Buying Electronics: Surround Sound on the Cheap

Buying a surround sound system to match your newly-acquired HDTV is definitely recommended—it really does add a lot to the experience. But if you start trying to price out audio systems, it’s easy to nickel and dime your way into the poor house. Avoid this at all costs—ain’t no Dolby DTS on the streets.

The thing is, for most people the low-end surround sound gear will be just fine. With a little bit of patience, a perfectly serviceable rig can be bought for around $300. Here’s what to look for:

• Separate components – Don’t bother with those “home theater in a box” solutions that combine the DVD player with the amplifier. Buying the components separately is usually just as cheap and gives you a lot more flexibility to swap different parts in and out. Plus inexpensive upscaling DVD players like the Oppo OPDV971H ($200) output a much better looking image than most of the built-in DVD units.

• More inputs = more money – High-end audio receivers include video inputs and switching which is nice, but adds a lot of extra cost to the unit. All you really need in a receiver is audio: make sure you have at least a couple of optical audio inputs as well as at least one digital coaxial input. (Don’t worry, almost every receiver on the market today has those.)

I actually do my component video switching with an external device that outputs everything to a single optical cable, which works great, but there have been times where I’ve been glad I had an extra optical input for special situations. (I’ve got an older version of the this Yamaha reciever [pictured], which can be purchased with a full set of speakers for $310.)

• 5.1 is surround enough – Surround sound goes up to 7.1 these days (that’s 7 surround speakers and one subwoofer), but the price premium is ridiculous and not every movie or HDTV channel outputs all 8 channels discreetly anyway. Trust me, if you’re moving from “the speakers inside the TV” to 5.1 you’ll be plenty happy with what it provides.

Plus, more speakers means more wiring, which is always a pain.

• Basic systems are good enough – I’m sure lots of people will roll up in here with commentary about how you should buy the best speakers you can afford and recommend high-flying receivers, but the reality is that amp and speaker technology is old news—and that means cheap. Any given off-the-shelf surround sound speaker set is going to provide plenty of fidelity to output the dulcet lilt of the latest Adam Sandler flick. And it’ll do it loudly enough to rock your whole house (let alone an apartment).

As long as you avoid the bottom-end, sub-$150 5.1 “all in one” kits, chances are you’re going to be plenty happy with the results. At a budget of $300 to $400, there are a wealth of perfectly serviceable options.