Darth Kabong

I was at Costco the other day, with a 300 buck phillips sound system in my cart, when it dawned on me - what the hell am I doing? I know *NOTHING* about home theater systems.

So, I turn to you guys -

What are some of the things to keep an eye out for? Features that I have to have? Are there any pitfalls I should avoid? Any good webpages of Home Theaters for Dummies?

Help - youre my only hope!

Brian Shannon

The single most important thing to remember about home audio is this:

Listen.

If you cannot listen to the speakers I would be very skeptical to buy on price alone.

Do so me research, listen to some products and form your own opinion.

Good luck!

JimRochester

I don't know what you mean by system, but if it's a Home Theater in a box and it's $300, chances are it's a prologic, low end setup. Make sure you get a DD and DTS capable system. It will at least provide some time whereas prologic alone is outdated already.

Movie_Man

You've made the first step. Most people don't even recognize what you have just stated.

Some basic points: Make sure it is at least Dolby Digital. DTS would be a nice extra, but not essential. And check out the speaker wattage. I think 60 watts per channel would be an absolute minimum.
Your $300 Philips system would probaly make a fair "starter" system as long as it meets the above, but you will probably find that will want to upgrade to a better system in the near future.

I always have to question these HTIAB units. $300 will barely buy you a low end receiver. Then decent speakers are another $1000 for midrange.