| Now lets decide on the the best home theater | | | | and Subwoofer. 6.1 moves the rear surrounds to the |
| speaker and sub woofer that suits your needs and | | | | side walls, and places a center surround in the rear. |
| style. The speakers can be bought separately or as a | | | | This system also requires a receiver built for 6.1 and |
| unit. There are a number of complete systems | | | | these are not widely avalible. The speaker selection |
| available for sale now but it is best to stick to name | | | | gives the system its voice. High Quality speakers are |
| brands. You can buy an Audio Receiver and hook | | | | needed to correctly reproduce the signals fed to them. |
| your speakers into it, then run the output from the | | | | In typical setups there are the satellite speakers (5 in |
| DVD player to the Receiver.. Be sure to read the | | | | the case of a 5.1 surround system) and the subwoofer |
| directions carefully and take it step by step installing | | | | (which stands for the .1 in a 5.1 system). |
| the system. You don't have to buy the monster | | | | Now for the Subwoofer. Subs sould have at least 200 |
| package with the quality cables and power protection | | | | watts RMS. Note that there is only one subwoofer |
| but it does improve sound quality and protects against | | | | because it produces the bass frequencies (anyway |
| power surges and spikes. | | | | from 15Hz to 300Hz). This is because frequencies |
| Seperates are the way to go here, not those "All in | | | | below about 250Hz are omni directional which means |
| one packages" sold everywhere. The larger the room, | | | | that your ears can hardly tell where the sound is |
| the more power in RMS Watt Output you will need. | | | | coming from unlike the mid and high frequencies which |
| Most of the sales people that you will talk to, or the | | | | are very directional. A good subwoofer usually has a |
| units that have the specs on them for you to read, | | | | response done to around 25Hz and is self-powered |
| normally give the power output in Peak Wattage. | | | | which means it has the amplifier built-in. |
| IGNORE THE PEAK WATTAGE NUMBER! It is a | | | | For the basic system get a receiver that is DTS |
| meaningless numeral in the industry. Find out the | | | | ONBOARD not the "DTS Ready" garbage. DTS |
| RMS(Root Mean Squared) Wattage, as this is the | | | | Ready means you will have to purchase an outboard |
| number you need to know. You may have a peak | | | | DTS decoder, or a dvd player that has one built in. |
| rating of 300 watts, but your RMS could be as low as | | | | Many manufacturers are in this business, so take your |
| 65 watts, or even lower! A good rule to keep in mind is | | | | time, shop around, and get the best home theater |
| 100 watts RMS. | | | | speaker and sub woofer that suits your need, style |
| Speakers are another matter. 5.1 is 5 speakers Left | | | | and budget. |
| Main, Center, Right Main, Right Surround, Left Surround, | | | | |