Great speakers make movies sound better (or Netflix shows). While you don’t need to buy the most expensive speakers on the market, you should consider investing in some well-built speakers if you want better sound.

Bookshelf speakers are compact, relatively well designed (depending on the brand), and monetarily accessible.

Here are some of the better bookshelf speakers on the market.

Sonus Faber Chameleon B $899

These Sonus Faber speakers come with one driver and one tweeter in each side. Sonus is somewhat famed for its sound quality and these speakers don’t disappoint. These speakers are on the small side with the drivers being around six inches, but they are a solid purchase when it comes to a bookshelf option.

Wharfedale Diamond 220 $349

Wharfedale is not a company that is well known. It’s not a company that has a strong following in North America, and it’s not a company that you’ll find in every audio store. That said, this British company has put out some speakers that content with others in its price class.

The bass that comes from these speakers is tight, and while they can’t compare to options in the thousands, the Diamonds are a good buy for the price.

Pioneer Elite $500

Pioneer’s Elite series come at an affordable price ($500 isn’t bad for a pair), and the company name is fairly well-known (it stands on some solid background). What’s to love about the Elites is that they are simple to set up and use.

While some other speakers in this class are more complex, the Elites are not. Sound-wise, you might want to beef up this option with an amp, but that’s a personal preference. The Elites are also relatively plain to look at, which may or may not be a bad thing depending on your decor.

Bookshelf Speakers Defined

So why would you purchase bookshelf speakers? What’s the appeal? Bookshelf speakers were designed to sit on shelves behind your couch or chair setup in order to enhance the sound coming from your TV or stereo. These aren’t the speakers that you would connect to your audio system although you could do so at some point.

Typically, you would connect these speakers to a single source like your TV or radio. If you want surround sound that connects to multiple sources, bookshelf speakers might not be what you want - or, you can try and find bookshelf speakers that can be connected to more than one source.

The name of these speakers comes from the fact that they usually sit by themselves on shelves and aren’t connected to anything else. In most cases, bookshelf speakers aren’t visually appealing though that is starting to change. Some speaker manufacturers are starting to take design into consideration, so you might be able to find more than an open-case speaker that looks rather out of place in a nicer living space.

In some cases, you may also have to pair bookshelf speakers with other components in order to get that really amazing sound. Really, it depends on what you’re looking for.