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Design Guide:
The Building Blocks of Home Theater Systems

Interested in understanding home theater systems and how they're built?

For those newer to our community, in this article we're going to discuss the basic composition of any HT system.

For those of you who are just being introduced to HT, you may be asking yourself "what is a home theater system?" Well, it's essentially a makeup of audio and video sources that work together in an integrated framework. We're going to talk about each of those components that you'll find in the typical setup scheme, as well as some that aren't so common.

Video Sources

A video source is needed to produce the images coming from other components in the system that are providing the programming. This is most typically accomplished using a television, whether that's a more traditional tube TV or what's becoming more popular and prevalent in home today, LCD and Plasma televisions. More expensive and sophisticated home theaters take advantage of a projector and projector screen to produce larger images than most televisions are capable of producing.

Interested in learning more about next generation television units? Click here to learn more about LCD's and Plasma's.

Looking into a projector for your home theater system? Click here to see our projector buying guide.

Video Programming

Programming that is sent to the video source is most often provided by a cable or satellite TV provider. For purely digital programming, additional equipment such as a set top box is required and in the case of satellite, so too is satellite dish.

Video programming can also come from other home theater system components, such as a DVD player. If you're old school, you might still be using a VHS player. The items are typically used to play movies, family videos, or even play audio discs.

Some gaming systems are capable of playing video discs, so you could cut down on the number of components by substituting one of these players.

New to DVD and want to know about the technology? Click here to see what DVD's are all about.

Audio Sources

The audio sources work much like the video source -- they produce the sound coming from the rest of your equipment. At the heart of any home theater system is the receiver, which integrates most or all of the components and provides power to the other audio sources, including your speakers and subwoofer(s).

Want to know the ins and outs of shopping for a home theater receiver? Click here to switch over to the receiver buying guide.

Audio Programming

A variety of audio sources can be integrated into a home theater environment. In addition to DVD players or gaming systems (which are often capable of playing audio discs of different formats), some home theater systems may include a dedicated Compact Disc player (CD player), iPod dock connectivity to enable an iPod, and again for your old schoolers, a turntable for playing old vinyl records. To enjoy music over the air, most receivers come with built-in AM/FM tuners and many are now equipped with built-in satellite radio, such as XM or Sirius.

Gaming

Gaming consoles are very popular in home theaters today. New generation systems are much more sophisticated than their predecessors and are multifunctional. Whether through an add-on or fully integrated features, some systems are capable of servicing several functions such as video playback (in multiple formats) and audio playback (in multiple formats). The current systems also are capable of storing media just like a computer does on its hard drive.

The three major players in this market are Microsoft (XBOX 360), Sony (Playstation 3), and Nintendo (Wii).

Cables

Well, it doesn't do you any good to have all of these cool things without being able to bring them all together. Sure, anything you buy will be supplied with the basics. But if you want to get the most out of your system, you need to know which cable types your system supports and some way to rank them all.

Which cables are the best? We'll tell you -- just click here to find out more.

Peripherals

Want to bring simplicity to your home theater system? You can opt to purchase a remote control that will operate all of your gear at the touch of a button. Some will even allow you to create "macros" that will automate several steps in a process -- such as turning on the TV and DVD player and changing the source on your receiver with one press of a button.

Want to crank up the volume without disturbing your next door neighbors? Buy a set of headphones to keep everyone but yourself from losing their hearing. With advancement in wireless technology, you have an assortment of good brands to select from to give you a nice experience without the hassle of wires.

If you don't want to see the investment in your equipment go down the drain, don't forget to get a good power outlet/surge protector. Storms can cause permanent electrical damage to just about any item in your system, so it's better to be safe than sorry.

Home Theater Systems → Design Guide