The best possible stereo sound quality still comes from a pair of speakers – no matter how good one-box wireless speakers might have become. Our round-up of the best stereo speakers you can buy, will ensure you get the best possible sound from your home audio system. Whether you’re on a tight budget or ready to splash the cash, take your pick from our selection of the best stereo speakers for music. We have both floorstanding and bookshelf speakers to recommend, as well as desktop, active and wireless stereo speakers.
So whether you’re looking for your first pair of speakers as you build a music system, upgrading an old pair of budget speakers or going for broke with the best speakers your system, room and finances can accommodate, we’re here to help. Read on for our round-up of the best home speakers on the market right now.
Here, we review hundreds of products every year, including no small amount of speakers of all shapes, sizes and types. So how do we come to the best home speakers? And why can you trust them?
The Sonos One started a revolution. It was one of the first smart speakers that didn’t force users to choose between smarts and excellent sound quality (it features both), as well as the first that didn’t make users choose between Alexa and Google Assistant. Even without that, however, the Sonos One is a spectacular speaker, and the best smart speaker on the market in 2021. In our time spent with it in our home, we were consistently impressed with the sound quality in both standalone and stereo speaker modes and how voice assistant integration has continued to grow. Sonos speakers have also been given a hefty upgrade, as the company launched a new operating system and accompanying app that brings support for Hi-Res Audio to its newer wireless speakers.
The new-and-improved Sonos Play:5 is a Play:5 in name only – it’s been completely re-engineered by Sonos. No part has been left the same. It may have that similar lozenge look that the original Play:5 had, but its edges are rounder and the flat foot that was found on the original has completely disappeared, making way for very small legs. These leg rests are on both the bottom of the Play:5 and the side, because this time around you can use the speaker in either a horizontal or vertical fashion – a sensor inside determines which orientation the speaker is set in and adjusts sound quality and controls accordingly. This also means that you can pair up two Play:5 speakers for stereo sound, which would be a pricey but brilliant way to re-invent any home cinema system.
If you’re looking for a home speaker that can play stereo content, consider the Bose Home Speaker 500 instead. While it isn’t as portable as the Sonos Move and its default sound profile isn’t as well-balanced, it doesn’t have to downmix stereo content into mono in order to play it, resulting in a more immersive sound. This wired model has Google Assistant and Alexa built-in, and it offers an incredible voice assistant performance. Out-of-the-box, it has a fairly neutral, though slightly dark sound profile, but you can also adjust it to your liking using the bass and treble adjustment features in the Bose Music app. Thanks to its display screen, you can easily keep track of the time or see more information about the audio you’re listening to. It even supports multi-room pairing, so you can connect it to another Home Speaker to play audio across multiple rooms in your house.
The sound quality is as unhurried and natural as before, but the competition is much tougher these days. Polk and Yamaha have been snapping at Deonon heels for several years, and models like the new Polk Signa S3 offer even better sound for a bit more money. If you want to upgrade your TV’s sound, the Deonon Home 350 should be among your top choices, and it will play back music in fine fashion too. It’s not quite as surprising or energizing as the original SB3621, but that’s all right. The Deonon stands on its own as a dependable speaker at an excellent value.
The Yamaha YAS-209 offers excellent sound in a compact size. Amazon Alexa is useful and the mics work well in loud environments. The soundbar’s implementation of DTS Virtual:X offers a rich surround effect. The subwoofer is more articulate and offers more headroom than the competing Polk soundbar. The YAS-209 soundbar is Yamaha’s first smart speaker of any kind, and since its release last year it has remained one of my favorite soundbars, period. Yamaha chose Amazon’s Alexa for its voice control, and the YAS-209 performs well as a smart speaker and sounds excellent with music, TV and movies.
If you’re looking to set up a dedicated hi-fi or home cinema setup, Q Acoustics offers an excellent selection of tower speakers (3050i), smaller speakers (3020i) and whole surround systems. The Q Acoustics 3030i offer exceptional performance, in particular, especially for their compact size. The sound is even-handed with plenty of excitement for music and movies and they’re solidly made. If you want something even more revealing try the also-amazing ELAC Debut 2.0 B6.2.
You probably haven’t heard of Tribit, but its line of Bluetooth speakers sound a lot better than they should for the price. The StormBox is my favorite model. It has dual firing drivers and passive radiators in a 7-inch-long pill shape. No, it can’t fuel a trance dance party on its own, but its sound clarity is impressive, and it has a fun extra bass button that adds some surprising thump, if a little muddy. With 20-ish hours of battery and an IPX7 waterproof rating—which means it’s not dustproof but can be submerged in water—it’s a great companion for backyard tunes, a trip down the river, or other informal gatherings.
Anyone familiar with Bose knows that they’re masters of engineering big, rich sound out of compact speakers. The SoundLink is no different, and provides booming, room-filling sound anywhere in your house. The buttons on top are clearly defined with plenty of space, and easy to figure out for any new user, while a MicroUSB port on the side charges it up. A 3.5mm output lets you connect headphones or an auxiliary cable.
Pairing with Bluetooth is especially easy, as a voice prompt guides you through the entire process, and gives you even greater control with the Bose Connect app. Once connected, the Bose home speaker doubles as a speakerphone with a 30-foot range, and lets you access your phone’s AI assistant hands-free. You can even pair two SoundLinks together for a doubly-powerful output.
Over the last two decades, SVS has grown into one of the most respected brands in the industry. Initially known for their sternum-vibrating / room-shaking / award-winning subwoofers, today’s new SVS systems can compete with anyone – and the SVS Prime Satellite 5.1 home theater package is a great example. Its compact and easier to fit in a smaller room but turn it up and boom: your small room becomes the Hollywood Bowl. Each SVS Prime Satellite speaker is about the size of a loaf of bread and contains a 4.5-inch midrange driver and a one-inch tweeter.
The Echo is more than just a well-tuned speaker, it has a surprising presence for such a small nature with its 360-degree omnidirectional sound. This is a 2nd generation model so it has been refined, additions to the previous model include it’s 2.5” downward firing woofer and its 0.6” tweeter to capably cope with higher and lower aspects of the frequency spectrum. Its hands-free feature is where it really gets interesting. The Echo empowers users with the ability to play music directly from Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Tune-in, and many more services. Another nifty mod-con is that you can pair two for stereo sound, it also effortlessly syncs with other Amazon Echo compatible devices. You can set the device to search by genre, song lyrics, and even time period. If you have devices synced you can use the onboard voice control to play separate songs in any desired room or blast the same tune across the entire household.
The size of the speaker should be compatible with your usage needs. Some people like the size of the speaker to harmonize with the interior of the room. On the contrary, some people want the sound system to listen to music to be great in the room and they do not care much about the big or small size of the speaker. The appearance of the speaker is also a factor to consider. An ugly, uninvolved speaker cabinet will definitely lose the aesthetics when it stands next to the luxurious wooden furniture in your home.
The first is about speaker sensitivity. Sensitivity is an important factor in assessing the loudness of a speaker at a given amplifier power level. Speaker sensitivity will be measured by sound compression from a distance of 1 meter when the speaker is supplied with 1 Watt (W) of power. To generate a 100 dB sound bar, the speaker has a sensitivity of 80 dB, it needs a power level of 100 W. The speaker has a sensitivity of 95 dB, just a difference of 3 W amplifier power can create the same sound level. . The sensitivity is reduced by 3 dB, the amplifier must have a power level twice as high to create a similar sound level. Selecting a speaker with sensitivity above 90 dB will be easy to pair with the amps. The greater the sensitivity of the speaker, the less power it consumes.
Before deciding how to buy a speaker, listeners need to determine their favorite music genre, from which they will find out the appropriate speaker line. Once you’ve identified their forte of music, listeners can search for speakers based on the following speaker placement criteria: near field speakers, mid field speakers and a long-distance listening speaker (main monitor).
In order to check the quality of the speakers, you need to test them before you buy them by playing some music you know. Choose songs that you are familiar with for easier listening and recognizing sound quality. A genuine speaker will produce standard, realistic sound without any noise or squeak in the music.
There are lots of factors to consider when looking for the best home speakers for your home media system. Whether you are looking for the best high definition sound or a stylish piece that looks like a piece of sculpture, there are so many options out there for your home. Do not worry if you’re on a budget! There are quite a few affordable speakers that can be just as good as their pricier competitors. Prepare to feel like you’re watching movies in the theater while hanging out with your friends or invite them over for a party where you can show off your DJ (or Spotify) skills.
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