For a home theater system to be the best that it can be, it requires very a high quality, versatile speakers’ system with high fidelity speakers that can handle the unique output levels that are used for movies. There are a lot of speakers that can be used for these systems, but some find themselves asking, “can I use PA speakers for a home theater?”
You can use PA speakers for a home theater if you do it right. PA speakers are not meant for this application, so they will require some setting up and tweaking before they work well for home theaters. Using the right PA speakers is important, but home theaters can sound great with PA speakers.
PA speakers are intended for very high output audio output over prolonged periods while sustaining audio quality and clarity. This makes them perfect for home theater, right? Let’s find out!
Can PA Speakers Be Used For Home Theater?
PA speakers are designed for sustained use over long periods of time while maintaining very high output levels, audio quality, and clarity while simultaneously being able to output audio from across the entire audible audio spectrum.
This makes PA speakers some of the most versatile speakers available, and it makes them perfect for many audio applications, but can they be used for home theater systems?
The truth is PA speakers can be used for a home theater system but setting them up for this use can be a challenge and choosing the right speakers for this use can be difficult.
PA speakers are not intended for use in a living room or home theater room, and they are incredibly powerful, large, and meant to be used from a distance.
That being said, they are also designed to entirely fill a room with sound, which is desirable for home theater.
The trick to using PA speakers for home theater is to choose the right speakers for your room and for your audio system. PA speakers are made to be used in very large rooms or outdoors, which means that they do not always sound great at close range.
This means that you will need to use speakers with a close “throw” and that are capable of producing good-sounding audio at lower volumes than they are usually meant for.
To use PA speakers for this purpose, they should be powered, meaning that they have an on-board power supply, they must have the right input connectors to receive audio from the rest of the system, and they should be able to produce a full range of frequencies while sounding good at close-range.
Why PA Speakers Are Good For Home Theater
Home theater systems have very specific audio requirements. The audio that is used in movies is very different from that of music or other audio sources, and so the speakers that are used for a system like this must meet a very precise set of requirements.
For this reason, PA speakers may very well be the perfect speakers for home theater. PA speakers can be combined with one another to create the best possible audio output spectrum, allowing the speakers to function well over a very wide frequency range.
These speakers are also very powerful and punchy. They are capable of very thumping low-end output, crisp high-end sound, and very clear mid-range output.
This is great for movies, as not many other speakers possess the ability to output music from a movie while keeping dialog clear and also producing the driving frequencies used for intense sounds like explosions.
The versatile audio output from modern PA speakers makes them a good option for home theater speakers.
PA speakers are loud, clear, and designed to fill an entire room with high-quality sound. This is perfect for movie audio and makes PA speakers ideal for this use from an audio quality perspective.
PA speakers are designed to be used as part of an audio system, which means that they can be combined with various speakers to cover the entire audio spectrum.
There are PA speakers made for specific frequency ranges, from bass to treble and everything in between, and combining the right speakers can add up to the perfect soundstage for a home theater.
My choice for a great sounding home theater is the Electro-Voice speakers from JBL. Check them out here on Amazon.
Why PA Speakers May Not Work Well For Home Theater
While it is possible to use PA speakers for home theater, and they may very well be the perfect speakers for the job, there are some considerations to make first, and there are some drawbacks to using PA speakers for home theater.
The first problem with using PA speakers for home theater is that these speakers are very large. They are much larger than speakers that are designed for use in a living room, and this may make them very difficult to set up for the room they are used in.
PA speakers are also very powerful. They may be far too powerful for the application of home theater, depending on the size of the speaker, and therefore they may not be able to be used at a volume loud enough for optimum sound quality from the speaker.
Another major issue is that PA speakers are not meant for use at close-range or in small rooms. PA speakers sound best when they are more than 15ft away from the listener, which means that tuning them for home theater is very challenging.
PA speakers will also require very sophisticated EQ to be used well for home theater, which may be a challenge for some users.
For these reasons, PA speakers may not be the best for home theater, but if you use the right speakers and set them up well, they could be perfect. It all depends on how they are used.
It is vital that you choose powered speakers for home audio and not passive. If you are a little confused about what this means check out this useful YouTube video.
Conclusion
At the end of it, it is true that PA speakers can be used for a home theater system, but they must be the right speakers for the application, and they must be optimized for producing the best quality audio output for home theater.
This is because PA speakers are not intended for this use, so they must be set up correctly to be used well in a home theater system.
If you use the right set of speakers and spend the time to place them correctly, perform proper equalization, and set them up well for the room and the rest of the system, then PA speakers can be perfect for home theater!
I have also written an article on using PA speakers in a car! You can read it here.