Good home stereo amplifiers and a good set of home stereo speakers give you great sound and an opportunity to really enjoy your music and movies. However, if you're going to spend a lot of money on a good setup, you should make sure that you're getting the most from your home stereo amplifier.
Make sure that your amplifier power output and speakers are compatible.
Watts and Ohms aren't just terms for techies; you need to make sure that your home stereo amplifier and speakers are compatible in these important specs. When looking at Wattage, make sure you're looking at Watts per channel, and not total Watts. Try to get stereo speakers that match or are slightly below the Watts per channel rating of your amp. Too high, and your amp may not have enough power to run it; too low, and your amp could damage your speakers.
Ohms are another important component in matching home stereo amps and speakers. Check the manufacturer's rating for Ohms, typically eight Ohms or four Ohms, and find speakers that match. If you're putting multiple speakers on a channel, two eight Ohm speakers equals four Ohms from the stereo amplifier, so make sure you've got a four Ohm amp or use another method to hook up multiple speakers.
Use your home stereo amplifier for as many applications as possible.
If you're investing in a home stereo amplifier, use it! Got an iPod? Hook it up to the home stereo amplifier. Got a video game system? Hook it up to the amp. You don't have to use your home stereo amp only to watch movies; get creative, and hook up your computer, your cable box, your video games; anything you can think of to get the most use out of that amp.
Use a subwoofer.
Bass frequencies really help to flesh out sound, and make for a realistic home theater experience. Look for home stereo amps that support a subwoofer, and use it. In addition to the richer sound experience you'll get with a subwoofer, hooking up subwoofers to some home stereo amps can give you the option of drastically increasing your sound quality from the rest of your speakers. With some home stereo amps, you can customize the sound to drive low frequencies exclusively to the subwoofer, saving the power to the rest of your speakers to produce rich, full sound in the mids and highs.
Tune your room
If you haven't tuned your room since setting up your stereo amplifier, you should. Get a test CD and measure your speaker performance. You may need to adjust the sound going to each channel, or play with some of the stereo amplifier's features to optimize the sound quality in your room. Even the most awesome home stereo amps can sound mediocre if you don't tune your room, so do yourself a favor and tune it.
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