SPEAKERS OF THE HOUSE.(sound systems)

You'd never buy one brand of speaker for the left channel of your stereo and a different brand for the right, would you? Crazy as this question may seem, home-theater customers often make similar mistakes by purchasing front-channel speakers from one manufacturer, rear channels from another and a center channel from a third. The resulting systems seldom deliver the level of performance for which their owners paid.

Like the designers of haute-couture fashion or the vintners of first-growth Bordeaux, leading speaker producers exhibit distinctive "house styles," signature sounds that distinguish their products from competitors. Thanks to the explosive growth of home theater, the best of these manufacturers now offer center-and rear-channel models that bear a strong family resemblance to their traditional stereo speakers. By taking the guesswork out of system building, these companies make it easy for movie mavens to assemble complete, perfectly matched theaters.

Why should you select a single family of speakers for all five (or six, if you add a subwoofer) channels? In the simplest terms, every speaker's performance is described by a set of specifications, including frequency response (the range of frequencies the speaker can reproduce), efficiency (the amount of sound a speaker generates when fed a given quantity of power), dispersion (the speaker's ability to radiate sound over a broad listening area) and many others. Taken as a whole, these specifications define each speaker as uniquely as a thumbprint. Now, consider a typical action film, where the sound effects travel -- or, in audio jargon, "pan" -- from left to right or front to back. Unless each speaker's specifications complement those of all the others in the system, these pans sound choppy or disjointed, and the illusion becomes unconvincing.

Of course, veteran audiophiles and professional system designers have the ability to blend various speaker brands into a coherent soundspace. For the rest of us, however, any of the four packages described below will deliver the most compelling theater experience this side of your local tenplex.

Boston Acoustics Micro System 9000 II ($1,000) 800-240-7285

Who says you can't coax big sound out of small speakers? An ideal choice when one's home entertainment aspirations are constrained by a small room or budget, Micro System 9000 II excels in situations where full-size speakers simply won't work. Standing less than 7" tall, the front-channel satellites produce a quantity and quality of sound astonishing for such small, inexpensive speakers. The secret lies in Boston's acoustically inert, die-cast aluminum speaker enclosures, which ensure that all of the drivers' energy is converted into sound, rather than performance- and power-robbing cabinet vibration.

Other parts of the system are no less impressive. Tweeters are the same aluminum domes found in Boston's high-end Lynnfield Series, while specially designed 3-1/2" midwoofers augment bass response and facilitate an 89dB efficiency specification, making this system a perfect partner for low-powered receivers. A capable subwoofer and diminutive, wall-mount surround speakers complete the package. The Swiss Army knife of home-theater systems.