
Nothing says modern status symbol like a quality home theater system. Having the gear to provide a movie theater quality viewing or gaming experience instantly tells visitors to your that you’re a person who has arrived.
There’s a lot of home theater systems out there though, and choosing the one that will provide the best quality and impress your visitors can be confusing. To help you get an handle on which home theater system best suits your needs, here’s a few basics:
Choosing the display type is the first step in selecting your home theater system. Flat panels, such as LCD and plasma displays, and rear-projection televisions can produce large, wide-screen, high-definition pictures. Front projector televisions can produce razor-sharp images in even larger screen sizes.
A good trick for choosing a television for your home theater system is to measure the distance between your couch and where you’ll be putting your television. Then, when you get to the store, stand that distance away from the television you’re looking at. This will keep you from buying a television that’s too large or small for your home theater needs.
Also remember that for home theater screens 30-inches or larger, you’ll get the best picture quality from high-definition broadcasts and DVDs if you buy the HDTV model. The display resolutions of HDTV sets vary; typical examples include 720p, 1080i or 1080p, 1366 by 768, and 1024 by 768. The display resolution of your new television may not matter much unless its screen is relatively large and you sit unusually close to it. The difference between 720p and 1080p resolution, for example, isn’t very noticeable on a 50-inch screen unless you sit within about 10 feet of it.
Good sound is key to a good home theater experience. However, getting your home theater’s audio just right can be tricky. Basically, you’re going to want a home theater stereo that has 5.1 sound. This means five speakers, center, front left and right, back left and right, and one subwoofer. Proper positioning of your home theater’s audio gear is key to ensuring quality sound. Your front speakers should be at least two feet behind the television, the center speaker should be either on or near the television, the subwoofer should face forward toward the center of the room with the mesh side open and the back speakers should be positioned in an area that maximizes their ability to add to the ambient sound quality of the home theater system.
Once you get all of this snazzy gear, making sure you install it properly is vital to ensuring all that money didn’t go to waste. Improper installation of a home theater system can result in crackling sound an unclear picture and looking like a tool when your friends come over to watch. Avoid embarrassment by picking up a few good do-it-yourself manuals before trying to make sense of all those red and yellow cables or by hiring a pro to set up your new home theater system.
A home theater system can literally project your status and taste to guests. Don’t make a mess of your chance to impress. Choose the right gear, put it in the right place and get the right people to set it up.
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do all home theater systems come with DVD players?I want to get a home theater system, but I already have a perfectly good DVD player. Can I get a system that just hooks up to my TV and works with cable and my dvd player?
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February 26th, 2009
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That is exactly what I have
You should probably check out Amazon (link below) for most of these, as they offer free shipping on most AV receivers and can generally take $100 or more off the price of a receiver. I actually spoke with an AV pro at Circuit City the other day, and here were his feelings on receivers:
Top of the line: Denon (and some Sony's). They just make the highest quality receivers that are capable of doing pretty much anything you want. However, he did forewarn me (and I believe it) that setting up a Denon system is not for the faint of heart of the inexperienced. He said he's seen people struggle with it for days before calling in an expert.
Pretty good: Yamaha and Onkyo (and Harmon Kardon). Both make similar style receivers that are fairly (moderately) intuitive to set up. I know Onkyo provides a microphone that is supposed to optimize the sound quality and the point where you put the mike. I don't think Yamaha's have that on their mid-range receivers.
After that: Sherwood and other makers. Just not the kind of product you want to buy if you're looking for quality. These are more of the "just-scraping-by" style recievers. I'd spend the little extra to make sure you got a quality product that will last you more than a year or two.
For someone who's just looking to get into the market (which it sounds like you are), you may want to look at the Onkyo TX-SR605 style reciever. It has up-converstion, meaning that you can run one single HDMI cable to your HDTV, and all other video signals will be formatted to work. It has 2 HDMI inputs, 3 component video inputs, and 4 digital audio inputs, which should be plenty to last a while. The set up is fairly obvious on the entire receiver and provides plenty of power to the speakers. Most importantly, you can find it (right now) for $400-$500 USD at several retail outlets, including Amazon. A great receiver if you're just getting into them.
Also, speakers are a different subject. You don't want the brands I listed above, you want to look into Boston Acoustics, Polk Audio, Bose and JBL, to name a few. The sound quality and speaker make up will be much better and last longer. You want a cone (the part that makes the sound) that is not paper, but ceramic, plastic and/or part titanium.
Hope this helps! Check out the link below Amazon (CNET) for more comprehensive reviews of everything you're looking for.