Many people talk about their home theater components (i.
e.
receivers, speakers, DVD players, etc.
) by brand names and watts per channel, and more importantly how much they paid for them, but really don't know what they have and the full performance capabilities that they employ.
Many times an employee at the dealership will loose a barrage of technical terms that the common person doesn't understand and is pumped up by the dime anagrams and are led into a false sense of purchased success.
That is not to say that the purchased items do not employ what was stated, only that once home all that pride is gone because the new owner has no idea what to do with the "technology" they acquired.
So what is my solution? Know yourself, know your theater.
Many people purchase stuff that they don't need and would seldom or never use.
Nowadays most receivers come with all the modern decoders and have enough power for most rooms.
Don't get sucked into "this receiver has 300 watts per channel" when you live in an apartment.
You will never use that kind of power.
Speakers, well they come in all shapes and sizes and all budgets.
If you are the thrifty type try craigslist.
com for your area.
You'll be surprised with what pops up.
As for DVD players, now that the war over what type of discs are going to be sold (HD or Blu-Ray)Blu-Ray won, I would consider waiting until prices come down, as production increases, to purchase one.
You can Google pretty much any item and get reviews for that product.
So investigate what you are interested in and go in with all the information you can find.
Plus with Internet purchasing, you can avoid sales tax (under the right conditions) and you can use that as leverage at your local dealer to bring prices down.
e.
receivers, speakers, DVD players, etc.
) by brand names and watts per channel, and more importantly how much they paid for them, but really don't know what they have and the full performance capabilities that they employ.
Many times an employee at the dealership will loose a barrage of technical terms that the common person doesn't understand and is pumped up by the dime anagrams and are led into a false sense of purchased success.
That is not to say that the purchased items do not employ what was stated, only that once home all that pride is gone because the new owner has no idea what to do with the "technology" they acquired.
So what is my solution? Know yourself, know your theater.
Many people purchase stuff that they don't need and would seldom or never use.
Nowadays most receivers come with all the modern decoders and have enough power for most rooms.
Don't get sucked into "this receiver has 300 watts per channel" when you live in an apartment.
You will never use that kind of power.
Speakers, well they come in all shapes and sizes and all budgets.
If you are the thrifty type try craigslist.
com for your area.
You'll be surprised with what pops up.
As for DVD players, now that the war over what type of discs are going to be sold (HD or Blu-Ray)Blu-Ray won, I would consider waiting until prices come down, as production increases, to purchase one.
You can Google pretty much any item and get reviews for that product.
So investigate what you are interested in and go in with all the information you can find.
Plus with Internet purchasing, you can avoid sales tax (under the right conditions) and you can use that as leverage at your local dealer to bring prices down.