Home theater - Buying home theater speakers, Blu-ray players, universal remotes, HDMI cables, DVR (or TiVo), and speaker wire

Home theater speakers

Aperion 5 series: Although I prefer Aperion speakers for my home theater surround sound, there are a number of quality manurfacturers of home theater speakers from which to choose! Home theater speakers from brands such as Polk Audio, Klipsch, and JBL, are sure to fill your home theater with great 5.1. surround sound.

Aperion is a Web-based retailer based in Oregon that offers a free 30 day trial for all the speakers they sell. I had purchased an Aperion bookshelf system (422s/8" subwoofer) a few years ago and decided to stick with them for my new home theater. I went with the 533T speakers for front L/R, and a 534C for the center channel. I went with Aperion 534SS bipole/dipole speakers for the surrounds, and topped it off with an Aperion 12" subwoofer. I also purchased a black wood speaker stand for the center channel speaker through Aperion.

NOTE: This series has since been discontinued and replaced by Aperion's 5T models.

Blu-ray disc player

Sony PS3: Although I was originally planning to move my Panasonic 1080i upconverting DVD player to the basement home theater, I decided to upgrade to a Sony PS3 while purchasing the other home theater equipment. I figured I was going to get one soon anyway, so I might as well set everything up at once. I got a great deal at Walmart which included 10 free movies. With the five additional movies that Sony was offering via mail, my Blu-ray movie collection got off to a great start!

Cable box/DVR

Motorola DCH6416 dual tuner DVR: Whether you get TiVo, or a DVR, you'll want something to bring your recordings to HDTV. Since I'm getting this equipment from my cable provider, there wasn't any decision to be made. The good thing is I only have to rent the box. This DVR has a 120GB hard drive and two tuners. This means you can record two programs at once while watching a previously recorded program. The hard drive capacity gives you room for about 20 hours of HDTV programming which never seems like enough!

Home theater equipment rack, cables, and universal remote

Bello AT-2567: This contemporary two-tone design is constructed of powder-coated, scratch resistant steel and tempered safety glass and has 5 glass shelves which should hold all your components. The unit also has an integrated CMS® Cable Management System to hide wires and interconnect cables.

Harmony 880 infrared remote: Facing the possibility of 5-6 different remotes for the home theater system seemed like a daunting task. The Logitech Harmony 880 is up to the test. Harmony remotes support macros (called events) which gives you the ability to program multiple commands via a single key. For example, the "Watch TV" event can turn on your TV and set it to the correct input, turn on your receiver and cable box, and set your lights to the correct setting (if you're using programmable dimmers). The codes are downloaded from the Harmony Web site which includes a database of just about every component you can imagine.

HDMI Cables & speaker wire: I purchased my HDMI cables through Bettercables.com, and got my speaker wire directly from Aperion. For the HDMI cables, I purchase a 25' cable (receiver to projector) and a 6' and 3' cables for connections from the PS3 and cable box to the home theater receiver. Since I decided to wire for 7.1 surround, in case I decide to upgrade in the future, I needed about 100' of extra speaker wire so I could get it up in the ceiling before the ceiling tiles were installed.