No one can know all things about all subjects and it is no different when trying to choose the best home theater system. Many people make big mistakes that diminish their home theater experience because they didn’t do the proper research before buying the first place. If you don’t know what to look for you can end up with a system that is way more than what you actually need or you can end up with one that just flat out sucks! Let’s look at some of the mistakes that are commonly made.

First on the list are small amplifiers resulting in inadequate amplification which is seen regularly when people try to get by with a cheaper system and use it in a large room. If you have a large room you need amplifiers that can push bigger systems and if you have a large room you should be able to afford the system! Actually, it isn’t that much more money to upgrade the amplifier just be aware of what you need. Describe the size of the room and have the sales associate give you some advice there.

If your speakers don’t sound quire as good as you would like it is probably because you have them positioned improperly. Speakers are not furniture; they are not set up to look good they are set up to sound good. You need to experiment with different angles, distances and elevation to find the optimal position for your room. Alternatively, if you have more money than time and patience you can pay the company where you bought your system to come out and set the whole thing up for you!

Since we all have the bigger is better mentality many of us will try to put a monster big screen TV in a room that can barely handle a 27 inch. Don’t just think about the size of the screen; remember that unless you are getting a plasma or LCD you will also have a large cabinet to consider. My old rear projection 55” big screen had a cabinet that was over two feet wide, that’s a lot of space. It doesn’t make sense to buy a TV that you can’t sit back and enjoy.

These kinds of mistakes are made over and over when shopping for home theater systems but they can be avoided by simply doing a little research and checking the ego before you go shopping so that you bring home the right system for your home.