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DIY: How to buy a home theatre system - are kits or components right for you?

By Gavin Womersley, CNET.com.au on 05 December 2005

Home Theatre In a Box (HTIB) Home Theatre In a Box
Is an all-in-one, single-brand system the best solution for you?
Separate components Separate components
Do you want the freedom to pick and choose individual components?
More resources More resources
Our features and DIY guides on home theatre systems.

Home theatre systems can be a lot of fun but they can also be quite complex things and most cost a reasonable amount of money, so it's in your best interest to buy the right product from the start.

Getting the purchase right involves thinking about a few important issues though.

Firstly, you must think about the room you want to place the system into. This is because its size, shape and construction all influence how well the system is going to work - if at all. The other thing you must think about is what level of performance you want. Some folks will be happy as long as they can make out the dialogue on their favourite DVDs, while others will want better than commercial cinema performance.

Today the market place is in two broad camps - Home Theatre In a Box (HTIB) and separate components. Let's take a look at how to buy either type of system and clarify the strengths and weakness of each.

Whether you end up with a HTIB or components, you must think about your own situation and needs and listen to a variety of systems before spending your hard earned cash. Like anything else, the more homework you do the less likely you are going to end up with an inappropriate product.

Topics: audio, system, component, cinema, diy, speakers, htib, theatre, guide, home, sound, kit

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Comments (3)

  • Zach commented on 04/07/2007 17:48 Report abuse

    Hi, Can I ask a question please.
    I just bought a Marantz SR4001 receiver , Jamo Speakers & Pioneer DV490-V HDMI DVD player as a package , Added to that a Sony Bravia LCD TV. I would like to learn how to set these systems together so that I can get the best picture & sounds system. At the moment some TV channels volume varies greatly.
    your help would be greatly appreciated.

  • ROBERTZAPPIA commented on 13/06/2007 00:13 Report abuse

    how much is the remote ceiling box that drops from the ceiling where you put the projector and you can hide it once you finish

  • Rachelle Timms commented on 31/08/2006 06:50 Report abuse

    While I appreciate you are trying to simplify a complicated subject to a generic audience let me point out a couple of important things...

    Firstly I have no comment on your HTIB part of the article I would agree with most of what you say however on the issue of seperate components...
    You make to comment to not consider a subwoofer under $700 which is ridiculous as there are many high end subs under this price and yet you say there is little difference in DVD player/recorder components which is very wrong. Primarily there is an enormous difference between high & low end players particualrly in the advent of plasma & lcd screens with regard to video quality! Next regarding HDMI any high end custom installer will tell you that HDMI is certainly not ready for the market, there is a serious lack of communication between manufacters HDMI specs across brands (in fact often within the same brand) no high end installers really use it yet as it is not compatible and has not been implemented accurately. Also there is a hughe range of AV Receivers that now upgrade the video signal of inputs.
    I would suggest that there a more tahn a few contradictions and errors in your article that relate to your discussion on High end equipment and I am not talking about a $30K package but in the vicinity of a $5K package. Also LG are not considered the "top end of the market" more like middle to lower end.
    You wnat high end set top boxes have a look at something like a Force. Have a look around and see the new 7.1 receivers with video upgrade capabilitys and high end output for under $2K, have a look at the video quality of the top end DVD Players vs the $100 ones, ask some local stores how many HDMI cables they are having returned and for goodness sake have a look at the amazing subwoofers under $700. Unfortunately you negelected to mention that your average person should probably pay a professional installer so that they are now sucked in by the salesman to have expensive and yet ineffective items like monster cable.

    Otherwise informative article.

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