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One of the most obvious but overlooked pieces of an audio system is the electrical outlet itself. Most homes have very inexpensive, low-fidelity dual outlets in the walls. The fact is, without proper power, no piece of audio equipment will perform properly. One of the best, most cost-effective upgrades to your audio system is to replace those outlets with Hubbell outlets. The best of these outlets use solid brass contacts, which give much better contact than the cheaper outlets you are replacing, ensuring that you receive all the energy you are paying for.

SACD & DVD-A equipment can play CD’s, but actually won’t do as good a job with conventional CD playback as a high-quality CD player. Why not improve your CD player and enjoy your current collection of music?

Many listeners tend to sit too far back from their speakers. An equilateral triangle setup will give you the best sound-staging for 2 channel (stereo) listening.

Always use floor spikes with your speakers or your speaker stands! If you have hardwood floors, use the spikes with Lovan Footers, which protect the floors but still maintain rigidity. The same applies to your subwoofer.

Don’t underestimate the impact that good cables and power-conditioners can have on your system. Many of these products can make an astounding difference in the overall system performance.

When setting up a 5.1 system, try fooling the processor by adding 2 feet to the center channel measurement. This can create a greater sense of space.

The least expensive way to improve your sound system is to improve your interconnects and speaker cables. Always start by replacing the cables to the source components first.

Think of your home theater system as a hobby. It’s never finished; it’s always a work in progress! With this attitude, you will make smarter purchases that you’ll be proud of, rather than easier purchases you might regret.

System isolation can do some really great things for your stereo. Placing your gear on isolation platforms, or isolating your cables from one another (especially power cables from interconnects and speaker cable) can provide added detail and clarity without replacing any hardware!

Try adding a second subwoofer. If you have a single subwoofer in your system, adding a second and positioning the two subs properly will make a tremendous impact on the performance of the system.

Take time to properly place your speakers. Small changes in position can dramatically change the speaker performance.

Rather than invest in a whole system, consider purchasing one piece at a time, and at a high level. The piece will be better, leading to a better system overall.

Unfortunately the only part of your system that is controllable is the setup. After that, you are at the mercy of the environment and software. Extra care in the setup phase (measurement, proper calibration, etc.) will provide a tremendous benefit, rather than the plop and play method.

Don’t believe everything you read! The dynamics of today’s A/V systems & individual components are just too varied for global rules. What works or applies to one system may not work for another.

When building a theater room, don’t forget to internally treat your walls with acoustic mineral fiber. This is an inexpensive way to keep most of the sound in the room while making the room acoustically better. This also works great in other rooms where you’d like to control the flow of sound, such as the laundry room or the master bedroom.

Anamorphic: Process that condenses the image in the source material to be expanded by the display device. With DVD, the anamorphic recording preserves a vertical detail that would otherwise be lost on a widescreen film that is cropped, or letterboxed, to fit the 4:3 reading image space.
Ohm: A measure of how much something resists (impedes) the flow of electricity. Larger numbers mean more resistance.
Preamplifier: A control and switching component that may include equalization functions. The preamp comes in the signal chain before the amplifiers.
Spider: The part of the loudspeaker that holds the diaphragm in place, and allows it to move when activated. Also called suspension.
Woofer: A speaker driver designed to reproduce low frequencies.