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Speakers: Chances are you already have a pair. Can they be used for your new theater system? Perhaps. Here are some considerations:
If you are as interested in music as you are in movies, you're going to need a good pair of stereo speakers. The two most common denominations of speakers are "towers" and "satellites". Tower speakers are floor-standing models that have the ability to cover the widest range of sound. Human hearing can detect frequencies of 20Hz(Bass) to approximately 20KHz(Treble). Your speakers should come as close as possible to handling the full spectrum of sound while trying to avoid any "audible gaps."
Where do such gaps come from?
If you've ever heard that cool THX intro at the movie theater, then you have experienced something called a "sweep." A sweep is simply a tone that runs through the complete spectrum of sound from 20-20Khz. Satellite speakers (also referred to a Bookshelf models) can handle high frequency sounds just as well as their floor standing counterparts. However, limitations in their size prevent them from reproducing low frequency sounds. These low frequency sounds must then be reproduced by a subwoofer.
Boxy and cumbersome, subwoofers are large speakers that can dish out room-shaking vibrations. Most subwoofers possess a feature called "adjustable crossover." The crossover tells the subwoofer want sounds to handle. For instance, if the crossover is set to 80Hz, the subwoofer will only reproduce sound at 80Hz and below. If your crossover is set to 100Hz and your satellite speakers can only reproduce sound as low as 120HZ, you have a 20Hz gap. In most instances you probably couldn't discern such a gap, but it is always wise to avoid them whenever possible.
