The value of a cable
When I talk to people about cables for their home theater there seems to be two schools of thought. One will just go out of their way to buy the cheapest cables possible figuring that wire is wire is wire so: why waste money? The other is the complete opposite, figuring that they should spare no expense when it comes to cables and end up paying $150 for a 3ft HDMI cable. Both schools are right and both schools are wrong at the same time.

For the most part wire is really just wire, while their might be some disparity in the quality when comparing the really low end stuff to anything of reasonable quality there really isn’t all that much difference across the board. Really when you pay for cables you’re paying for overall build quality and packaging. There are however a few things to look for when buying cables and wires.

Connecting the dots, understanding what makes a good cable.
The diameter of a wire is measured in “gauges” the smaller the gauge the larger the wire is. a 20 gauge wire is significantly smaller then a 16 gauge wire. In general larger gauges (those with a smaller number) are better. Larger wire is capable of holding a stronger signal, which is important when dealing with long distances, like extremely long cables running to a projector, or higher power situations, like speaker wire. since gauge is such an important factor, if the cable doesn’t tell you the gauge wire it uses don’t buy it, it’s that simple. It’s always a good rule to not buy things unless you know exactly what it is you’re getting.

In addition to paying attention to diameter another important factor is shielding. Shielding is a mesh of grounding wire that surrounds the signal wires. This is important because it helps to reduce noise and interference in the data caused by other wires and other devices. Some cables made for high noise environments might be shielded as many as four times. Shielding is most important for cables with low level signals such as pre-amp and video cables as well as cables traveling long distances. It’s rarely used on speaker wire because that signal is amplified and rarely effected by outside interference.

Another important factor when dealing with cables is impedance; this is essentially a value that measures how much of a signal’s strength will be diminished by the wire itself. All wire has some amount of impedance and less is not always better. Basically there are standards for how much impedance should be present in a particular cable, essentially the electronics at both ends of the cable are designed to work with a certain amount of impedance in the cable. I wont get into the technical details; though, if you’re interested Blue Jeans Cable has a good wright up on the subject. Most applications call for 75ohms but some applications are designed for other levels, do your research before you buy.

Speaker wire is a little different as you typically cut the length yourself and it’s impedance can vary by length. For speakers it’s a good idea to use the same brand model and size for all your speakers and the same length of wire from your receiver to each speaker. if you want to save a bit of wire or wire clutter you can get away with at least using one length for all the front speakers and another length for all of the rear speakers. Aside from keeping speaker wire the same length you generally want to keep all your wires and cables as short as possible. Shorter wires translate to stronger signals, less interference, and of course less wire clutter.

Material is the last important factor though this one is pretty easy. you’ll see “oxygen free” advertised a bit, this basically means that the wire used is free from defects to help ensure a clean signal. Copper and copper alloys are usually considered the best for transmitting the actual data and should be used in the wire itself. For connectors Gold plating is a good idea (it’s usually plated over nickel or some nickel alloy). The reason for that is Gold is very resilient to oxidation and other surface conditions that would disrupt the signal at the point of connection. Also being one of the most malleable materials it tends to make a much more solid connection as it can deform slightly under the pressure of the connection. This malleability is also the reason you should look for gold plated connectors and not solid gold or gold alloy connectors, particularly where some connectors like HDMI or DVI use lots of very small pins the connector would be much more susceptible to damage.

Fiber optic cables like toslink connectors play by completely different rules than the cables above. They use plastic strands to transmit light. This means that they don’t require any shielding, the major factor in dealing with fiber optics is the build quality of the connector as a poor quality connector can make for a weak signal by not directing the light directly into or out of the cable. When running or handling fiber optic cables tight bends or kinks should be avoided at all costs, the more dramatic a bend the weaker the signal will get and if it gets too low your sound will cut out completely.

Choices and Formats
In many situations you’ll be faced with a few choices with the type of cable you can use. Lets say your DVD player gives you the option of Component video or HDMI which one should you go with? Some times this decision will be easy, other times it can be more difficult and require you to experiment, and sometimes you wont even have a choice.
Video cables essentially have a pecking order of quality, but beyond that we can categorize cables into even more generic categories: those that support high definition, and those that do not. Composite (single prong yellow RCA connector) and S-Video (circular 4 prong connector) are always only standard definition. Despite the common misconception that S-Video can support EDTV or HDTV signals it cannot. S-Video does offer a higher quality connection then composite but it doesn’t in any way shape or from transmit anything at a higher resolution.

High definition cables usually come in the form of component video (not to be confused with composite, check the last for letters) or HDMI, both of which are capable of SDTV (480i), EDTV (480p), and HDTV (720p,1080i/p) resolutions. VGA and DVI are interesting beasts for most purposes VGA is similar to component video but different enough that it’s really it’s own format and DVI is essentially a VGA cable wrapped up with an HDMI cable, both are designed for computer use but will be found in home theater equipment on occasion. VGA and DVI, since they’re designed for computer use, also have the luxury of carrying non-standard resolutions.

In general the video cable pecking order is as follows:
Composite < S-Video <<< Component < VGA < HDMI

This isn't always a hard fast rule though. In certain situations the better choice can depend on how your display interprets the signal from certain formats, so while theoretically s-video is better then composite, I've seen displays where composite looked better simply because the display didn't interpret the s-video signal well. This also happens quite frequently when going between component and VGA, often using a component cable will look better on a display that doesn't handle a VGA signal well. The difference across the top end is marginal at best, most people I've tested can't tell the difference between video over component or HDMI, hardcore detail oriented people could probably notice the minor differences under scrutiny but it's nothing so major as to go out of your way and spend hundreds more for an HDMI connection. Component is more then capable for a vast majority of high definition scenarios.

HDMI does have other benefits and given the choice with all other factors relatively equal I'd highly recommend going with HDMI. First lets mention digital rights management (DRM). Most HDMI (and some DVI) connectors support what's called HDCP. Since these connectors are digital they're able to encrypt the data going over the cable. While I personally despise this idea it doesn't change the fact that both Blu-Ray and HD-DVD will eventually start using this encryption. That means if you're not using both a cable and display that support HDCP you will not be able to view your movies in HD. Since Component and VGA are analog it's impossible for them to support HDCP. This isn't the case at present but it's something to keep in mind when attempting to future-proof your home theater.

Another benefit to HDMI is it's audio capabilities. HDMI contains not only a video stream but also an audio stream. The real benefit to using HDMI is the single cable solution. Think of just one AV cable from each device running into your receiver, then a single cable from the receiver out to your display, it's a really simplified setup and good for avoiding the typical "rats nest" scenario behind your equipment. The key is a receiver that supports HDMI, as that will be the device that buses the connection to all of your devices and without HDMI support in that device there's no real benefit in cable reduction. While a lot of today's devices don't support HDMI having a receiver that does will prepare you for when that day does come, and most of your other equipment supports it.

Even better then just supporting audio, is that HDMI supports new digital audio formats that other audio connectors do not. This makes it not only the most versatile video connector but the most versatile audio connector as well. It still loses out to a quality set of discrete analog audio connectors though.

Besides analog interconnects and HDMI most of the time you'll find yourself with the option of digital toslink (optical) or digital coax connectors. The idea behind optical connectors is that when dealing with light it's impossible for the cable to pick up interference and thus you'll have a cleaner signal. While that's true I'd recommend coax connectors for your digital audio if you have the option. Using a quality coax connection with proper impedance is a much more controlled environment and in my experience can offer, if not a higher quality signal, at very least more consistent performance. Over short distances with a properly shielded cable interference isn't that much of a problem anyway. Either way both of those connection types are far and wide superior to non-discrete analog connection (your red and white stereo RCA connectors) when dealing with surround sound.

In general the pecking order is as follows:
analog (non-discrete) <<< digital (toslink) < digital (coax) < digital (HDMI) << analog (discrete)

A Not on Adapters and Converters
A lot of people seem to think that if one type of  cable is better then the other that they should buy an adapter for that better quality cable. Let me be perfectly clear on this point. You should never use adapters or converts unless there is no other way to connect your two devices. The best connections are the ones with the least amount of modifications. If your display accepts HDMI and Component and your device only outputs component, then use component. There is nothing gained by converting the signal, it can only go downhill from the source and converting when you don’t have to only wastes money and has the potential for lower quality results.

These things should only be used if you have no other way to hook up one device to the next, and even then you should choose an adapter over a converter. An adapter will simply modify the shape of a connector to fit the device, it doesn’t do anything to the signal, a converter has circuitry that actually modifies the data to put it into a different format. Even if you don’t know how it works, anything that requires power or is contained in a box is definitely a converter; adapters are typically small lengths of wire or look like two connectors with nothing between them.

Buying the right cable at the right price.
So now that you know what to look for in a cable you might be worrying that I’ll suggest you go out and buy some ridiculously overpriced exaggerated strand of metal. Nope. Unlike speakers and displays there really isn’t much room for personal opinions and preferences when it comes to cables. A cables job is to transmit data from one place to another perfectly with nothing added or missing. How well a cable performs these tasks is actually pretty easy to do. Beyond that you’re looking at build quality to make sure the things don’t fall apart on you. Looks shouldn’t really matter as cables should be hidden out of site, if you’re buying based on looks you’re buying for all the wrong reasons.

Typically I try to stay unbias when dealing with brands and such but this is one instance where I’m going to just put my personal preferences out there in the open. Don’t buy Monster cables, and don’t buy cables priced as high as Monster cables. They’re a plain old rip-off, I don’t care what the sales-jerk at your local big box tells you, they’re not even that great of quality (go look up some test results online, if you can actually find any you’d be surprised). They’re priced 10 to 15 times higher then they should be and their build quality and customer service is down right horrid.

There are a number of other bands I would recommend over them but I’m partial to Monoprice. They’re cables are typically superior in every way to what you get with Monster or a similar brand, and they’re priced cheaper then cables only half their quality. The only catch is that you can only order them online through their website. There are better cables out there but typically only once you start getting into the ridiculous price ranges. There are other good choices in cables too: Blue Jeans Cable which I mentioned before makes good quality cable as well as others. I’m partial to Monoprice, and thats what I use for all of my cables and I’ve never been anything but completely satisfied with my purchases from them.

Final thoughts
Cables are one of those important factors that ether gets overlooked completely or lots of money gets put in all the wrong places. Selecting the wrong cable might not ruin your experience but selecting the right one can make it that much better and can make a reasonable difference when running long distances or working in areas with a lot of outside interference. Good cables will also last you years and years and you don’t need to break the bank to get good quality cables either. It’s one of the few areas where a little background knowledge can go a long way towards both improving your experience and saving you money.

Surround Sound
I’ve always voiced my opinion that the sound system is the most important part of home theater experience. This goes beyond just personal preference though, there are some very important reason that one should put more time and money toward the sound then the picture. Pictures are nice but you’re eyes are fairly easy to impress. Your ears are actually more more discerning and you’re likely to notices flaws in the audio long before you’ll notice flaws in the video.

Beyond discerning ears a good sound system will last you much much longer then a good display. Modern displays all use very new technology. Even the oldest of TV tech only goes back 50 or so years, audio technology has been around a whole lot longer and there are no real signs of it changing anytime soon. This is important because it means that we’ve had all that time and billions upon billions of dollars going into refining the technology for the absolute best quality at the absolute lowest price.

Home Theater in a Box:
Over the last five years “Home Theater in a Box” systems have dramatically increased in popularity. In general these systems are total trash. Consider this: Noise is nothing more then a vibration, more specifically the noise you hear from speakers is really a vibration of air. Now, if you have some little 2in speaker 10ft away from you in the corner of a room how well do you think that speaker is capable of vibrating the air? Lets replace it with a fan of the same size; do you think you could feel a breeze from that distance? You’d really have to crank up the power just to reach an adequate volume. At that point the speaker is running out of it’s optimal range and rather then producing accurate vibrations it is instead just pushing the air as much as it can just so you can hear something. Even worse is if the amplifier providing the power doesn’t have enough to even provide it with a clean signal nevermind the speaker properly reproducing what it’s getting. Things can deteriorate pretty fast.

Another thing to watch out for with these systems is proprietary connectors and inseparable components. Some of the cheaper systems will integrate a DVD player into the amplifier, or use a proprietary connector for the speakers instead of good old speaker wire or banana plugs. These can dramatically limit what you can do with the system and is usually done as a cost cutting measure. Any system with a DVD player integrated into the amplifier should be avoided like the plague. A lot of big box stores will give these systems away for free with the purchase of an HDTV, there’s a reason they can do that; you get what you pay for.

The small cube systems can provide a decent sound experience, but only in the proper environment. Really the only place you should be using one of these systems is in a very small office or cubicle. Originally this is what these systems were designed for. This also fits into my mantra that you should be spending at least the same amount on your sound system, if not more, than on your display. Considering you’d spend between $150 to $300 on a computer monitor that would put you right in range for an appropriate cube based system. Home Theater FOR a Box would be a more accurate representation of what these systems actually offer.

Where to start?
So if you’re not going to just buy some all in one package in a box where do you start looking? It might seem a little overwhelming at first but really it’s pretty simple. Audio can essentially be broken down into three main components pre-amps, amps, and speakers. Pre amps mess around with the signal they change it’s form add effects, and do other stuff, amplification takes that signal and, well, amplifies it. And then speakers take that amplified signal and reproduce it in a form we can actually hear. Most of the time the pre-amp and amp are wrapped up in one unit called a “Receiver” most often these also have basic AM/FM radio functions as well (which is where they get their name). It’s not until you get into the really high end equipment that you should start worrying about buying independent amp and pre-amp units. Receiver units are usually good for those of you spending less than $10K on your surround sound setup. But before we consider a receiver we should consider speakers.

You should choose your speakers first because when buying speakers you need to take into account your goals in terms of the kind of things you’ll use them for (movies, games, music, etc.) as well the size and dynamics of your room. The job of the receiver is really to bridge the gap between your source material and your speakers. Half of what you look for in a receiver is being able to meet the requirements of your speakers.

Choosing the right speakers.
A lot of choosing the right speakers has to do with personal taste, you can read comments about a pair sounding too harsh or too boomy or lacking midrange, or lacking punch, or having warmth or good imagery etc. but what really matters is what sounds good to YOU. First and foremost never buy speakers you haven’t heard, take a CD or DVD you know and love to the store, pop it in the player there and see what it does for you, does it sound right? Does it sound good? As discerning as your ears are they’re also picky and what might sound good to someone else might sound like trash to you, and visa versa. Unlike a display which has a definitive resolution, contrast ratio and easily adjusted colors speakers are much more the subject of opinion then facts and most can’t be adjusted to compensate.

One of the most important factors to choosing a speaker is content. The type of speakers you’d pick for music are completely different than the type of speakers you’d pick for surround sound in movies or games. Determine which one is more important to you as that will be the driving force for where you start looking (and what you bring for testing). The reason the choice in speakers is different comes from the differences in goals between Surround Sound and Stereo sound. In a Surround environment you have numerous speaker and each speaker should produce sounds distinctly. That is to say that when a noise comes out of the left front speaker you can instantly identify it as originating from the left side of the room and like-wise for the other speakers and their locations. The audio imagery comes from the source material and the speakers need only spread their sound just wide enough to overlap from one to the next to reproduce the image. In a Stereo environment you want the audio to come at you as a “wall of sound”. This means that you really only have two speakers and those speakers should produce a very wide, full, and much less discrete image. Some positional imagery will still exist but to a much lesser extent. Stereo imagery is meant to be more like a concert hall where having two channels provides some depth and dimension to the sound but not necessarily direction.

In short speakers designed for stereo playback don’t make good surround sound speakers because they’re too full and don’t provide enough directionality, meanwhile surround sound speakers aren’t good for stereo playback because they are too directional and the resulting sound feels weak and sterile. Most audiophiles interested in both types of audio will keep two sets of speakers, one for stereo playback and one for Surround Sound playback. There are also companies that make speakers with switches that allow you to flip a switch to tune them for Stereo or Surround playback (though I’ve personally never really cared for that). Determine what type of listening is more important to you. You can build your system for varying degrees of both, but know that they are competing goals so pick the setup that represents what you’ll be using them for the most.

Size does matter
I don’t care what some Bose advertisement says about big sound from a small package. I’s mostly crap. That doesn’t necessarily mean that bigger is better but the size of the speakers should reflect the size of the room. When speaking about size I’m referring to the size of the enclosure. In general the size of the drivers is representative of the range of sound they’re capable of reproducing. I would not recommend getting anything less then a 2-way speaker, this doesn’t mean two drivers this means the the incoming signal is split in two ranges to (high and low) and then set to two sets of drivers. Smaller speakers will only have one driver per range but others might have redundant drivers for one or both ranges. Larger and more expensive speakers might also be split three ways.

Multiple drivers in the same range will often help produce accurate sound at higher volumes which can help drive sound through larger rooms. Three way speakers use each driver for a smaller more specialized range of sound which can help reproduce sounds more accurately. The size and shape of the enclosure has a lot to do with sound reproduction too. These aren’t hard fast rules to speaker selection though, you really need to listen to the speakers yourself; and don’t shy away from turning them up. It’s always good to know how a speaker reacts when it’s put under hard conditions.

If you have smaller to mid sized speakers for your front mains you’ll want to get similar speakers for your rear satellites. If you have larger speakers for your front mains you can get away with using smaller speakers for your rear satellites. Though it’s important that all of your speakers match. I high recommend getting all of the speakers from the same brand, preferably the same line. The reason is that the speakers help each other form a complete image; in surround sound environments objects and people walk around the room. Speakers can vary greatly in tone, and react differently to different sound ranges. if you speaker’s aren’t all matched then you run a very high risk of the sound changing as it moves around the room.

Lets use footsteps walking around the room as an example. If your speakers aren’t matched as the footsteps move from one speaker to the next they might get louder or softer giving your ears the impression that the person is moving closer or further away, even if that’s not the case. Also tones could change which would give your ears the impression that the person is stepping on a different type of material even if that’s not the case.

There might be some slight difference in speakers depending on their use. For instance most of the sound is driven through the front left and right speakers so these should have the most dynamic range of sound, the center channel is mostly used for on screen speech so it should have a very strong and accurate mid range and the high range so be soften slightly to prevent harsh “sh” sounds in speach. The rear satellites usually just add ambiance to the front speakers as well as provide rear sound effects like ricocheting bullets or muffled screams from people off screen, so these don’t need to have as much of a dynamic range as the fronts. If you buy in the same brand and in the same family of speakers then these speakers are all likely to use the same drivers and similar electronics as a result the frequency response and tonality from speaker to speaker will be generally consistent with slight tweaks to allow them to produce the kinds of sounds they’ll be used for the most. If you don’t go with the same family but the same brand you should see if the speakers use similar drivers. If you go with different brands you should definitely consider listening to them together to ensure that they match. Sub woofers are exempt from this rule as they are are a completely different beast from the rest of your speakers.

Bass
While we’ve talked about “speakers” we’ve neglected the sub-woofer. It’s usually a good idea to go with a sub woofer that includes it’s own amplification. Not very many receivers provide amplification for sub woofers and where a sub uses a substantially larger driver it often requires two to three times as much power then your amp provides on any one channel. There are some considerations with a subwoofer as well. Ported woofers (and ported speakers too) will be capable of louder volumes and deeper ranges, however it gets these things at the cost of accuracy, low sounds will lose a lot of their punch. I personally prefer a completely enclosed sub woofers and speakers, your tastes may vary, again, listen to them yourself and make a decision.

Size again makes a difference in the sub woofer world. In general the larger the sub the deeper noises it’s capable of making. But the larger the sub the more difficulty it has with higher frequencies. Basically the sub not only needs to produce low end noises but it needs to pick up where your other speakers leave off. If your speakers are too small and your sub woofer is too big there will be a very noticeable gap in the sound, lower then the speakers can handle but higher then the sub woofer can handle. It can vary from sub to sub based on the design of it’s enclosure but I’d recommend getting a sub woofer with a driver about twice the size of the largest driver in your other speakers. So if your front speakers have 8in drivers go for a 15in sub. if your front speakers have 6in drivers go for a 12in sub and so on.

To get an appropriate amount of rumble out of your sub woofer I’d recommend getting one that is a minimum of 1in for every 20 square feet of room. So if your room is about 15ft by 15ft -> 15ftx15ft= 225sqft -> 225/20 = 11.25 So a 12in subwoofer would be ideal. You can also use this to determine the size of the speakers you should consider. meaning that at least your front main speakers should have 6in drivers (half the size of your sub). Sub woofers are “non-directional” meaning their noise is so low that you can’t determine it’s origin. This typically remains true if you have a sub woofer sized appropriately for the room; however, if you go to small you and your guests will be able to audibly locate the sub woofer every single time, which is bad, very very bad.

Receivers
Now that you’ve got your speakers all picked out you’ll need to bridge the gap between your source material and your speakers. This is the easy part. First you’ll need to look at your sources. What kinds of connections do they recommend? Are they using Toslink, coax, separate analog plugs, HDMI? What kinds of data is being sent over those connections? Dolby Digital, DTS, Pro Logic, TrueHD? Ensuring that your receiver accepts Dolby Digital and Pro Logic IIx through toslink and analog stereo plugs respectivly will ensure that 100% of console games on the market can connect to your Receiver in the best possible way. If you watch a lot of DVDs you’ll want to ensure it supports DTS for the few discs that do support DTS; it’s nice to have. And if you want to ensure that you can play all of the new high def audio formats from blue laser discs you’ll want to ensure that it fully supports HDMI 1.3 (though there aren’t any receivers on the market that do that yet).

Research the equipment you’ve got and the equipment you plan on buying, find out what they all recommend using. You should also ensure that your receiver has enough inputs to handle all of your devices, if you have an excessive number of devices you’ll need to get an external switch (though that’s a topic for next week). One thing you should ALWAYS get is pre-amp inputs. this is future proofing your receiver by allowing you to connect a separate pre-amp device. If some new device comes out tomorrow using a new technology that your receiver doesn’t support you’ll likely be able to buy a stand-alone decoder and feed it into your receiver through the pre-amp inputs, it’s future proofing your purchase.

The second half of choosing the right receiver is making sure it can work with your speakers. Look for the receiver’s power rating in Watts. Many will advertise “peak” or “max” performance and 99.9% of those numbers are complete marketing BS. the only number that matters is the Watts “RMS” (root-mean square). If you can’t find the RMS listed for a receiver don’t buy it because the manufacturer obviously doesn’t want you to know (which almost always means it’s bad). Your speakers should tell you what they recommend for power and what their peak power is. You’ll want to make sure the RMS of your receiver fits comfortably in the range of the recommended power and max power. Below or above that range and not only will you get weak, crappy sound and distortion but you risk damaging your speakers.

Anything else on the receiver is fluff and personal prefrence. Receivers have their own tonalities to them and again that changes depending on which speakers you’re using them with. Listen to a receiver before you buy it, and if possible listen to it with the speakers you’re considering as well.

What brand should I get?
Receivers don’t need to be the same brand as your speakers. Actually I usually recommend getting different brand speakers then the receiver as companies usually only specialize in one or the other. I’d shy away from any brand that requires you to use their receivers with their speakers. I’d also recommend shopping in a specialty store as opposed to a big box store. Most of what is sold in the big box stores is crap designed to sell fast and be replaced often. Find a good boutique where the employees know the equipment, if you’re not listening to them in a listening room then you’re not really listening to them. If the store doesn’t even have listening rooms don’t shop there.

Like displays I’d recommend not paying attention to the brand name and just going by sound. Audio is a very unique market where it’s fairly easy for someone in their garage to just start making speakers. I’ve seen homebuilt stuff that goes for half the price of brand name equipment and just blows them away quality wise. There’s something to be said for hand crafted speakers tuned carefully by hand because the guy just loves audio as opposed to something that’s been mass produced as fast and cheap as possible to help boost their bottom line. Don’t count out the little guys.

How much should I pay?
I’d recommend setting aside as much if not more for your surround sound system as you did for your display. If you spent $2K on your display, set aside a minimum of $2K for your surround sound setup. In the grand scheme of things display technology is still very old fashioned. We look at a moving photograph, it’s flat and small and not at all immersive on it’s own. Not until we have stereo vision and virtual reality will we have truly immersive video technology. Sound on the other hand is already there. We can emulate entire 3D worlds and environments with sound alone. With a good system if you close your eyes you’re there, and you didn’t even need a display to have that experience. You could be using an old crappy 25in CRT display but if you’ve got the right surround sound the experience becomes vivid and full.

Most people neglect the sound system or cheap out by buying some crappy home theater in a box just so they can hear the occasional bullet behind their head. It’s not surprising, sound is hard to sell you cant show someone sound in a paper advertisement, it’d be difficult to describe a sound in a review, and unlike displays you can’t line up sound systems next to each other on a shelf in a wide open store and have them accurately produce what they’re capable of. If you get anything out of this just know that cheaping out on your sound system is the worst thing you can do when building a home theater.

That doesn’t mean that you need to buy all your stuff at once. One of the beauties of a piece built system is that you can build it up over time. Start with a receiver and a quality set of front main speakers. Down the road add some rear speakers and a center channel and then a little further down the road finish it up with a sub woofer. You can do this because unlike displays good speakers can last a very long time. You might replace your display every 5 or so years but if you get a good quality set of speakers you’ll be passing them down to your children. Receivers are a little different because the decoding technology changes over time as do the types of inputs but good speakers can last you a lifetime.

My goal with this guide is to help some people avoid the simple mistakes by boiling down all of the things I’ve learned through my own research. I hope that after reading this anyone building a home theater or buying home theater equipment, be it for gaming or just just TV and movies, will ask the right questions and make the best purchases possible.

The Display

What good is a home theater without something to watch? While the display isn’t the most important part of your home theater experience (I’ll explain that later) it’s usually the first thing people think about so I’ll cover displays first.

Which type of TV tech is the best?

This is probably the most common question anyone ever asks. And there is no simple answer to this question. There is no flat out “best” type of display tech. The best TV, for you, depends on a few key factors:

1. How bright is your room? Is there a lot of daylight? Do you have blinds that will make the room completely dark? Do you mind keeping the room completely dark.
2. What is the size and shape of the room? How far away will you sit from the TV? Does everyone sit directly in front of it or do you have people sitting off to the sides. Is there a height variation or is everyone eye level with the display?
3. How Big of a screen do you want? A lot of people (myself included) sign up for a bigger is better mantra, but everyone has a limit be it a physical limitation of the room or a political limit with others that cohabit the space (W.A.F.). Ignore cost for a moment and decide exactly how big you want your display to be and how much space you can realistically dedicate to it (height, width, and depth). I want you take a few minutes to mull over those questions, take some measurements if you have to and write down your requirements. Be honest with yourself. Figure out what your actual physical dimensional limitations are for display size, it may actually be smaller then you think.

.. you done? …. are you SURE you’re done? Good. Read on put your requirements to use.

Here are a few scenarios, If you’re scenario doesn’t fit these exactly then just pick which one most closely matches it and pay attention to why I’m making the selections I am.

Scenario1: Small Living Room
Room Size: Small room (seating less then 8ft from display)
Seating Angle: Any (includes some seating far off to the sides or not at eye level)
Lighting: moderate ambient light (indirect sunlight or room lights on)
Display size: Mid sized Display (24-39in)

Best Choice: LCD Flat Panel
Why: The LCD is the best fit for this room, because they’re well priced in the sub 40in market, you don’t need a very large display when sitting that close anyway. Also LCDs are relatively bright displays and blacks typically show up as dark grays in dark rooms but with moderate room lighting it looks great. Also being flat LCDs take up less space which is good for smaller rooms and allows the display to sit closer to the wall for better viewing off to the sides. Some older LCDs had problems with wide viewing angles but most modern LCDs don’t have any problems with it.

Scenario 2: Office
Room Size: Very small (seating less then 3ft from display)
Seating angle: Moderate Angle (looking fairly directly at the display)
Lighting: moderate ambient light (indirect sunlight or room lights on)
Display size: Small (15-23in)

Best Choice: LCD PC Monitor
Why: LCD PC Monitors are the best choice in this scenario for many of the same reasons outlined in Scenario 1. A PC monitor differs from a regular display meant for TV in that they usually have tighter spacing between the pixels and text aliasing when running from PC source, both of which make the image easier on the eyes when viewed from a close range. PC Monitors are usually much cheaper then small sized HDTVs too, even in widescreen aspect ratios. It can vary from monitor to monitor but due to the smaller size and tight pixel spacing some PC monitor still have problems with wide viewing angles.
Scenario 3: Mid-Large Living Room
Room Size: Mid-Large (seating 6-12ft from display)
Seating Angle: Moderate Angle (some seating a bit off to the sides but no extremes)
Lighting: low-moderate light (anywhere from lights off to indirect sunlight)
Display size: Large sized Display (40-60in)

Best Choice: Plasma
Why: Plasma TVs work well in larger sizes and in larger settings, They often have visible black lines between the pixels when viewed up close but when viewed from a reasonable distance they become indistinguishable. In this size range LCD flat panels start to get expensive and Plasmas start get get more reasonable. Modern plasmas also have excellent contrast ratios making them suitable for both low light and moderate light environments. They also have decent Viewing angles but not as good as most modern LCDs so you can have some seating off to the sides but avoid anything too extreme.

Scenario 4: Small Theater/Game Room
Room Size: Mid (seating less then 8ft from display)
Seating Angle: Low (most seating is straight on to the display and at eye level)
Lighting: Dark-low (anywhere from lights off to low, indirect “reading” lights)
Display size: Large sized Display (40-60in)

Best Choice: Rear Projection (DLP or LCD/LCoS)
Why: DLP and LCos Offer excellent picture quality but as rear projection packages they have really crummy viewing angles and require really low light (next time you’re in a big box store take note that the lights above the RPTVs are usually off and the displays are pointed directly at eye level… there’s a reason for that). If you don’t mind dark rooms and perfectly positioned seating then they’re great displays to get but they’re not well suited for most day to day applications. The specific rear projection tech you get can change a bit depending on a few factors. DLPs usually have the best picture quality but they also require the darkest rooms and the narrowest viewing angles, some people see “rainbows” when viewing DLPS also which can be a factor. LCDs and LCoS are slightly brighter displays for rooms that are dimly lit but aren’t completely dark, they usually also have slightly better viewing angles. LCoS displays are almost always better than RP LCDs, but they’re also almost always more expensive.

Scenario 5: Large Theater/Game Room
Room Size: Large-Very Large (seater greater then 8ft from display)
Seating Angle: any
Lighting: Dark-low (anywhere from lights off to low, indirect “reading” lights)
Display size: Very Large sized Display (60+ in)

Best choice: Front Projection (DLP or LCD/LCoS)
Why: Front projection DLPs are very similar to Rear Projection DLPs in terms of lighting requirements. In Very Large Screen front projection scenarios you’ll want to sit quite a ways back from the display as even in high definition it can be easy to discern individual pixels close up, particularly with LCD displays.

In addition to the projector itself there is a lot of importance on the screen being used (don’t use a wall or a bed sheet… that’s just stupid and ghetto). Rather then determining the angle between the viewer and the center of the display you need to look at the angle between the viewer and the projector when reflected off of the display. In lower angle setups you’ll want to go with a “High Power” Screen which uses glass beads on the surface of the screen, this gives a really bright image but only to people within a low viewing angle, wider angle viewers suffer with these screens. Wider angle applications should use a simple white matte screen. If you want the ultimate in theater fidelity plan on keeping the room completely dark and go with a gray screen for better shadow detail and for even better fidelity you can go with a high power gray screen.

What Resolution Should I get?

Once again this isn’t a cut and dry answer. A lot of people get suckered into the numbers game and spend far far too much on a higher resolution display that they’re not even physically capable of fully appreciating. Again we’ll answer this question by asking a few more:

1. What is the closest you’ll ever be sitting to the TV? Ignore rare occasions that you’ll sit on the floor below it with your legs folded; instead think about sitting in the closest seat that might be used daily or very frequently lean forward and measure the distance from your eyes to the display.
2. What kind of content will you be viewing? Are you playing mostly Xbox 360 and PS3 games? Are you playing mostly Wii and regular DVD movies? Are you playing HD-DVD and BluRay movies? Are you watching regular TV broadcasts, HD broadcasts, etc? Don’t just answer yes to all of those, think realistically about what you’ll be using it for 80% of the time, and what you plan on eventually using it for in the next year or two. Different content types have different requirements and often they compete.

Picking a display that is right for your content type will maximize the picture fidelity for that content. Only two questions this time but they’re important, once again think about the answers and be honest with yourself.

The ideal screen resolution is the one that meshes perfectly with the content. Higher resolution displays are not better. Let me repeat that just to make sure you got it: Higher resolution displays are not better. If your source resolution is lower then your display resolution then you open up the potential to make it look like total shit. Not only that you’ll probably end up paying a few hundred to a few grand too much for your display only to get an image that looks worse. Here are some source content and the best resolutions to shoot for when viewing this source content.

480p – DVD movies, Most TV channels (non-HD), Nintendo Wii, any console launched before 2005, Older video tech, VHS, Beta, Laserdisc, etc.

720p – HD Sports Channels, HD Network TV channels, Xbox 360, PS3 (regardless of what their PR departments will tell you 720p is the optimal resolution for those two consoles). HD movies downloaded from services such as the Live Marketplace or Apple TV.

1080p – HD Movie Channels, BluRay Movies, HD-DVD movies.

Pick the “sweet spot” resolution where you’ll probably spend 80% of your time… the price of hardware nearly doubles as you move up from 480 to 720 and doubles again from 720 to 1080. Also content that is encoded in a lower resolution wont look as good on a higher resolution display, you want to use the right resolution for you, of course it’s always good to consider what you plan on eventually using it for in the next few years.

Now I’m going to throw a wrench into the works. Even if your source content is beautiful 1080p there is a very high probability that your eyes can’t tell the difference between a 720p image and a 1080p image. Based on the calculations from an Audioholics article on the subject. I’ve made up this charge that cross references seating distance with diagonal screen size to give you the maximum resolution a pair of 20/20 eyes would be capable of discerning. I was very liberal in my calculations often siding on the higher resolutions when it was close. I’d recommend rounding up your screen size and rounding down your seating distance if it falls on a line.

As you can see 1080p can’t even be recognized by human eyes from typical living room viewing distances. It can really only be appreciated in applications where your viewing a monitor on a desk just a few feet away and doesn’t become relevant in theater room settings until you start getting into the extremely large screen sizes.

I would not recommend using this chart as the end-all for discussion, I would use it as a guide to help reinforce or sway your decision based on your content. For instance you’re playing a lot of Xbox 360, PS3 and watching HD sports, but might occasionally pop in a Blue Ray, you might find the charts says 720p is all you need based on your screen size and viewing distance allowing you to determine that you don’t need to spend the extra cash on an 1080p display that you’ll never be able to fully appreciate.

What is a good brand to buy?

This is a total BS question. Most brands these days (particularly in the display market) are far too diverse to judge on brand alone. You can name nearly any brand that makes displays and I can point you to a number of displays they make that are fantastic quality and well priced, and then I can turn around and point to other displays they make that are total garbage and overpriced. What you want to do is read reviews and check out some stores.

I’d recommend going to some stores and take a notepad with you. At this point you should know which screen size you want, the resolution you want and the tech you want, that is a world more information then most people will be armed with when they head to the store. Whatever you do, do not buy anything on your first trip to the store. I don’t care if they’re practically giving the TV away, don’t buy anything. HD displays are loads of money and only fools rush to make such large purchases. Check out the displays that meet your criteria, jot down the price and the model number of every display that looks good to you, ignore the brand name, judge it by which ones look like quality displays with a good picture. Push a few buttons on the display, the quality of the buttons is usually a good indication of the quality of the rest of the device in my experience.

Go home and run the model numbers through Google, find reviews and see what the reviewers think of the display. If there are any problems with it I’m sure you’ll find someone complaining about it somewhere online. Also run the model through mysimon.com to see what online stores price it at. If you can’t find the model ANYWHERE online, I’d recommend avoiding it. Often big box stores will commission product companies to make cheaper versions of their products that look just like the higher quality versions anywhere. This is how Walmart manages to sell what seems to be the same 42in plasma for $300 less, it’s not the same display despite the fact that it is the same brand and does look the same as the other one. You don’t want it, trust me.
Also pay attention in reviews, reviewers will often compare an item to other competing items. So if you’re looking at X they might compare it to Y. This is a good way to find alternatives, maybe you really liked a display you saw at the store but the reviewer mentioned another display you hadn’t seen saying it’s better and cheaper. Find a store that carries the other display and check it out, find some reviews and opinions on the other display, etc. Keep going through this process until you’re absolutely sure you’ve found the perfect display for you. You should feel comfortable that you know others have been happy with the device you should know the displays strong points and weaknesses and you should be able to go to a store and know more about it then the sales person. Only then are you ready to start price shopping.

How much should I pay?

This is the absolute last thing you should consider when buying a display. Ideally you should know which model you want and find someone who carries it at a price you can afford. Unlike the old tube TVs price is not always dependent on size. you can get a 32in LCD, a 42in Plasma, a 52in RPTV, or a 120in Front projector & Screen for all about the same price.

In general Expect to pay between $3000 and $6000 for your entire home theater setup, Half of that should be dedicated to your display (that’s $1500 to $3000 for the mathematically inept) and the other half dedicated to the surround sound system and supporting devices (this does not include players, game machines, or movies, I’m assuming you already have that stuff). Whether you’re at the $3K or $6K range mostly depends on the quality you’re looking for. Spending any more then $6K and I would highly recommend splitting it 60/40 with more money going towards the audio system (your ears are much more discerning then your eyes which means audio goes further for an immersing experience). Nothing says you can’t buy your Display this year and buy your audio system next year, or visa versa. In-fact if it means you can dedicate a little more cash to both I’d highly recommend going that route; and if you’re like me you’ll buy the audio system first.

Even if you decide you really like certain model display and it’s unavailable in your price range it will help you know what you like in a good display, you can either start making compromises in certain areas and finding cheaper displays in your price range or you can wait it out to save up more for the display you really want. If it’s not too far out of your price range I suggest waiting at least a few months, it will give you time to save, it will also give you time to do more research, and it will give the display time to drop in price or perhaps go on sale somewhere.

When is the best time to buy?

If you’re a price hunter the best time to buy is right after the Superbowl. Many consumers will buy an HDTV for the game and return it after the weekend making up some lame excuse why they didn’t want it. The result is hundreds of brand new open box HDTVs at ridiculously low prices. Another good time to buy is just before holiday shopping starts (September-November). Most companies will release their new product lines in November in preparation for the holiday shopping season, that means all of last year’s models will go on sale as stores try to get rid of residual stock to make room for the new stuff. Once again the consumer wins.

What else should I look for?

There are a number of important things to keep in mind when shopping for a display.

1. Contrast ratio is the most important factor. More important then even resolution, professionals rank a high contrast ratio as being the number one factor in what makes a beautiful picture. To put it in perspective resolution ranks forth and numbers two and three deal with color accuracy and vibrancy. “full on-full off” is the most accurate way to test contrast ratio “gray-to-gray” is a complete sham used to fake the number. “Iris-AI” is another trick used to boost contrast ratio numbers on projection based sets (though it can be useful in some scenarios, do your research if you’re faced with an Iris AI system).
2. The “Native resolution” is the only resolution that matters. The native resolution identifies the actual number of pixels the screen has, just because a TV “supports” or is “compatible” with 1080p or 720p content doesn’t mean you will actually see images in those resolutions. Be very weary (particularly with Plasma Displays) of this as a lot of sales people and advertisements will get into a numbers game here. Just remember that the native resolution is the only one that matters. REAL 1080p sets will have a native resolution of 1920×1080. Real 720p sets will have a native resolution of 1280×720 (or sometimes a similar resolution like 1366×768) anything below that isn’t real HD.
3. Make sure the display offers at very least an HDMI port with HDCP, and a Component video port (not to be confused with Composite). Having multiples of each of these is a very good thing as is having a VGA port, S-Video port etc. The more ports the merrier.
4. If you’re buying a projector or rear projection TV find out what the bulb life is. Typically they last between 2000 and 6000 hours. replacement bulbs can cost anywhere from $250 to $600 to replace, also most warranty services do not cover bulb replacement. Keep those things in mind when purchasing projection based displays.
5. When looking at LCD or Plasma screens check out the response time, lower is better and ideally you’ll want one below 16ms, especially if you want to use it for gaming This number doesn’t matter on DLP or CRT sets.
6. All modern HDTVs have scaler chips. it’s the chip that converts lower or higher resolution signals to the native resolution of the display. Find out which chip a display uses. If you have a 720p or 1080p display and want to use a lot of 480i content on it the Faroudja DCDi processors the best bet for that. Similarly if you’re viewing a lot of 1080i content on a 1080p or 720p HDTV there are other chips that are best suited for that. Most displays have mediocre scalers built in… if it has a Faroudja DCDi or other quality processor inside it will probably advertise it right on the box, if you can’t find out what it has for a processor it probably isn’t the best. Expect any good review of the display to discuss this topic.