Home Theater Systems
As always, your first thought should not be what home cinema system to buy, but how – and to what...
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As always, your first thought should not be what home cinema system to buy, but how – and to what – you are going to use your new home cinema system. A home cinema system ranges from a mish-mash of old stuff, with at least five speakers, put together for movie purpose to a up-scale room with projectors coming down from the ceiling while the lighting is automatically dimmed. Then there are all systems between those extremes. Generally you should choose at least the speakers from the same manufacturer and preferably from matching series in order to get an equal sound picture, but if you are gifted with really good hearing you can build your own system of different speakers. The electronics must not come from one manufacturer, but sometimes it helps regarding connections, remote controls and so on. So in this article we will focus on sets where all components come from one single manufacturer.
A home cinema consists of an amplifier for surround sound, often with a radio built-in, a built-in or separate CD/DVD player and maybe a DVD recorder – sometimes with a hard drive recorder built-in - and five or more speakers depending on what surround sound decoding standard is built-in to the amplifier. This system is then connected to a screen, either a TV set or a projector – or both.
The rapid evolution of home movie system has resulted in a variety of different standards for sound, picture and connection possibilities. This creates a lot of confusion for the average consumer, so lets se if we can sort some of it out. There are several different standards for surround sound, Dolby, dts, THX and others. Basically it is the number of channels and therefore speakers needed. The more channels the more surround effect you get. The DVD player should be able to play at least HD quality. Regarding the speakers: a set of small boxes, together with a good subwoofer, could do the job. The placement of the speakers is important, so consult the manual for the best possible result.
The most inexpensive and simple systems often come in one box, cables are color-coded for easy installation. Do not expect too much from these systems, but they often deliver a fairly good value for money. The speakers are often small and made out of plastic. Normally they come with rather few connection possibilities and features – but of course there are exceptions.
If you are ready to invest a little more in your movie system you will gain a lot. First of all, you could choose speakers according to your room size and layout; secondly, the range of receivers and players are almost endless. And the more advanced the system is, the more connections possibilities and features are built-in.
After deciding which home cinema systems to choose between, read tests of interesting models. Bring some of your favorite CDs and movies to the store so that you can compare picture and sound quality with familiar music and movies before buying your home cinema system.
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Some models have an USB connection or a memory card slot which can be a convenient way to access the music you download from the internet if you can’t connect your home movie system to a computer.