How to set up an HD home theater system

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By bostontech
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Effective home theaters have the appearance of simplicity, but there's a lot planning involved in setting it up

Owning your own HD home theater system is becoming more and more affordable, and by setting it up on your own you'll avoid the high cost of hiring a professional.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

A "mountable" TV Stand
A Flat-screen (LCD or Plasma) TV
A/V Receiver
Speaker wire
Component cables
Surge Protector

Step 1

Mountable TV stands give your HD home theater a sleak and professinal look, while also hiding any distracting cables

First thing’s first: you’ll need to choose a TV stand. Although you can let your TV sit flat on your TV stand, this makes your home theater look crowded, with the TV too close to the other components, and exposed wires distracting your view.

Because the television will be your “portal” to your HD home theater, it’s best to give it some space of its own. Without the distraction of cables or other components, you’ll be left only noticing the crisp, beautiful picture, and 5.1 surround sound audio setup.

Buying a TV stand that lets you mount your television directly onto it is your best bet for a great looking setup without the hassle of drilling into walls. Make sure your TV is compatible with the type of bracket that the stand comes with (most mountable stands will have a universal VESA bracket, which your TV should work with).

Follow the installation directions for mounting your TV onto the stand, and remember to take your time and be careful. This shouldn’t be hard but you’ll need some basic tools (screwdriver, wrench or multitool).
Step 2

A/V Receivers allow you to easily switch inputs and listen in 5.1 surround sound

Your next step will be to buy a suitable HD A/V Receiver with 5.1 surround sound capability. Receivers take the video and audio outputs from the various theater components and send signals to the TV and speakers.

Make sure your receiver has at least as many inputs as you have components. For instance, if you have a Wii, DVD Player, and Cable Box, all using HD component cables (component cables have red, green and blue outputs for video), you need to make sure the receiver has three component inputs.
Step 3

Once you have the correct receiver, put it somewhere near the TV stand where you have easy access to its front and rear (for now).

Place all the other components of your theater onto the TV stand (the cable box, Wii and DVD player), and feed each of their A/V cables to where the receiver is. Your receiver has labeled inputs, but they won’t always match your equipment: plug your Wii into the “DVD2” input, and just remember where the receiver is taking it.

Plug one set of component cables (or HDMI, depending on your TV’s capabilities) from the jacks labeled “OUTPUT” on your receiver to an input on your TV - it doesn’t matter which (you’ll never navigate your TV away from that input). Snake the wire up the TV stand if possible, so it will be hidden from view.
Step 4

The Belkin 12 Outlet Home/Office Surge Protector offers up to $300,000 in

Plug your TV, A/V Receiver, and all other components into a Surge Protector – not just any power strip. A surge protector will prevent any power surges from frying your equipment, and comes with a “connected equipment” warranty that covers your entire HD home theater system.
Step 5

Although the speaker input knobs look different on each receiver, the setup should be the same

Even if your TV has a speaker attached to it, we’re going to opt out of using that because the sound is small and tinny. Instead, purchase a full 5.1 surround sound speaker setup. 5.1 surround sound refers to having five speakers and a subwoofer: front left, front center, front right, rear left, rear right and sub.

For any HD home theater, audio is just as important an element as video. Place your 5.1 surround sound speakers in their corresponding places in the room, making sure they’re not too close together, and angled at where you’ll be sitting. Snake the speaker’s wires behind heaters, furniture, or any other objects that might hide them en route to the receiver.

The back of your receiver will have large knobs for speaker inputs. These are all labeled: LF for Left Front, CF for Center Front, etc. Loosen the knob for the corresponding speaker and insert the exposed copper part of speaker wire into the opening. When it’s snug, tighten the knob back up. Your speaker wire has two differently colored parts: make sure the black wire is plugged into the black knob, and red to red.
Step 6

No HD theater is ever finished by simply plugging things in. Now comes the fun part: testing and troubleshooting!

Turn on your TV, receiver, and all the components. Make sure your TV is set to the right input, and now use your receiver remote (or the buttons on the front) to switch between inputs. Your TV should switch between displaying each input, and your speakers should change to the corresponding audio.

Try putting in a cinematic DVD with surround sound (like Pirates of the Carribbean!) to give your theater a true test. Just make sure it’s not so loud that it annoys the neighbors!