Home theater systems

A home theater system on this shelf was a packaged set: a small receiver or a disc player with amplifiers, plus the speakers that came in the same carton. It was not a pick of separate audiophile pieces.

The package is voiced as a set. Swapping in one large floor speaker from the speaker row makes the others sound thin beside it. The subwoofer in these boxes is usually powered and wireless only in the later kits. Earlier kits run a long wire. The player and the television still need a cable the package does not always include. Read the input list on the television before you assume the box speaks HDMI. A package that offers a virtual surround mode from a soundbar-like front is a different product from a five-speaker set, even when the carton uses the same words.