Loudspeakers are a necessary evil. The best, most advanced, and costliest examples will produce 100 times the distortion and a dozen times the frequency response error of the lowliest off-brand receiver. Yet it's kind of hard to listen to music without them.

Given how challenging speaker design is, it's surprising there are so many of the damned things. Many of these aren't even worth the medium-density fiberboard from which they're folded up. But, luckily, a substantial number are. Telling the difference isn't necessarily easy, and distinguishing the outstanding from the merely competent is even harder.

This gathering of S&V's picks for speakers is, truth be told, not particularly scientific. It's suggestions from one guy (moi) who's been around the audio rodeo a while. In every case, I have culled from two or three (or four, five, or six) equally qualified choices — not because this one or that is "the best," that amorphous word, nor because the manufacturers sent dancing girls and single-malt (if only!), but because that's the only way to keep this piece a manageable size.

Are we telling you to go out and buy this one over that? Hell, no. We're encouraging you to listen for yourself: to the models showcased below, and to their many competitors in price, type, and style. Thus and only thus can you begin to become an "expert" — whatever that is — in your own right.

5.1-Channel Home Theater Systems

The Powerball Winner: Revel Ultima2/Performa System - $36,000 (system) Salon2 (L/R), Voice2 (C), S30 (surr.), B15a (sub)

Revel combines the technological muscle (and acoustical facilities) of the sprawling Harman International family to which it belongs, with the audiophile ear and street-cred of founder and chief designer Kevin Voecks. The combo has yielded some of the finest loudspeakers available. With your unlimited winnings, go straight to the top: the imposing flagship Salon2 and Voice2 models up front, but with two pairs of the surround-dedicated, multi-pattern S30 from the step-down Performa line. The Salon2s don't really require a subwoofer, but what they hey — we'll add in a couple B15 15-inchers for the LFE channel to make sure that movie mayhem can loosen drywall screws.

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Serious Stuff: PSB Synchrony System ($10,500) Synchrony One (L/R), Synchrony One C (C), Synchrony S (surr.), SubSeries 500 (sub)

PSB is a Canadian firm that's been producing amazingly good speakers amazingly cheap for some 30 years now, in large part thanks to the dedication and expertise of founder (and violinist/engineer) Paul S. Barton (P.S.B.). The Synchrony line demonstrates what Barton might achieve with, if not a cost-no-object design, at least a cost-less-object one. The product of several years' dogged refinement, Synchrony is the epitome of "value high-end" — your get about 98 percent of the musicality, dynamics, and spatial refinement money can buy, for about a tenth part of what it's possible to spend.

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High-End Value: Atlantic Technology System 6200e ($5,600) 6200e (L/R), 6200eC (C), 4200eSR (surr.), 642SB (sub)

As one of the very first companies to market subwoofer-satellite speaker systems back in the two-channel era, Atlantic Technology qualifies as a home-theater pathfinder. This verifiably full-range (and THX-certified) suite is engineered for movies first, but delivers delicately detailed music playback, from stereo or multichannel recordings, with equal aplomb (its dipole/bipole-switchable surround speakers make it highly adaptable). Atlantic's dedicated front-speaker pedestal stands pair are absurdly expensive (our price above applies to speakers only); so, I personally would just assume prop the speakers on cinderblocks instead and apply the difference to a Blu-ray library.

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Value First: Outlaw Audio LCR System ($3,894) Outlaw LCR (L/R, C, surr.), LFM-EX (sub)

Outlaw Audio is a web-to-consumer audio company whose name sums up its attitude to the traditional manufacturer-rep-retailer-consumer distribution path of AV gear. The idea was to eliminate middlemen and reduce cost to the end-user (a not entirely novel idea), and with Outlaw's first home-theater speaker, the results speak volumes. The Outlaw LCR is a one-size-fits-all design, something I usually disapprove of. But this one has a difference: a rear-panel switch that reconfigures the crossover for vertical or horizontal orientation (2-way vs. "2-1/2-way" filtering), so they can indeed work better in back as well as in front, and whether standing up or lying down, than would otherwise be the case. Add in the LFM-EX 12-inch subwoofer, a basic but effective performer, and you have a sub-$4,000 system that challenges the status quo for a movies-centric multichannel speaker system.

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Bang-per-Buck: DCM TimeFrame ($2,350) TFE200 (L/R), TFE60C (C), TP160BDP (surr.), TB1212 (sub)

I recognize that some buyers, nearly all of them male, will be powerless to resist the call of the hulkingly large, impressive, bass-happy, slambanctious, low-dollar systems from major-brand retailers. Here's a better alternative from DCM, an American brand that started out as a small audiophile firm three decades hence, but is now part of the Mitek family of home and car audio brands. The TFE200 towers around which this suite is assembled should be big enough to satisfy even the most impressionable teenager, but the system's looks belie unexpectedly accurate, level octave-to-octave balance, acceptable center-channel solidity, while dual-tweeter surround speakers that provide at least a little bit of the virtue of more fully dipolar designs.

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Penny-Pincher: SVSound SBS/SCS-01 System ($1,150) SBS-01 (L/R, surr.), SCS-01 (C), PB12-NSD (sub)

SVSound began at the bottom — the Midwest maker earned its colors on low-cost/high-performance subwoofers of impressive value. It's first foray into a full-range system, the subcompact SBS-01 (and SCS-01 center speaker) carries that upward to the remaining 8 octaves of sound with accurate, balanced reproduction and very low cost. Add in the PB12-NSD 12-inch subwoofer, and you have a system for not much beyond the thousand-dollar mark that goes low, plays loud and clean, and delivers an unexpectedly natural, warm musical balance. (Sounds simple, but you try designing one for that short money!)

Compact Home Theater Options

Small: Mirage OMD-5 5.1 System ($3,049)

Mirage's "Omnipolar" technology is a very unusual driver-layout that reproduces sound with an approach to the theoretical ideal of omnidirectionality — a source that sounds the same from any angle. Among a host of advantages, this produces a stunningly large, dimensional, lifelike image from stereo (and multichannel) recordings. The OMD-5 satellites used at the four corners extends well down to the sub's range for a smooth, continuous blend, while the hybrid OMD-C1 center compromises with enough direct sound to keep movie dialogue grounded on-center. A great system for the lover of music listening (especially of naturally recorded classical and jazz) who wouldn't mind some serious cinema sound as well, and insists on big sound from a small space.

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Smaller: Definitive Technology ProCinema 800 ($1,200)

Anyone who absolutely needs — or insists upon — a highly compact, wholly elegant-looking loudspeaker system will do little better than Definitive Technology's ProCinema 800 layout. The jewel-like construction and elegant form of these subcompact satellite speakers appeals to the eye and hand, but drop an acoustically transparent scrim in front of this system and the ear would never guess. Much of the magic arises from the passive-radiator diaphragm concealed in each sat's top panel. This couples with an unusual woofer design to enable these very small speakers (just 8 inches tall) to go low enough, nonetheless, to blend properly with their sub, itself an ultra-compact 8-incher that still manages to produces honest deep bass.

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Smallest: Energy RC Micro System ($999)

The Micro 5.1 is about as small as front-channel loudspeakers can get, for the practical reason that shrinking the satellites much further would limit their ability to produce acceptable low-midrange. This in turn would cause too much sound (including parts of male voices, instruments like guitars or cellos, and lots of film sound effects) to end up originating from the subwoofer. Still, the Canadian maker's Micros are almost comically small: just over 4-1/2 inches tall, or about the size of a coffee-mug (if mugs were square). The 8-inch ESW-C8 sub included in the system isn't all that much bigger, but it delivers enough extension and oomph to give an honest impersonation of cinema sound. The overall effect, in a small room, is precisely what most folks want from this kind of a mini: "Whoa, all that sound's coming from these?" With all frankness, if you can go bigger, do; you'll get more impact, deeper bass, more volume, and better spatial presentation. But it you can't or won't, this system stands a world apart from the typical department store home-theater-in-a-box.

Standalone Subwoofers

Price No Object: JL Audio Fathom f21 ($6,100)

I'm fairly certain this is the best standalone subwoofer money can buy. The Fathom f212 is a 220-pound, 3-kilowatt, dual-12-inch monster with flat response well into the infrasonic region, awesome power, plus speed, articulation, "slam," definition — the biggest JL has it all, in spades. You'll need help (lots of it) to unpack and position the f212, but once the deed is done, hang on to your fillings.

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Value: Hsu Research VTF-3 Mk3/Turbo ($799)

Hsu Research is another early direct-to-web vendor, and was one of the first subwoofer specialist makers going back to before the web era. The VTF-3 Mk3/Turbo features — along with a too-long model-name — an unusual port-extension that allows the user to set up for maximum deep-bass extension, or for maximum output, by opening or blocking large-cross-section ports. Either way, the Hsu design delivers a highly satisfying dose of genuine deep bass for amazingly few dollars.

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Compact: Sunfire True Subwoofer EQ ($2,195)

Nearly a decade ago, Sunfire's Bob Carver pioneered the whole mini-subwoofer concept, which, to put it simply, cheats the laws of physics with brute force (amplifier power) and acoustical sleight of hand (passive radiators). The California firm's latest low-down leveler adds automatic room-analysis and equalization, to help integrate the sub into the actual room acoustics it will encounter. A bigger, conventional sub of similar cost can go a bit lower into the deepest bass a bit more powerfully, but if you simply cannot (or will not) accommodate the size, the True Subwoofer, at less than a single cubic foot, will come remarkably close.

Two-Channel Holdouts

Unlimited Class: Snell Acoustics Illusion A7 ($50,000/pr.)

Snell Acoustics is a small Massachusetts company that's been quietly producing state-of-the-art speakers, in small quantities, since the original A7 designed by the late Peter Snell in 1976. The Illusion A7 updates the concept of the full-range, price-be-damned stereo loudspeaker for the 21st century, with the latest in alloy driver technology, innovative cabinet design, and acoustical engineering by the legendary Joe D'Appolito, (inventor of the mid-tweeter-mid driver array that carries his name). The Illusion A7 towers feature a continuously curved cabinet with no flat or parallel surfaces that you really have to see in person to understand — and that, like every Snell, is hand finished and beautifully constructed. You'll need a forklift truck for delivery (200+ lb. each), and another fork-load of high-end amplifiers to hear them at their best, but with the finest recordings they'll make you a believer.

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Rational Class: B&W 703 ($3,300/pr.)

Bowers & Wilkins is the best known (and most successful, at least in the U.S.) of the many British speaker manufacturers. Consequently, B&W has achieved a sort of BMW status among snobbier audiophiles here: It's easy to sneer at folks who own them without knowing or caring how to get the most from them — and at the image that inevitably trails such consumers — but hard to argue with the quality and performance of the product itself. And the 703's are classic B&W: slightly warm yet powerfully detailed; seductively smooth but excitingly dynamic; impressively wide-range yet well defined down low. They don't demand a kilowatt, megabucks amplifier, but are still able to reflect fine electronics, and fine recordings, with very fine sound.

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Value Class: Paradigm Monitor 7 v.6 ($758/pr.)

For some reason, Canada is the mother lode of speaker manufacturers whose passion is value, and Paradigm is one of the best, and most value-obsessed, of the breed. The firm's Monitor series has a lot in common with the Chevrolet Corvette: It's been around forever, gets updated every four or five years without changing its fundamentals, and is not particularly exotic but manages judicious innovations to deliver legitimately Ferrari-grade performance at, well, a Chevy price. The Monitor 7 v.6 is the smallest floor-standing tower in the line, but nevertheless produces impressive range and the usual marvelous Paradigm clarity and balance. Pair these up with an inexpensive audiophile amplifier and a decent CD player, and you can have an astonishingly musical system for 'way south of two grand.

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Budweiser Class: Polk Audio RTi A1 ($400/pr.)

There are simply hordes of 5-1/4-inch two-ways, as speakers of this ilk are known in the trade, and they range in cost, quite literally, from under $100 to more than $10,000 the pair. Polk's RTi A1 is an outstanding example of just how well, and how inexpensively, this basic loudspeaker layout can serve the listener. These Polks can't deliver the bottom octave of deep bass with much authority, but you'll be amazed at just how solid these little speakers sound — and you'll be even more impressed by their honest, uncolored midrange and detailed top end. You could combine a pair with a stereo receiver scavenged on trash-day and a $39 drugstore CD player, and walk away with a perfectly serious stereo music system for less than a NYC dinner for two.

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Audiophile Epiphany: Quad ESL-2905 (about $12,000/pr.)

Britain's Quad was the first to market an electrostatic loudspeaker, and more than a half-century later they're still at it, with a unique design incorporating delay-lines to merge the pinpoint-imaging benefits of a point-source (like most conventional speakers) with those incontrovertible openness, clarity, and detail of a flat-panel radiator. (It was hearing a pair of the original Quads that enlightened me, like thousands before me, to what hi-fi could truly be.) Quad's current range tops out on the ESL-2905, one of the few electrostatics ever made that can fairly claim to be a full-range reproducer. Like all 'stats the 2905's are big, tricky to set up, require a goodly sized room (electrostatics radiate both forward and backwards, so placement anywhere near a wall is a no-go), and really demand the best in electronics and sources. They're also not so easy to find: There are relatively few Quad dealers in the U.S. today. But if you have the chance to hear a properly set up pair play a great recording — especially one, let's say, of a string orchestra or an acoustic jazz combo — I'll guarantee you become a yet another disciple.