The first step is having a spot for all these toys. Knowing the space is as important as what is put in there. Does the space large, small, wide, long. The space you plan on will dictate the size of your TV and the type of speakers and furniture you should buy. If I have a short, squat basement room I plan on putting in my stuff then having floor speakers with a 60" TV would be mean I have to swivel my head to see the whole TV and have to have a very small couch to accommodate the speakers. Or the opposite is true. You don't want to have to have a small TV you need binoculars to see. Or the need of a sub woofer because you plan on setting it up beneath the babies room. These and other decisions need to be considered in the space you decide on.
Once you know where your going to set up your new theater, the next is to figure out is: What is your budget. There are two options with the money. The first is to have a large sum and go out and get it all at once. This will require saving money int the bottom of your golf bag to make sure the wife doesn't spend it on shoes or some other pointless thing. For decent equipment you will need about $5,000. This is a great feeling and can be a good start to building your ultimate theater. But if your like me and bills eat your pay check faster than crack head smokes a bag than this is another option. Build your speaker system piece by piece. Take a look at what you have and as you get the money start replacing and adding pieces. If you already have a TV or one that is good enough you might want to get a receiver rather than upgrade the TV. As TVs go, buying a new TV is best around March when you can pick up last years model at abut 1/2 of the new style. Also this gives you the opportunity to score big in pawn shops, clearance sells and other deals that come around randomly. The key to this is to sock the money away and have a small reserve when you run across a deal to good to be true. For example this happened to me. Walking through a big brand store I was able to pick up a Klipse 10" sub for my living room for 60% off. For $200 I was able to get something that makes my house rattle. Also by looking constantly for these pieces you teach yourself the prices and products that are out there and worth owning.
The last piece is your homework with patience. Do your homework. This is such an important aspect of buying these products that you can save thousands of dollars if you do the research. My first big TV I paid an extra $1500 for because I didn't know what I was doing. Because I got caught in the beautiful picture and size I got suckered. Don't let this happen to you. Make sure you look at what's out there and wait for the right moment to go out there to fulfill your dreams. When you do your research your realize that what one store sells you is a whole lot less somewhere else. For instance: you can get cords for about 1/2 price on-line and the big wear house stores sell wall mounts hundreds of dollars cheaper than electronic stores. The store you buy your electronics isn't the same place you buy the tools to put them together. Those stores can tack on a few hundred dollars of shit you don't need and find somewhere else cheaper.
The key to the right system is the right receiver. the receiver is the heart and soul of your theater and can be the greatest or worse product you buy. Buying the right receiver and will most likely be the hardest decision to make. I personally find pioneer a very solid product that is well priced. Pioneer is by no way the top of the line. Its the Cadillac of receivers as the best way to think about. Solid and stylish with all the same features at half the price. Everyone has the brand they prefer its a personal thing. If your a builder like me you know in the future you will want this and that to add to your collection. If this is the case then you want to make sure you have extra ports for HDMI and Digital Optics for these pieces. Something else to consider is the 5.1 and 7.1 speaker set ups.
For those that don't know the .1 is your sub woofer. Personally I'm running a .2 in my living room because I can. The other numbers represent the number of speakers. 2 Front, 2 rear, center speaker and a sub woofer make a 5.1 if you had 2 mid range than you have a 7.1. The thing to recognize with this is that unless you only watch blue Ray having a 5.1 is more than efficient. As TV shows run 2.0 because there are only 2 speakers on it, plus if your movie collection is mainly DVD's they don't get higher than 5.1. By eliminating two speaker outputs on your receiver you can save yourself some money.
Finally you are ready to put everything together. This is another decision you need to make. How comfortable are you in installing everything. For me I love putting it together, cutting the speaker wire and figuring out the puzzle of how I want to set everything up. But I want that control over my system. Other people are happy to let someone else come in and do it for them. This isn't a bad idea if your planning on some seious installs such as in-wall speakers and in wall wire runs. Everything else can be done at home if you have the confidence and the basic knowledge of how to plug things in.
Brought to you by RudestDad
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