Which speakers should I use?

If you are looking for some recommended BIC America surround sets, go to the end of this article (click here) 

    The good news is most speakers are compatible with most systems. Let's dispense with the main problem area immediately. If your system has a dedicated bass module that all the speakers must hook to, you probably can not upgrade the system. Your best answer would be to replace the receiver or amplifier with a standard type surround receiver and standard style speakers.

If you have a standard type of surround receiver or amplifier all the speakers on this site are compatible with it. ¹

Surround Systems

    A standard 5.1 surround system consists of a center channel speaker, a left and right front speaker, a left and right rear speaker, and a subwoofer. 6.1 systems and above simply add more rear speakers and a rear center. We will discuss the standard 5.1 system and all remarks apply to the 6.1 and 7.1 systems as well.

    If you are buying part of a surround system, you will want to match the current system to a certain extent. It is recommended, but not a requirement, to use all the same brand speakers so sounds have a consistent quality as the sound moves from one speaker to another. The BIC speakers will work fine with other brands in a mix and match setup, but you really need to ensure that at least the left and right front speakers are the same brand and type, and the rear surround pairs are the same as each other.

    As far as distributing a budget goes, if money was no object the ideal is to have all speakers the same size and type. In the real world, on a limited budget, there are other considerations. The rear speakers do much less work than the three front speakers. You may be able to get better sound by having larger speakers here and less expensive speakers for the rears. There is usually less bass and volume in the rear channels.

    The center channel speaker is very important for movie watching, the majority of speech and much of the other sounds come from here. It ties the sounds to the screen and must be placed above or below the television (or behind the screen for projection systems) for the system to work right. I recommend an equal balance in quality between a center channel and left and right front speakers, unless the system is used mainly for music in stereo. In that case, by all means spend as much as possible on the left and right front speakers.

    The subwoofer is also very important for surround systems. Many have skimped here and regretted it. In a surround system there is a dedicated low frequency channel. Low frequency sounds are steered to the subwoofer by the surround amplifier. In most cases you simply will not get the full experience without a good sub, and your other speakers may be asked to push bass at levels they can't handle (You speakers can't handle the TRUTH!). In my opinion all 8 inch subwoofers suck unless your goal is simply the smallest possible system. They can be placed out of site, and only really work to fill in some of the missing bass of mini systems. If you really like to feel the bass, BIC's 15 inch sub performs well, and you can read our review of it compared to a much more expensive Polkaudio sub.

In Wall / Distributed Audio

    This is another subject, which is approached in more detail in articles elsewhere. For surround systems, in wall speakers work fine. keep in mind the difficulty of repositioning the speakers if you move your video location. The center channel speaker must be aligned with the video screen. In wall subwoofers are not recommended unless care is taken to resolve the potential issues of vibrating walls and pictures, etc. One possible solution is installed in the floor firing through a heating style vent.

    For distributed audio use, impedance matching issues come in. If installing multiple speaker pairs and you don't know about impedance matching, see our article here. If you don't and your amplifier burns out, don't say you weren't warned. For use from a surround system, it is recommended to run the distributed audio from either the 'B' speaker outputs on the receiver or amplifier, or from zone 2 outputs if your system has them. This allows the main system to run in surround while the distributed audio runs in stereo mode. By the way, some of the cheaper amplifiers (some Pioneer receivers for example) may not run the 'B' speakers with the 'A' speakers shut off. The BIC in wall speakers attach with a built in clamp mechanism, so they are easy to install. Running the cable to them may be a different matter!

    By the way, use CL3 (in wall rated) cable for in wall installs. It is a legal and potential safety issue, not to mention that it will work better due to specific differences in the construction of this type of cable.

1    Some speakers drop to 4 ohms or below in impedance, and many amplifiers perform poorly at low impedances. Those speakers must be used with a higher end, high current amplifier such as a Marantz or Parasound to avoid problems such as lack of bass response (frequency response problems).