Our family room is open to the second floor of our home, and the sound from our tv escapes upstairs. In order to hear dialogue, we have to turn the sound up. Then, it is actually louder upstairs than in our family room. We are thinking speakers placed near our seating area may help. We do not want to sit around with headphones on. Btw, I am not very knowledgeable about home theater systems, surround systems, etc.