Best 2.1 Speaker Virtual Surround Systems

2.1 home theater systems can be the perfect home entertainment solution for two distinct types of people. If you lean MORE towards being a two-channel stereo music-loving audiophile THAN surround sound movie-loving videophile, you'll appreciate the superior sonic performance of these simpler-to-set-up virtual surround audio systems using just two small speakers and a subwoofer.

And then there are those of you who are currently renting an apartment or dormitory room and can't or just plain don't want to mess around with running, fishing, and hiding long speaker wires from the front to the back of the room as you would need to for properly setting up the side / rear surround speakers from a "conventional" 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound system. Then, there is the added benefit of no separate center channel speaker!

One possible drawback to this type of audio system is that they typically lack video switching capabilities. If you DON'T mind that your HDTV perform all the video switching, consider virtual surround sound audio systems in a box from Klipsch - wireless subwoofer (pictured to the right), Bose, and Denon (pictured below).

2.1 speaker placement  Because virtual digital surround sound processing technology (such as Dolby's Virtual Speaker) does a decent job of simulating 5.1 channels of surround sound audio effects using fewer speakers, you'll only need to worry about setting up three speakers. The two stereo speakers should ideally be located to the left and right sides of your television screen, either sitting on top of your TV stand or wall-mounted next to your flat panel high definition television. The third speaker is the subwoofer speaker which produces all the deep bass and typically sounds its best sitting on the floor, either somewhere between the 2 satellite speakers, behind the television, or near a corner. You may want to experiment with speaker/subwoofer placement/settings a bit to get the best possible sound.