Home theaters in a box are all the rage

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Multi-channel units
When it comes to affordable, good-sounding multi-channel units you thankfully have a lot of choices. Many are made by companies you’ve heard of — companies who’ve made their name creating beautiful music systems for decades: Sony, Panasonic, Pioneer, Kenwood, Onkyo, Samsung, Aiwa, Sharp and Yamaha to name a few.

Basically, you can’t go very wrong by starting your search with any one of these brands. You should look for a system that provides all the bells and whistles you need. The separate pieces should not dominate the room in which it will be installed. You should like the way it sounds and most of all — it should be priced correctly for your budget.

What models would I suggest looking for? Sony’s HT-5800DP home theater in a box system has a 5-disk DVD changer, a 5.1 channel receiver, 4 small speakers for corners, a center channel speaker and a subwoofer, all for around $399.

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Sony's top-of-the-line DAV-LF1
Sony
Sony's top-of-the-line DAV-LF1 features infrared audio transmission— - a fancy term for no speaker wires.

Sony also makes what they call the Platinum DVD Dream system, the DAV-LF1. It features infrared audio transmission (no tangled speaker wires snaking all over the place), a DVD player that also handles SACDs and fully digital amplifiers. Sony wants $2,000 for this baby.

Panasonic has a slew of models from the $249.95 SC-HT680 system with 5-disc DVD changer and tower front speakers (see the photo at the beginning of this story) to the very spiffy looking $999.95 SC-ST1 with what they call slim, tallboy speakers.

Home theaters that cost more than your home

Home theater systems from Onkyo are always receiving lots of praise about the way they sound and look. Their HT-S787C is a 7.1-channel system with a 6-disk DVD changer and oodles of features. Typical prices at online stores run in the $600 range.

Onkyo's HT-S787C system
Onkyo
Onkyo's HT-S787C 7.1-channel system, with 6-disk DVD changer.

One last point: please go see these systems before you buy. They all look great on a Web page or catalog but you may think differently in person. You should also hear how they sound. They don’t all sound the same.

Finally, hooking up a home theater system takes awhile. I’m pretty good at these things and I have trouble with them. I think connecting all the parts of most multi-channel systems is overly complicated and very time consuming. For me, the idea of wireless speakers is a blessing. Something to think about when you’re choosing your system.

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