A Home Theater Buyers Guide

Oct. 20, 2009 - PRLog -- Step 1
Take stock of your current components. A home theater system connects video sources (DVD, VCR, DVR, and cable or satellite boxes), a TV or monitor, and a set of five or six speakers through a home theater receiver. Many people also plug audio components (CD and MP3 players) into their receiver. It may be that all you need is a receiver and speakers.

Step 2
Look at your space. If you have a dedicated room for the home theater, get a more powerful system (measured in watts per channel). For a bedroom, 40 watts is plenty; 40 to 80 watts is good for an average-sized living room. Get at least an 80-watt receiver if you have a large room with high ceilings.

Step 3
Buy a receiver with at minimum Digital Theater System (DTS) or Dolby Digital. (Dolby Digital and DTS are competing, incompatible formats for home theater sound. Check your DVDs--they're more likely to have Dolby Digital sound.) Avoid receivers with Dolby Surround or Dolby ProLogic unless they also have Dolby Digital. Dolby Digital EX and DTS-ES are the next step up; THX is the top of the line.

Step 4
Check out the universal remote that comes with the receiver. You'll want to operate several components with this remote, so make sure it's easy to use and makes sense.

Step 5
Listen carefully to the speakers when you shop. Six speakers make up the ideal home theater: left and right front-channel speakers, left and right surround speakers, a subwoofer, and a center-channel speaker. The center-channel speaker is probably the most important, since most movie dialogue comes from it. If you're watching the bottom line, forgo the subwoofer.

Step 6
Consider theater-in-a-box systems if your space is average to small or you're technically challenged. Combining receiver, speakers and cables (and often a DVD player), these systems offer easy setup and operation as well as a smaller price tag. Read up on these systems online or in specialty magazines, since their quality ranges from surprisingly good to very bad.

Step 7
Stop by Eatontown TV and Appliance to speak to an expert.  Located at 50 Rt. 35 in Eatontown, they are convenient to all of Monmouth County.  Or call today, 732-542-0400.

source: http://www.ehow.com/how_108791_buy-home-theater.html

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About Eatontown TV & Appliance: family owned business since 1943. We service what we sell and provide custom appliance installations.

Our showroom is one of the largest in Monmouth County specializing in appliances to include Viking, Asko, Bosch, Dacor, U-Line, Miele, Wolf, Sub-Zero, Fisher and Paykel, Franke, Marvel, Thermador and more.

Our home theatre room offers the most current lines of big screens and speakers, such as Sony, Hitachi, Panasonic, Mitsubishi, Bose, Angstrom, Niles and more.

For the outdoors, we carry a full line of grills from Weber, Viking, Lynx and Dacor that will fit both your budget and needs. When it gets too hot, retreat to the inside, cooled with one of many different models of air conditioning units and watch your favorite movie or sporting event on one of our wide-screen plasma TVs!

As a family owned business, we make our customers feel like they are part of the family. Every Saturday we provide complimentary food. Stop in for a bite to eat!