Since the early 1970’s when Dolby introduced the first surround sound theater system, our expectations for the way we listen to music and movies has been ever evolving.

Nothing short of perfection is expected in our home theater audio systems. Home theater systems are becoming more and more popular in today’s society. We want all the features that a cinema has to offer, but with the creature comforts of home. With so many new people installing home theaters, home theater audio systems have been brought to task, and are evolving at the speed of sound.

Setting Up Your Home Theater Audio System

When setting up a home theater audio system, one of the most important things to take into consideration is the size of the room you will be installing it in. With a smaller room you may only need the bare minimum of speakers. Three, to be exact, is a good number of home theater audio speakers to install if your room is quite small. Be sure that you have one subwoofer, and two side channels if you are only going to be using three speakers. The speaker on your television set will provide the center speaker home theater audio sound that you would otherwise gain with more speakers.

With a larger room, I have found that a home theater audio system sounds best when it includes: one center speaker, two front side speakers, two rear side speakers, and one subwoofer, for a total of six speakers. A good way to get the most out of your home theater audio system’s subwoofer, is to either cover it with a wicker basket, or to turn it so that it is facing a wall. Turning it toward the wall will, in essence, turn the entire wall into a home theater audio system subwoofer.

Quality And Value

When shopping for a home theater audio system, it is easy to mistake high price for high quality. While many systems that are higher priced do have better sound than ones less expensive, such is not always the case. It is a good idea to ask your sales representative if there is a listening room, where you can hear the sound quality of several home theater audio systems, before making a final choice. Most stores have one, and are happy to show off their various systems available.

My personal favorite is the Bose home theater audio system, as it allows for the sound quality of a large system, while only utilizing a few speakers. Whichever system you choose, if you choose wisely, you will have many years of enjoyment from your home theater audio system.