Basic Home Theater TV and Audio System

There are many, many different types of home theater systems, and we will discuss the basics of these systems, with a few recommendations and real experience on installing a delivering that great surround sound audio for your home theater. Home theater audio systems can vary greatly in cost, from just a few hundred dollars for the least expensive “in-a-box” systems, to tens of thousands of dollars for the professionally installed high end component systems. I had a difficult time when studying to purchase my latest home theater audio system, as the technology is always changing, and many of the magazine articles I would ready would only seem to cover the high end systems. And I needed just the basics to begin with, keep-it-simple type of summary article, since I was definitely not an “audiophile”.

At the time, I was building my home theater and I had about $1,000.00 to $1,500.00 in my budget to spend on a good home theater audio system. I did not want to spend “top-shelf” money on a high end system, but I also did not want a cheap system that sounded like an empty box, and one which I would end up throwing away to upgrade a few years later. I wanted a good sounding system, one with some of the latest technology, one that I could upgrade components, one that would make me feel like I was in a home theater, and one that I would be happy to have for years to come, and all within my established system.

I started my search by visiting the home electronics department stores, and I went right to the aisle with the home theater audio “in-a-box” systems. I was surprised at several of the store that I visited that there were usually than five or six systems to choose from, and most of these systems were priced at the low end, say around $200 to $400. I was initially surprised that they were so inexpensive, and as I looked closely at the construction of these systems I could tell they were manufactured inexpensive as well, and lacking in quality of materials. Many of these speaker systems were very small, and cheaply constructed of lightweight material and plastics. In the past I had experience purchasing a few of these “theater-in-a-box” audio systems, and when I installed them at home they sounded hollow, with poor quality audio tone and volume.

At this time I left the stores without making any purchase, and I decided that I had to study and learn about these systems before I spent my money. I had to many questions: what is Dolby 5.1, what is Dolby 7.1, what is 1080 pass through technology, what is HDMI, what is the best cable connection technology, is it better to buy a “theater-in-a-box” system or should I purchase the receiver separate from the speaker system, how do I match speaker systems to receivers, do I need to purchase the same brand of speaker to match the receiver, an on and on? Below we will give you some of the basic answers for each of these questions.

The first area of discussion is the main difference between Dolby 5.1 and Dolby 7.1. Basically, a 5.1 surround sound system has a total of 5 speakers to deliver the sound (front center, front left, front right, rear left, rear right, and subwoofer). The 7.1 surround sound system has a total of 7 speakers to deliver the sound (five speakers same as listed previous, plus middle left and middle right speakers). This 7.1 system gives you one additional layer of sound movement to help fully wrap you in a cocoon of sound. Sound in this system can move from your front right, to the middle right, to the rear right speaker, and just the same on the left side. This provides you with more effect of motion and power with this additional layer of sound. However, you need to choose the type of system that best coordinates your particular layout. In my home theater, we had a smaller room with only two rows of seating, and the entry to the room was on one side, making it difficult to have middle speakers in my layout. I chose to purchase a 5.1 speaker system, but I connected to a 7.1 capable receiver. With this combination, I have a receiver that I can upgrade and install additional speakers in the future, yet a more basic 5.1 system better matches the capabilities of my room layout.

As far as the components, I chose to purchase an Onkyo home theater receiver separate from the Polk Audio 5.1 speaker package, and together they deliver terrific home theater sound at about $1,200.00 in total cost for the audio system. As I mentioned previously, the home theater “in-a-box” type systems are typically mass produced and marketed to the lower end of the price arena. When purchasing a receiver and speaker package separately, you can significantly improve the quality of components and system you are purchasing.