Your Dream Home Theater Starts With These 3 Basic Components

You could buy a TV and a home theater in a box, but what fun is that?Besides you are looking to buy the best home theater equipment for your money.The best way to do this is to get your components separately.

Purchasing a home mean making a lot of decisions in the process, many among aren't even sure of exactly which components are included in a home theater or which ones are needed in order to create an artful and impressive home theater. For this reason, many people simply do not bother going through the process of looking at their options and simply purchase an all-in-one solution.For the bold I offer the following advice.

The first thing to understand is that there are varying degrees when it comes to home theaters. The following components are the makings of a very basic home theater that will provide excellent picture and sound. They are not however an all-encompassing list of every possible piece or part that could make up a home theater system.For now we'll go over the necessary basics. The Television.For a dream home theater I would only buy a plasma tv, LCD TV or projector.There are some newer technologies, but the improvements are almost imperceptible and the cost is much, much higher.

As I stated, there are essentially three choices in today's television market: Plasma, LCD and projector. There are variations within each of these and the prices fall anywhere from relatively inexpensive to costly. This is the component that most home theater owners spend the most time contemplating.Considering the current pricing, if you ever plan to buy a blu-ray player, buy a 1080p high definition set.The picture is amazing and the costs on both TVs and blu-ray players have come down.Choose a 120hz set over a 60hz set, it reduces or eliminates motion blur - especially on LCD sets. The receiver. This is the brains and the brawn of your system.Find one that supports the latest technologies.

The receiver is the box you plug them all into-it receives all of this inputs and correlates it so to speak. This is the ultimate traffic director when it comes to your home theater and I suggest you spend a good portion of your home theater budget making sure that this is a good quality part. Again if you plan to use blu-ray, find a receiver that supports HDMI 1.3, and DTS-MA HD and TrueHD sound formats.The best brands in my opinion are Outlaw, Denon, Onkyo and Marantz (If you have a good-sized budget).I own an Onkyo, to me it is the best value, but check them out yourself.

Speakers are the heart of your dream home theater.Nothing makes a movie come alive and puts you right smack in the action like a audiophile quality sound system.Speaker technology is has come a long way.

Sound that would have cost tens of thousands cost only a fraction of that today. One of the best things to me about my dream home theater is that sound is way better than what I experience in theaters while having the ability to put my feet up while wearing my pajamas (which simply can't be done in a theater).

My advice hear is to make sure your center , front and surround speakers are all from the same manufacturer and share the same design and driver size, this is called timbre matching and creates a smooth open sound.Recommended brands here would be, Paradigm, B&W, Polk, Meridian and the ones I own and love Definitive Technologies (that's right I did not mention Bose).But we all have different tastes, go listen to a few for yourself. Finally, you have your DVD player or recorder. If high definition is important to you, get a blu-ray.

Sony's PS3 is actually a very good, and well priced blu-ray player - and you get a great game system to boot!These items are a great start for your dream home theater and you can build, expand, and upgrade over time for an even better system. Enjoy!

I'm Roger Sandoval, a Home Theater enthusiast, who finally built his own dream home theater, but I'm always upgrading and checking out new equipment. I love to share my advice to how to buy home theater equipment and where and how to build your own dream home theater. I invite you read my LCD and Best Plasma TV reviews as well as reviews and all home theater equipment.

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Are Home Theater Amplifiers or Preamplifiers Necessary?

There are many lesser-known components available that are vital to creating a high-end home theater environment. Some of these components include sound equipment like a home theater amplifier or a surround sound preamplifier. If you aren't familiar with these custom home theater components, don't be overwhelmed. Below you'll find descriptions of both as well as how you can find a home theater preamplifier and amplifier that's right for your entertainment system.

The surround sound preamplifier and the home theater amplifier, though similar, are two separate components for a reason. The following is information on these components that will help you get a better understanding of what each does and how they work in unison.

Surround Sound Preamplifier

The home theater preamplifier was originally a simple component contained in the audio-visual receiver that serves as the core of a home theater system. To allow for better control over a theatre's audio quality, however, many manufacturers have begun offering preamplifiers as a separate component that can be more directly controlled. This doesn't mean that it's been completely removed from the A/V receiver and its functions. Several models such as the NAD T175 from NAD still feature decoding technology as well as control functions which allow for greater customization of the audio experience.

As the name implies, the surround sound preamplifier's job is to act as an initial amplifier for audio signals that come in to the A/V receiver. This allows the amplifier, or power amplifier (as it is also known), to have much less work to do in order to get the audio level to the point that you want it at. By using one in your system, you will also gain an additional control point for making small adjustments to the quality of your sound so that you can make everything exactly like you want it to.

Home Theater Amplifier

The home theater amplifier was also originally just a component of the A/V receiver. As the use of custom components began to rise in popularity, though, the amplifier was one of the first pieces to be separated. A separate amplifier allows for a much greater level of control when it comes to the volume and clarity of your audio, and when combined with a preamplifier, will allow you to customize your audio experience to the layout of the room or rooms that your system covers.

As previously mentioned, the home theater amplifier is sometimes referred to as the power amplifier because it is independently powered, as opposed to having to share its power with the other components of the A/V receiver. When audio information is sent to the amplifier from an A/V receiver or other decoder, it is sent as separate audio channels which are then independently amplified. The specific levels of amplification can be altered at the amplifier itself, allowing you to "shape" the end result to accentuate the specific qualities of your audio that you prefer and that work best with the acoustics of your home layout. Audio components manufacturers such as PSB strive to include as many options for audio customization as possible, ranging from basic graphics equalizers and volume controls to virtual audio effects, bass boosting technology, and the ability to emulate a wider range of sounds from individual speakers to better control the way that your home theater system plays audio.

If you are designing a very large home theater room or if you plan to have a complicated theatre layout, consider purchasing these components. When the two pieces are installed and are working together, you will have greater control over volume, better sound quality and clarity, and an optimum system for making additional customization changes to. A home theater custom installer can give you specific information about your amplifier needs if you are unclear about whether these items are right for your theater.

~Ben Anton, 2008

Ben Anton lives in the Northwest and writes for Ronny's 5th St. Audio Vision.
Ben Anton invites you to find out more about surround sound preamplifiers and other home audio components at the new Ronnys stereo store

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