Stereo and/or surround sound speakers

by Tim Woodward
(Warwickshire, UK)

Can I use surround sound speakers for both surround and stereo playback? Any help from somebody would be really useful. Thanks for your time in this matter.

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Tim

You certainly can.

A 5.1 surround sound speaker system will have 6 speakers - front left/right, centre, surround left/right and a subwoofer.

The front left and right speakers are effectively your stereo speakers. Anything you play through your system which has only stereo sound, will just come through the front left/right pair (and the sub).

Just be aware, surround sound speaker packages can sometimes lack audio quality compared to a good pair of stereo speakers. If you need great stereo audio too (primarily for listening to music), then either pay a bit more for a higher-end surround package, or buy your surround speakers separately and spend a bit more on the front left/right pair.

There is no problem with building a speaker set up by adding different speakers to make a complete surround package.

Follow the links below if you need more detailed information on putting together a surround speaker system.

All the best.

Paul (Site Editor)

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