Home Theater System Reviews

Home theaters made simple

Home theater in a box (HTIB) systems simplify the task of setting up the audio side of a home theater by providing all of the elements needed in one package. They include an audio-video (AV) receiver along with enough speakers to properly enjoy the surround sound that's part of most Blu-ray Discs, DVDs and HDTV broadcasts. Many of the latest home theater systems also include a high-definition Blu-ray player. A few of the least expensive ones have a DVD player instead. Finally, some home theater systems have no disc player at all. Those range from bare-bones options that produce audio that's barely better than what you can get from a TV alone to high-end systems with component-class receivers that give their owners the flexibility to add the Blu-ray player of their choice.

Professional reviewers do a spotty job of covering home theater systems. Most publications only cover the occasional HTIB, with those that include Blu-ray players getting the lion's share of the press. Good destinations for information include About.com and BigPictureBigSound.com. About.com covers a decent number of players in both hands-on reviews and specification-based looks, while BigPictureBigSound.com produces testing-based reviews that are detailed enough to inform without overwhelming. (Note: ConsumerSearch is owned by About.com, but the two don't share an editorial affiliation.)

We also found some good coverage in publications and at websites in other countries, most notably Britain's What Hi-Fi? Sound & Vision magazine, ExpertReviews.com and TrustedReviews.com. Although there are a few technical differences between the versions of the home theater systems sold there and those offered in the U.S., performance should generally be the same. ConsumerReports.org is not as up-to-date as we would like to see, and it issues reports that, although testing-based, are disappointingly brief. However, the site's subscriber-only report is the best source for information on home theater systems without a Blu-ray player. User reviews can be read in several places, but Amazon.com has the best selection.

All-in-one home theater systems' chief advantage is simplicity. They reduce the buying decisions needed to get a full-blown surround-sound system to one. Typically, they also include aids such as color-coded connections that take some of the head-scratching out of the task of wiring up all of the electronics and connecting it to your TV. Most all-in-one home theater systems are also inexpensive compared with the cost of assembling a similar solution from components, including five surround speakers, a subwoofer, an amplifier or receiver and a disc player.

However, there are also some disadvantages. Performance, while good -- especially for watching movies -- generally falls short of a system you put together yourself out of discrete components. Flexibility is also often limited, particularly with lower cost HTIB systems; you can't upgrade or replace pieces of the system should something fail. Additional inputs for things like cable or satellite TV boxes, game systems, etc., are also often limited. Finally, just like surround-sound systems you put together yourself, finding a spot for all of the speakers can be a challenge in some rooms. If you are looking for a simple solution that offers better sound and better ambience than TV speakers, but not necessarily a convincing surround-sound field, a soundbar might be a more appropriate solution; those are covered in a separate ConsumerSearch report. If you want to research separate components, see our companion reports on home theater speakers and home theater receivers, as well as our Blu-ray player and DVD player reports.