If you are lucky enough to have a home theater, then you should do what you can to make sure that it is running to best of its ability. Think of all those people who you love to have one but can’t; you owe it to them to take care of yours. This could mean upgrading your cat5 crossover cables to cat6 ethernet cables or it could simply mean playing better music and movies. In any case, here are a few tips for getting the best sound possible out of your home theater system.

Make Sure Your Speakers Match
It’s common to have a speaker set up that consists of different makes, brands, ages, etc. Most people feel bad throwing out old speakers when they get new ones so they just connect the new ones up to the old ones. However, when you do this, you are affecting the sound experience. If you have four speakers in the room, all different manufacturers and something comes on the screen that takes advantage of the surround sound, the sound of that object is going to change as it goes from speaker to speaker around you. That may not seem like that big of a deal but it takes away from the reality of whatever you are watching. If you match your speakers and get them all from the same manufacturers, you make ensure a more seamless route as the sound travels around the different speakers. If you can’t do it all at the same time, your best bet is to start with the front left, then the front right and the center channels. After that, you can replace your surround speakers connecting them all with cat5 crossover cables.

Check Your Subwoofer
A subwoofer adds depth to the sound. If you don’t have one, you need one. If you have one, it might need to be upgraded. A good subwoofer will help you to feel the explosion of fireworks or the ground shaking movements of a Transformer right in the comfort of your own home. Higher quality is better than size. If you had to choose between a better quality but smaller subwoofer and a lesser quality but bigger one, go with the smaller. Cheap designs make your movies and music sound muddy and unrealistic. They don’t give off that resounding boom that a subwoofer is known for. If you want that clear bass line, you’ll need a good quality subwoofer to help you really feel it.

Upgrade Your Receiver and Amplifier
If your amplifier doesn’t have enough power, then it doesn’t really matter what speakers or subwoofer or cat5 crossover cables you have. It’ll still sound just ‘okay.’ If you can only afford one thing, get an amplifier. Even average speakers can sound powerful if being fed by a good amplifier. Make sure you research amplifiers before running out and getting one, however. Then, once you do decide on one, make sure that the seller has a good return policy just in case your speakers don’t work well with it.

Dedicate an Electrical Circuit
It is important that your home theater have its own electrical circuit. Not only is it safer but it will cut out a lot of the noise that would come from other large appliances sharing the circuit. The cleaner the source of power, the better your system will sound. Line conditioners and regulators and cat5 crossover cables can take care of a lot of issues, but having a separate circuit is really going to help amp up the performance. If it’s not to difficult, this may actually be the first thing that you want to try out.

Replace Speaker Wires and Connector Cables
You do not need to pay an arm and a leg for a good HDMI cable to get good sound. However, the USB cables and connectors that you got with your DVD player are worthless. The manufacturers simply include them to show you what you need but you’ll definitely need to upgrade them. Any free speaker wires that were included in your original purchase will also need to be replaced. Quality cables will make a huge difference to your overall set up and sound.