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Cheap Home Theater, Best Cheap Home Theaters

Related Guides: 3D TVs, Blu Ray Players, Camcorders and Cheap LCD TVs

Home theater once seemed like a luxury, but with the advent of cheap home theater packages, this may be the moment to deck out your living room with a flat-screen TV, Blu-ray player, and surround-sound speaker system. Of course, you can build a home theater one piece at a time, but many users find it more convenient and a lot more economical to buy a cheap home theater in a box (HTiB).

Cheap HTiBs are generally pretty easy to set up, even for novice users, and you can buy inexpensive home theaters for as little as $100.

A cheap home theater package includes several components: speakers, subwoofer, often a DVD or Blu-ray player, and perhaps an audio/video (A/V) receiver. Cheap home theater packages do not include a TV, so they're not truly all-in-one home theaters. Discount HTiBs also don't include a game console, cable box, or other similar components you'd expect to find in a well-wired living room. At a minimum, a decent but cheap home theater package should give you two speakers, a subwoofer, and either an A/V receiver or DVD player. We found that most cheap home theater systems currently on the market include five speakers, a subwoofer, and a Blu-ray player built into an A/V receiver. These packages also include a remote control to run the system, and some discount home theaters also include a dock for an iPod, a nice bonus for those who have Apple's famous handheld multimedia device.

As with any electronics purchase, it pays to do your research before you buy. Cheap home theaters vary considerably in quality and price, and not all cheap HTiBs include the same components. If you splurge for a high-end HTiB, it will likely boast a good Blu-ray player and higher quality speakers, perhaps even large floor-standing speakers (sometimes referred to as "tallboys"). A pricey HTiB, costing $1,000 and more, may also feature a separate receiver with a wide selection of inputs and outputs. Naturally, an inexpensive home theater system that you can buy for less than $500 cuts a few corners. You probably won't find a discount HTiB that includes a separate Blu-ray player and receiver; in discount home theater systems, the two components are integrated, and often the Blu-ray player's receiver doesn't have as many inputs and outputs as a separate receiver. Also, the less expensive speakers found in cheap home theaters likely won't be as loud or crystal clear as high-end speakers, but that's not to say you can't get good sound in the discount HTiB range.

There's no shortage of manufacturers producing inexpensive home theater systems. All the electronics heavy hitters play in the HTiB game, including Sony, Samsung, Onkyo, Panasonic, JVC, Philips, LG, and Polk Audio, to name just a few. Based on our research into critical features and performance characteristics, we found two best budget home theater systems -- the Samsung HT-BD1250 (starting at $450, Amazon) and Onkyo HT-S3200 (starting at $294, Amazon) -- and two good cheap home theater systems -- the Sony HT-SS360 (starting at $240, Amazon) and Panasonic SC-BT200 (starting at $400, Amazon). We also came across two discount home theaters, the Polk Audio SurroundBar 360 (starting at $400, Amazon) and Coby DVD938 (starting at $85, Amazon), that don't meet the standards for features and/or performance.

Because cheap HTiBs include so many components, there are lots of specifications and details to consider when buying a system. For starters, most discount home theater systems feature several speakers and a subwoofer; five speakers and one subwoofer is the most common configuration, and may be noted on the box or in the specs you find online as a 5.1 system. Note the watts for the system, which tell you how much power the speakers can handle; several cheap HTiBs on our list have a peak power of 1000w, which is the combined total for the speakers and subwoofer. The receiver mediates audio and video signals between the Blu-ray or DVD player, game console, VCR, and CD player, on the one hand, and the speakers (and subwoofer) and TV, on the other. Some cheap home theater systems incorporate a Blu-ray or DVD player in the receiver, but if a preferred HTiB doesn't, you'll need a separate connection to the TV for the external player. The same is true for other video sources, because the number of input and output ports on discount home theater systems is limited, especially for video. Few discount HTiBs support the sound formats used in Blu-ray movies (Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio), but any discount home theater package with a built-in Blu-ray should support these formats. And finally, you'll want a discount home theater system that's user-friendly (i.e., easy to set up and easy to use) and gives you clear, balanced, all-around sound. Why else would you bother?

Home Theater Speakers.

Speakers are relatively simple components. True audiophiles may haggle over minutia such as frequency response, impedance, and other technical details, but frugal shoppers in search of discount home theater systems need not worry about these numbers. They simply aren't as important as the convenience of a cheap all-in-one home theater package. But in the interests of full disclosure, we concede that the cheapest home theater systems speakers typically don't compare to stand-alone speaker systems that often cost more, sometimes thousands more, than cheap HTiB speakers. Still, the audio quality from the best inexpensive home theater speakers is more than adequate for most consumers.

The number you'll want to focus on when choosing a discount HTiB is the number of speakers the system includes. Many budget home theater packages, including the Samsung HT-BD1250 (starting at $450, Amazon), Sony HT-SS360 (starting at $240, Amazon), Onkyo HT-S3200 (starting at $294, Amazon), and LG LHB535 (starting at $399, Amazon), feature five speakers and one subwoofer. Panasonic's SC-BT200 (starting at $400, Amazon), by contrast, includes seven speakers and one subwoofer. Some low-cost HTiBs, such as Polk Audio's SurroundBar 360, are unusual in that they only include one long thin speaker, called a soundbar, which creates the illusion of a full surround sound system using audio processing tricks.

Manufacturers and retailers abbreviate the number of speakers and subwoofers included in a home theater package. You're likely to see, for example, a label or box saying "5.1 speaker system", which means the system includes five speakers and one subwoofer. You'll also undoubtedly come across the term "channels" when shopping for a home theater system, which simply refers to the number of speakers the system can support (as in, a 7.1 channel audio system, which translates as seven speakers and one subwoofer).

There are usually two or three types of speakers included in a discount home theater system: satellite speakers, a subwoofer, and a center channel. Cheap HTiBs often include four satellite speakers, which should be placed to the front right, front left, rear right, and rear left of the room in which you set up your home theater system. A subwoofer plays the lower, deeper tones from the HTiB, and can be placed anywhere in the room. The center channel should be placed near your TV, typically just below it. Dolby's web site includes an excellent guide to speaker placement.

The one speaker specification that draws more attention from average buyers than any other is the watts, which tells you how much power the speakers can handle, and subsequently the maximum volume you can expect. This number is not as clear cut as you might hope, however. First of all, there are two common measurements of watts that manufacturers use -- "peak power" and "RMS". Peak power is the maximum amount of power the speakers can take in one blast. RMS power is the amount of power the speakers can support over a period of time. The peak power rating is higher than the RMS rating, but the RMS rating is more indicative of a speaker's true power-handling ability. Unfortunately, many manufacturers of budget home theaters aren't clear about which measurement they're using. If the HTiB manufacturer doesn't list the watts as RMS watts, assume the number given refers to the peak power measurement. Most of the budget home theater packages on our list have a peak power of 1000w, although the Onkyo HT-S3200 lists its power at 660w and the Coby DVD938 has a more modest 600w.

Manufacturers may also list the total watts of the discount home theater system, which is the number of watts for all the speakers added together. For example, a 5.1 HTiB that advertises 650w of total power likely has 5 speakers rated at 100w and a subwoofer rated at 150w. Some manufacturers of cheap home theater systems list the watts "per channel," which is the number of watts for each speaker in the system. In some cases a manufacturer lists both. For the HT-BD1250, Samsung lists both the total power (1000w) and its watts per channel (166w x 5 for the satellite speakers and 170w for the subwoofer).

Home Theaters Receiver.

The receiver is the heart and soul of a home theater system. It's the device you connect to your speakers, subwoofer, and Blu-ray or DVD player; in turn, you connect the receiver to your TV. The receiver receives the audio and video signals from the Blu-ray or DVD player (or other sources, such as a VCR or game console), and sends the audio to the speakers and the video to the TV. Many cheap home theater systems receivers, such as the Panasonic SC-BT200, Polk Audio SurroundBar 360, Coby DVD968 (starting at $120, Amazon), and Samsung HT-BD1250, include a built-in Blu-ray or DVD player. Some, such as the Onkyo HT-S3200, Sony HT-SS360, Yamaha YHT-591 (starting at $548, Amazon), and Samsung HT-AS730ST (starting at $394, Amazon), do not, so you'll have to connect the player separately. If you like to listen to the radio, look for a discount home theater system that includes a receiver with a built-in radio. Most cheap HTiBs boast a tuner, and you'll find that many of these systems, like the Sony HT-SS360 and Onkyo HT-S3200, have 20 to 30 presets so you have quick access to your favorite radio stations.

The number of inputs and outputs on a home theater receiver is a critical feature, but unfortunately it's one area where many manufacturers cut corners. Cheap HTiB receivers with a built-in Blu-ray or DVD player, such as the Samsung HT-BD1250 and Panasonic SC-BT200, usually don't have additional video inputs (although LG's LHB535 does include a couple of extra HDMI ports -- a nice bonus). That means if you have a game console or VCR, you'll have to connect the video connectors on these devices directly to the TV. That'll work fine (assuming your TV has enough inputs), but it's less convenient. Even if your discount home theater systems receiver doesn't have additional video inputs, it should have a good selection of audio inputs, including digital optical inputs, which are commonly used for a variety of devices, such as external CD players. All of the cheap home theater packages on our list, except the Coby DVD938, have at least two digital audio inputs; the Coby DVD938 includes only one analog audio input.

Speaking of audio, check to see which audio formats the budget HTiB receiver supports. There are an awful lot of formats, including Dolby Pro Logic II, Dolby Digital, Dolby TrueHD, and DTS-HD Master Audio, to name a few. It's not unusual for inexpensive home theater systems receivers to lack support for Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio, two audio formats used for Blu-ray movies. However, these audio formats are typically supported by Blu-ray players, so even if your discount HTiB receiver doesn't support those audio formats, your Blu-ray player should. If you happen to have a cheap home theater receiver with a Blu-ray player built-in, it should support both Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio. Both the Samsung HT-BD1250 and the Panasonic SC-BT200, the two cheap HTiB systems on our list that include a Blu-ray player, support these formats.

Home Theater DVD/Blu-ray.

A home theater isn't a home theater without a Blu-ray or DVD player. Most discount HTiBs include one or the other (again, the Onkyo HT-S3200 and Sony HT-SS360 don't feature either), but the newer Blu-ray technology makes it the better choice, even in discount home theater systems.

Any Blu-ray player included in a cheap home theater systems package should be a profile 2.0 player, which means you can connect the Blu-ray player to your home network and access online video streaming services or download movie-related extras from the Internet. A profile 2.0 Blu-ray player has an Ethernet connection to get you connected to your network, but some Blu-ray players in discount home theater systems, like the Panasonic SC-BT200, are wireless-ready; all you have to do is buy an external wireless adapter and plug it into the Blu-ray player and you've got a wireless network. Once your Blu-ray player is connected to a network, you may be able to access online services and sites like Netflix, Pandora, or YouTube.

Not all Blu-ray players support all services, however. Players such as the LG LH535 and Samsung HT-BD1250 give you access to Netflix, but the Panasonic SC-BT200 doesn't, instead offering access to Amazon Video-on-Demand and YouTube. Note that you may need to subscribe to these services in order to use them. Cheap HTiBs that include a DVD player rather than a Blu-ray player, such as the Coby DVD938, will not be able to access these services. Blu-ray players included in discount home theater packages have another advantage over budget home theater systems DVD players, like that included in the Polk Audio SurroundBar 360 -- they typically support more audio formats, including the Dolby TrueHD and DTS-Master Audio formats. (Again, the Samsung HT-BD1250 and Panasonic SC-BT200 are examples of inexpensive home theaters that support a wide range of audio formats.)

There are a couple of ways you can connect a cheap home theater system Blu-ray or DVD player to a receiver (if the player isn't built into the receiver), or to the TV (if the player is built into the receiver). If your discount home theater system includes a Blu-ray player, you should use an HDMI cable to connect it to the TV, because this is the highest quality connection available for Blu-ray players. Another advantage of HDMI cables is that they can send audio and video to a receiver through one cable, which reduces clutter. Not all receivers support audio through an HDMI connection, however. The Onkyo HT-S3200 is an example. In this case, you'll have to use a separate set of cables to connect the Blu-ray player to the receiver's audio inputs, usually through a digital optical cable. DVD players connect to TVs and receivers via a component cable to send video signals, and use a separate audio cable such as a digital optical cable to send audio signals.

Home Theater Systems Remote Control.

One final, but important, piece of equipment you'll get with your cheap HTiB is the remote control. Usually the remote control in discount home theater packages, like the Coby DVD938, come with a simple device that's designed to work only with the HTiB itself. You won't find many cheap home theater systems that include a good universal remote control; the Sony HT-SS360, Onkyo HT-S3200, and Polk Audio SurroundBar 360 are exceptions, with each featuring a universal remote. Samsung's HT-BD1250 comes with an Anynet+ remote, which controls other Anynet+ compatible devices, like a digital camcorder or other Samsung home theater component, and Panasonic uses a similar technology called VIERA Link.

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Samsung HT-AS730ST
Polk Audio SurroundBar 360
Coby DVD938
Sony HT-SS360
Panasonic SC-BT200
Samsung HT-BD1250
Onkyo HT-S3200

 

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