	Yes	Yes
Soundbar Product Dimensions	30.5 x 4.4 x 4 inches;	31.4 X 4.4 x 4.4 inches ;
Rear Speakers	No	No
Subwoofer Size	6.5” down firing	6.5” down firing
Watts	100 watts Soundbar 80 watts Subwoofer	150 watts total
Midrange	2X 6” full range	2 - 1.5X6” full range
Price	$349.95	$349.99

Both brands have several higher end soundbars that will also sound great and be more effective in larger rooms. You can search Amazon from the links below.

 Search Amazon.com for polk soundbars
Search Amazon.com for boston acoustics soundbars

Time to buy Outdoor Speakers on Sale

It's June and in the 90's on the east coast and we've been outside by the pool. Time to crank my outdoor speakers as loud as they can go. In the true tradition of retailing most vendors have already moved on to Fall items, which means it is a good time to look for sales on outdoor spekaers. A few we really like are from Polk, Boston , Acoustics Voyager speakers and Niles outdoor speakers.

Considerations when purchaing outdoor speakers.

• Waterproof vs Water Resistant - most outdoor spekaers are NOT water-proof. In other words they need to be either mounted under cover or somewhere else where they won't get directly rained on. Boston acoustics does make a speaker they consider water proof, the voyager series but you should still take some care.
• Acoustic suspension vs bass reflex. - to be truly water proof a speaker would have to be acoustic suspension since a large hole in the front would hardly be condusive to keeping out water. However a ported or bass reflex speaker will give you better bass, especially in an open outdoor environment.

Care and Feeding of Outdoor Speakers

If you live in a colder environment it is a good idea to take your outdoor speakers inside for the winter. We'll cover how to care for them in a short article come September.

Outdoor speakers on sale at Amazon.

New AirPlay & DLNA Receivers from Pioneer

Pioneer announced 5 new Pioneer Elite AV receivers. Most will support AirPlay and DLNA. This is good news for those who want to use these technologies to make their receiver their entertainment hub. I favor DLNA just slightly over AirPlay for its open platform That said there is something to be said for Apple's total system and its easy integration.

The new receivers—the VSX-40, VSX-50, VSX-51, VSX-52, and VSX-53—will all work with the iPad, iPhone, and iPod” and support 7-channel audio, a USB/video cable to attache an iOS devices right into the receivers. All support HDMI 1.4a input and output with 3D and ARC support. Starting with the VSX-50, they start to pick up networking and mobile features: the VSX-5x models can all be controlled from an iPad or iPhone using custom apps, support wireless access to users’ iTunes library via AirPlay, along with DLNA/vTuner technology to pull in media from other devices on a home network. The high end of the line, the VSX-52 and VX-53 also support Pandora, Rhapsody.  All the units support two or three zones of audio. This is great for those of us who are looking for more reasons to buy more speakers! Prices range from $450 to $1,100. Not really high-end but they should suffice for most movie and music listeners.

View all Pioneer AV Recievers here with Reviews
Search Amazon.com for pioneer VSX-50

Affordable Soundbars for Home Theater

 

Soundbars are popular for home theater because they don't require a lot of wiring or an advanced degree in electronics to operate. Generally a soundbar comes with one bar with a few midrange speakers, and a few tweeters. Better soundbars add some type of virtual surround sound. The best soundbars add the surround sound and a wireless subwoofer. What would be really nice would be a wireless subwoofer that also powers two surround speakers. Since subs can be almost anywhere in a room you could place the sub under an end table and run the surround speakers off of that. I've not seen this yet but it sure would be a great idea.

In the mean time here are some of the newest crop of Surround Soundbars on the market.

Boston TVEEM25  

The Boston Acoustics soundbar, TVee Model 25 is priced right at $349 with the newly added virtual surround. Their olderr Boston Acoustics TVee Model 20  was always highly rated on Amazon

Polk Audio Surroundbar IHT 6000 Instant Home Theater   
The Polk IHT 600 also adds virtual surround sound and the bar is only 2" deep to compliment today's slim TV designs. It comes in at $455.84. You can also consider the Polk Audio Surroundbar IHT 3000    which is only $324.99.


VIZIO VHT510 5.1 Surround Sound bar  
For those of you with Vizio TV's this soundbar is a bargain. It does have the surround speakers. It will likely work with any setup but the advantage here is that you'll only need one remote if you have a Vizio already.

Sony HT-CT350 Virtual 5.1 Sound Bar 
The Sony HT CT350 is a nice surround setup, though again with virtual surround. You will gain the benefits of one remote if your other gear is Sony but it is not necessary. It gets good reviews as well.

It is important to remember that virtual surround sound works best when there are only a couple of viewers and they are sitting next to each other in the sweet spot of the speakers. Since this method of surround sound is using audio gymnastics to deliver a enveloping experience it is not a true surround. That said, those of us who want a clean easy to use install, these surround soundbars offer a great alternative to lots of wiring and sometimes difficult to use AV Receivers.

Sonos Multi-Room Streaming SpeakerSale - $99 off

 

Sonos is an easy to use whole house music system. It uses streaming Internet content or your iTunes library via Apple AirPlay and a really simple to set up wireless system that delivers music to any room in your home. They don’t have sales often and this is a great deal. Though not cheap the ease of setup and the fact is is so easy to use make it a great for multi-room audio. It does not need a computer to work and it even has it’s own wireless network so it won’t interfere with other home networks.  If you have an iPhone’s or Android device Sonos has free apps that easily control your system. Play the same songs or different songs in different rooms. Really Simple and really Smart! Save $99 on a 2-room Sonos kit, or $50 on a 1-room kit at Sonos.com.