Best Place To Buy A Home Theater System 2021
Home theater starts with your TV. A big, clear picture is must-have, and bigger is usually better. Choose 4K or OLED for the latest TV picture technology, and pay attention to smart TV features if you're interested in streaming content. If you've got a dedicated home theater room and you really want to go big, consider a projector that can produce theater-like images on screens measuring as big as 100" or more.
best place to buy a home theater system
Dolby Atmos is a cutting-edge surround sound format that was developed to give movie soundtracks a more three-dimensional effect. It creates a "height" layer of sound above the listener. Available for a growing list of movie titles and supported by many newer home theater receivers, Dolby Atmos delivers the most lifelike surround sound we've heard yet.
People frequently ask us about wireless surround speakers. No home theater speaker is truly wireless, because it will need to get power from somewhere. However, some home theater systems feature a wireless transmitter that sends audio signals from the receiver to the speakers in the rear of your room. This eliminates the need to run speaker wire from the front to the back of your room. These speakers usually connect to a wireless receiver that goes in the back of your room and plugs into an AC wall outlet for power.
Everyone loves watching a great movie on a big screen with a kickass speaker system. Our AV team spends thousands of hours each year seeking the best-looking and best-sounding home theater equipment. Whether you have a dedicated theater room planned or are thinking of upgrading your weeknight living room movie night, we have recommendations covering whatever space and budget you have.
The ELAC Debut 2.0 speakers are larger and have a more robust sound than the Polk Signature Series speakers, which might make this system a better choice for serious home theater enthusiasts who like to crank it up, or for someone who has a very large room. Many system configurations are possible; we recommend two B6.2 bookshelf speakers for the front left and right channels, the slightly smaller B5.2 as surrounds, and the compact C5.2 center speaker. The Debut 2.0 speakers are bulkier and far less attractive than those of the Polk Signature Series, and they cost more.
Our motto: Do well by doing good. Flashback to 1979 when a young, ambitious, blues-guitar-playing clinical psychologist and his free-spirited artist wife would throw caution to the wind and open a tiny store called World Wide Stereo. Now, almost 40 years later, we're bringing the world's finest consumer electronics and home entertainment systems together in one place - no gimmicks, no junk - with people that can explain and demo the difference. Our commitment remains grounded in earning our customers' trust every single day and building on integrity. And, we're not satisfied until your music and movies give you goosebumps.
Obviously, a good TV or projector and screen are principal to the experience. But if you think of a home theater system like a Broadway play, then the TV = the stage, and the sound = everything else, from story and actors to music and pageantry. The real magic behind home theater systems is audio, and audio is what you need to get right to create a real home theater system at your house.
Your favorite shows and movies can come from any number of devices in addition to your set-top box. Blu-ray players and 4K media players give you a gorgeous viewing experience and extremely rich home theater sound, and the same is true with devices like Apple TV and Roku, which connect to the Internet and stream content from an ever-growing list of providers (e.g., Netflix, HBO GO, Hulu). Also, unlike some older TVs, devices like Apple TV and Roku automatically update themselves whenever new apps, games, and/or shows become available.
That depends. Again, more is always better when it comes to sound, and there are literally dozens of speaker combinations that can create true home theater sound. The traditional home theater includes 5 speakers: a center speaker, a left and a right speaker, two rear left and right speakers, and, of course, a subwoofer. A typical setup looks like this:
The basic, traditional home theater setup is a 5.1 home theater system with 5 or more speakers: a center speaker, a left and a right speaker, a rear left and right speaker, and, of course, a subwoofer. A typical setup looks like the image below.
For years, a 5.1 home theater system was considered the crème de la crème. Not anymore. A slew of recent technology breakthroughs now take home theater to a level equal to (and in some cases, even better than) the world's finest cinemas. And one of the biggest breakthroughs came by way of Dolby Laboratories.
The first thing you'll need for a 5.1.2 Dolby Atmos home theater setup is a Dolby Atmos capable receiver. Additionally, you'll need eight speakers: a center speaker, two left and right main speakers, left and right surrounds, a pair of Dolby Atmos-enabled speakers, and a subwoofer.
Speakers built into your TV are fine for casual viewing, but if you're looking for an immersive audio experience, you're going to want to upgrade to an actual home theater system. Home theater systems include multiple speakers and support for surround sound, enabling you to hear movie soundtracks the way they're meant to be heard: with effects moving throughout your room.
Most home theater systems also include subwoofers for dedicated bass, bringing more impact and rumble to explosions in action movies. An AV receiver is often required as well. The AV receiver is used to power and process your speakers, and many receivers also serve as a connection hub to hook up multiple HDMI devices to your TV.
I've been reviewing home theater gear for nearly a decade, and through hands-on testing and research, I've selected the best home theater systems you can buy for a variety of budgets. Find out more about how Insider Reviews tests and reviews tech products.
Polk's T Series has long been considered one of the best home theater packages for the money. The system was designed to compete with one of my all-time favorite speaker packages, the Pioneer SP-PK52FS, and it offers similar performance.
When it comes to readily available home theater speakers, the Polk T Series is nearly unmatched at this price point. Unlike a lot of other budget-friendly options, the T Series doesn't just rely on bookshelf speakers. Instead, you actually get floorstanding speakers for the front left and right channels, along with a 10-inch subwoofer that should provide ample bass.
The Sb3651n-H6 is one of the most budget-friendly home theater soundbar options available, delivering a full 5.1-channel experience. This means there are left, center, and right channels in the soundbar itself, along with two separate rear speakers for true surround sound. A 5-inch wireless subwoofer is also included for dedicated bass.
All of the other home theater packages included in this guide are great performers in their own right, but Klipsch's Reference Premiere 7.1.2 Dolby Atmos speaker system is on another level. Designed for true enthusiasts, this is the speaker package to buy if you want a full movie theater experience in your living room.
Of course, not everyone is going to have a room large enough to accommodate a setup like this, and only the most serious home theater enthusiasts will want to spend several thousand dollars on speakers. For those willing to make the investment, however, the Reference Premiere series is hard to beat. Expert reviews rave about the performance. High-Def Digest gave the speakers a 4.5/5, and called them "a sonic joy from top to bottom."
There really isn't a completely wireless home theater on the market yet, but the Enclave Audio CineHome II is about as close as it gets, allowing you to set up a surround sound system without any speaker wires.
Together, the five speakers and 8-inch subwoofer offer solid audio performance, but sound quality won't match comparably priced wired home theater systems. It should also be noted that the CineHome II system doesn't support Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD MA audio formats. This means you can't get full lossless audio from Blu-ray discs, but you'll still get surround sound using standard Dolby and DTS processing.
This 5.1.2 speaker package was our previous pick for best mid-range home theater system. We swapped it out for the Jamo S 809 package because the Jamo system delivers better overall performance for the money.
There's no getting around the fact that to be the proud owner of a full surround sound speaker system you will likely need to engage in a fair bit of furniture rearranging to accommodate the addition of extra cables and boxes in your home. But we think the pay-off of a full, immersive home theater experience is well worth the initial inconvenience and needn't cost the earth.
This is especially the case with the centre speaker, which should be from the same brand and ideally from the same range as the rest of your home theatre speaker system. This will help ensure the best sound possible.
We are always impartial and do our best to make sure we hear every product at its very best, so we'll try plenty of different films that show what each system is capable of with both advanced and standard audio formats. We'll also listen to high-quality music streams from across various genres, allowing for plenty of listening time. We like to make sure we're happy that the system is performing at its best before we start testing, so we carefully place the speakers in our listening room, tweaking positions if necessary and, of course, running them in before we begin reviewing.
The tricky thing is that every theater space is unique - finding the right combination of sofas and single-seat lounges for your home can be time-consuming. Home theater seats should be comfortable enough for long movies, but not so comfortable that you doze off.
With added features like motorized headrests, cupholders, vibration, and lighting, you will have to decide which of these features will add the most to your viewing experience. With these factors in mind, you're sure to find the perfect home theater furniture for you. 041b061a72