Nothing can dramatically improve the sound your home theater produces more than high quality speakers. Yet, in the age where disposable home theaters cost a mere $300, paying over $400 or more for just one speaker may seem like a waste, but it couldn't be further from the truth.

In the disposable electronics mindset, many consumers don't realize that they could own their speakers longer than their car, or maybe even their home. High quality speakers can last upwards of 20 years or more if they aren't over-driven.

Price of Ownership
If you spend $1200 on a pair of nice pair of high-quality speakers and kept them just 10 years, that's only $120 a year. Compare that to buying speakers that are $500 a pair that you either bust or get the upgrade bug to replace them three times over 10 years. Throw in that your speakers might force a receiver upgrade, and you could end up spending twice as much in the long run.

High quality speakers not only produce more accurate and thrilling home theater sound, but also produce great musical experiences that can rival live performances. Spending a little extra on speakers definitely goes a long way in improving your home theater's performance.

Reliability
One thing a great set of speakers offers is reliability and dependable sound. If you love the sound they produce and have trouble finding better, you'll be more inclined to keep the speakers and come to rely on their sound quality. Overall, a good pair of speakers provide a consistent performance level for music and movies.

Repairability
The worst thing to find out after bringing home a pair of great speakers is that somehow a driver got ruined. Maybe your loving pet decided the woofer cone was its enemy, or worse... the self-inflicting wound of blowing your own speakers by getting too rambunctious with the volume knob.

In either case, with any speaker you purchase, look for speakers that can be repaired versus thrown out. The main price factor of a speaker is its enclosure, internal crossover circuitry, and shipping. The speaker's drivers likely only makeup 1/4th to 1/3rd of the overall speaker cost so why fix what's not broken, just order new drivers from your local hi-fi hut where you purchased your speakers (or nearest authorized service center) and viola, new speakers.

Warranty
Many high-quality speakers are backed by 3, 5, and possibly 10-year warranties where all you have to do is bring the speaker to an authorized repair center and they fix it for you. If you're outside of warranty you should also be able to purchase replacement drivers for your speakers that you or the authorized dealer can replace.

The Hi-Fi Huts
Different hi-end specialty stores will have their own standards of repair. Some will only replace a cone if they can hear the imperfection you hear. If they don't, you may be taking your speaker back home unrepaired knowing it's broken, but unable to get it fixed under warranty. In this scenario even if it's under warranty you may be better off just buying the cones outright and replacing the drivers yourself. You'll void the warranty, but at least your speakers are fixed with minimal cost.

Cost Savings
Repairing broken speaker drivers saves a ton of many as well. For a $1200 pair of towers, replacing the midwoofer and woofer drivers for each speaker could cost a mere $100 per driver. So for the price of cheap speakers, your high-end speakers are renewed again with another long life, minimal hassle, and no change in the sound quality you expect.

Expectations
Nobody wants to buy $1200 speakers that break, but usually it's not the speakers at fault. Most speakers break due to over-driving of the speakers by the home theater enthusiast. Driving your speakers beyond their limits is sure to cause them to break, no matter how much the speakers cost. If you drive your speakers within reasonable levels you may never need to replace a single cone for the entire life of the speaker which can be 10, 20, or even 30 years.

Buy 'em for Life
Buying cheaper speakers brings the upgrade bug faster than buying speakers where it's difficult for you to find ones that sound better. Instead of always turning the corner to hear speakers that you like better, just purchase speakers that are hard to beat now, and never let the upgrade bug bother you again.

Spending $800-$1600+ on a pair of speakers may seem high priced, but if you take the time audition and find speakers you absolutely love, they can last you a lifetime. You'll be left with simply great sound instead of a storage area of old speakers you need to find uses for.

With speakers you definitely pay for what you get, and with so many speaker brands to choose from, you should be able to find speakers that produce the sound you like.

To learn about what to look for when evaluating speakers see:
On gear: Speakers