You want that movie theater experience without the high cost of snacks, waiting in line, or listening to anyone other than your own kids talk through the movie. So you buy a huge TV and are all set to watch some serious Dirty Harry. But wait, the sound doesn’t live up to your expectations. Well no joke, Nancy boy, that’s why you need a home theater.

These days the 5.1/200-ish watt system is the basic model. This is a system with five little speakers and one sub woofer. These can be bought for anywhere from $99 to $300, or roughly the cost of ten to thirty tubs of movie theater popcorn. But you can buy a home theater with six or even seven little speakers and two sub woofers. (OH YEAH BABY!) The price difference is substantial though: a 7.2 channel receiver can run up to $900. This isn’t counting the cost of speakers. The good news is that you really do have options.

Let’s look at quality on a shoestring budget, shall we? First off, package deals are your best deals. Why? I haven’t a clue. But they are. If you really want to do the math, usually a 200 watt per channel receiver will cost around $100. Now you need the 5 little speakers and the sub woofer, which will cost you around $250. That would be about $350 plus shipping and handling. There are bargain internet warehouses where you can get speakers and receivers at roughly the price of dirt. However, you should make sure of quality before making a purchase. Total wattage on a receiver is NOT the same as watts per channel. A 1000 watt receiver might only actually have an output of less than 200 watts per channel. That translates to under 200 watts to each speaker. So, thinking you’re getting a deal on a receiver and then spending extra on 1000 watt speakers will leave you frustrated when your awesome speakers draw so much signal that your audio cuts out. Yeah, it happens, so you have to really have a working knowledge of what the manufacturer is trying to tell you, or hide from you, in their specifications.

Buying a package deal will eliminate the hunt for what goes with what and you’ll save about $100. The down side is that most box systems lack a bit of punch and are pretty vanilla in appearance. So the upside is convenience and price, the downside is performance.

The high-end stuff will run you a pretty penny, but the quality will leave you breathless. First off, for convenience and quality sound I’d recommend a wireless speaker set up with about 600 watts of peak power. The wireless means you’ll have to deal with a power cord from the speakers to the wall and that’s it, no speaker wires trailing all over. The 600 watt peak is great for when things need to get “louder than loud.” You also have more options as to where to put your speakers, giving you more opportunity for “true surround sound” without your living room looking like Spiderman caught a burglar in it.

For that Blu-ray video quality I’d go for the value (still my Daddy’s boy) and buy a Playstation 3 Slim. This can serve as a blue-ray, CD and DVD player as well as a gaming system. And in addition to that, this is one less thing I’ll have to switch from input to input on my TV.

The sound output won’t work directly with the speakers though. So we order a 5oo watt per channel audio receiver. Now we have everything we need total to roughly the gross national product of Uruguay. Okay, closer to around $3,000, or 150 tubs of movie theater popcorn, 133 large drinks and 200 Reese’s with enough left over for a video game.

The important thing to remember is to have fun with your home theater. If you want to take the time to build your own, remember to research and ask questions. Take your time and you will be able to customize your experience. If you’re an out-of-the-box type of person, there’s nothing wrong with that either. Just HAVE FUN!