I want to be able to listen to my ipod as well as TV, DVDS, etc through a system in my home, I don’t have extremely high expectations or budget. I just want something that will sound good to the average person at a medium-to-loud volume. What is most important? What makes a good speaker, a good receiver, etc? I have tried asking in electronics stores; they just want to sell me the most expensive items.
There are a lot of different options out there, but most of them still start with a set of speakers, and a receiver.
First off, DO NOT buy one of those "Home Theater In a Box" (HTIB) kits. They often contain inferior quality components, and worse still, lack the ability to have other devices connected to them. You want to buy a receiver and speakers separately. You may even want to buy your speakers from different manufacturers as opposed to just buying a whole set.
For speakers, it’s going to depend on your tastes and your ears. A good speaker is one that will last years and years – but more importantly – sounds good to you. If you have space, and if music is important to you, a pair of stand speakers (the tall, rectangular type) will give you better sound overall compared to the smaller bookshelf-type speakers. I went with bookshelf speakers simply because of space restrictions. You’ll then want to add a center speaker, subwoofer, and a pair of rear surround speakers. This will give you a 5.1 configuration (5 speakers, 1 subwoofer) required for surround sound from your DVDs.
A receiver only really needs to be able to support 5.1 surround sound, and offer enough audio inputs to support types of equipment you’ll want to connect to it now – and in the foreseeable future. More inputs is better…but also more expensive. For surround sound, your DVD player will need to use either a digital coax or optical audio cable. You should try to get a receiver with multiple optical inputs, as many newer devices support this connection (like cable/satellite set-top boxes, video game consoles, etc.) You do not need a specialized iPod dock, although many receivers support such a thing. All you really need a simple adapter that has a mini-plug jack on one end for your iPod’s headphone port, and the familiar red/white RCA jacks on the other. This will allow you to connect your iPod to your receiver and get stereo sound from your speakers. The specialized docks allow you to use your receiver’s remote to control the iPod, but again, that’s not necessary. If you use a cable or satellite box, you’ll want to connect this to your receiver using an optical audio cable as some programs (especially those carried on HD channels) now support 5.1 surround sound. Otherwise, the regular red/white cables are OK for stereo sound. Many TVs have an output for stereo cables for your receiver.
You may hear about 7.1, which adds a 2nd pair of surround speakers to the setup. However, at this time, only a few blu-ray movies support 7.1 at this time. I went with a receiver that can handle 7.1 but only have 5 speakers right now. The receiver is smart enough to figure this out, and I can always upgrade to 7.1 later on…if I want.
When shopping for your components, bring your iPod or a favorite music CD and a DVD with you so you can listen to them on the different speakers. You’re not just looking for something that can do LOUD – anything on the market can do that. You want to be sure to listen for the high and low notes in the music. They should be clear, not muddy, or tinny sounding.
How to get surround sound from basic cable for your home theater; get expert tips and advice on hooking up video and audio equipment for home entertainment systems in this free instructional video.