How Do I Hook Up...
my home theater in a box?
January 1st, 2008 by Joe Chianese
Page 1
What is HTIB?
HTIB stands for home theater in a box. What it boils down to:
- a surround sound receiver
- 5, 6, or 7 speakers
- a subwoofer
- 100 feet of cheap speaker wire (on average)
- possibly a DVD player or DVD/VCR combo unit, maybe even built into the receiver
For most people, HTIB's are great: you buy one box, go home, unpack, and voila; home theatre. Its a simple, all-in-one type solution to getting yourself
some adequate surround sound.
What it is not, however, is high quality. You can find these kind of setups for as low as $30 around Black Friday, or $50 even at normal prices. That may sound like a steal,
but the only one stealing is the manufacturer; from you!
Buying such a cheap setup really isn't worth your while. If you're going to go the route of HTIB, plan to spend at least $150. Somewhere over $200 but under $1,000
will net you a pretty decent setup. Those sub $100 packages will literally sound that cheap. Trust me, I've heard them. They're awful.
The problem is, no two speakers, no two receivers, and no two pairs of speaker wire are made the same. You need speakers capable of producing a full range of sound,
not just a few of them that your $75 HTIB is capable of. A receiver should have digital inputs for true surround sound, not red and white composite audio. That's only good
for stere surround, which means you just pass the left and right channels to the rear left and right - its not actually the surround sound track on your DVD movies. The speaker wire
these things come bundled with is usually very high guage (meaning thinner cable), resulting in lower quality audio with greater chance of interference.
If you do end up going with an HTIB, stick with name brands, but avoid some, like Sony. Sony tends to use proprietary connectors on the end of their speaker wire,
so if you want to use other (or longer) speaker wire, good luck getting those connectors off the old wires and onto the new ones. If you lose them, you'll have to go through
Sony directly and pay much more than the few cents they're actually worth.
Before We Move On
Keep in mind that an HTIB does not restrict you from upgrading components. You could always change the receiver, the speakers, or the speaker wire. Its not a hard wired
system or anything like that. So as a starter home theatre, this may be your best (or only) option depending on your needs and your budget.
You have that option of adding higher quality speakers or a receiver with discrete channels and higher wattage later on. Just remember the prices
of components: a high quality receiver will run you $200-$500 by itself, a solid 5.1 speaker setup (with subwoofer) can cost from $200-$1,200. It all depends
on your tastes and even on your needs (smaller rooms require less powerful receivers and hence less powerful speakers).
If you're still considering a Home Theater In a Box, continue on below. Sorry, I'm not trying to scare anyone away - I just don't want you to end up with a subpar
home theater that you'll regret well after the return period has passed!
>>Next: What to Look for in an HTIB (2)
Check our our Home Theater Glossary to lookup some of the words you haven't seen before or don't fully understand. Its a great way to familiarize yourself with home theater connections and will help you make better buying and configuring decisions.
>>Glossary
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