A Beginners Guide To Home Theater - What You Need To Get Started

Components

To get started with home theater you need a receiver, speakers, TV or projector, and a subwoofer. You also need cables to connect everything: Your speakers need speaker cables to connect them to the receiver. You need an HDMI cable to connect your receiver to your TV. You will also need HDMI cables or RCA cables to connect your sources to the receiver. To connect the subwoofer to the receiver, you will need an RCA cable.

Receiver

To choose the correct receiver you need to figure out how many channels of amplification you need, that it has enough subwoofer outputs, and that it supports the HDMI standard you intend to use. You should also make sure that it has enough power for your listening levels, but around 120-150 watts per channel is usually more than enough. Receivers and amps we recommend can be found here: Recommended AVR / Amplifiers

Speakers

When talking about surround setups and the number of speakers, we use the format X.Y.Z, 5.1.2 for instance. The first number (X.y.z) is the amount of floor-level speakers. These will be the front left, right, and center speakers, but also surround speakers. The second number (x.Y.z) is the amount of subwoofers. The third number (x.y.Z) is the amount of height speakers. The first thing to figure out is how many speakers you need and want. If you're not sure where to start, we recommend starting with 5 floor-level speakers and 1 subwoofer, so a 5.1.0 setup. You can also reach out to our support staff for a more specific recommendation: Contact us

Connections and cables

Speaker cables are a highly debated topic. We believe they don't make a huge difference, as long as they are made from OFC (oxygen-free copper) as opposed to CCA (Copper Clad Aluminium) and of sufficient thickness. The longer the run, the thicker the cable. 2.5mm² (14 AWG) is sufficient for most cases, but for longer runs or high-wattage scenarios, you might want to consider 4mm² (12 AWG): What Speaker Cables Do You Recommend?

When it comes to HDMI cables, the main thing to look out for is that they support the HDMI version you intend to use. The most current HDMI version is 2.1. This newer standard requires a lot of bandwidth and can't be as long as previous versions. If you need lengths over 5-7 meters (25 feet), you should consider optical HDMI cables, as they're able to carry the signal for longer distances. Subwoofer cables are basically just a single RCA cable. The main thing to keep in mind with subwoofer cables is that they aren't excessively long. By using longer cables, you increase the risk that the cable picks up hum or interference.

Conclusion

To get started, you need a receiver to power the speakers and send a signal to the subwoofer. You then need the actual speakers and subwoofers, with the appropriate cables to connect everything. Once everything is connected, you need to apply the appropriate settings in your receiver.