The Home Theater Experience

If you're a true movie lover, there's no more lofty aspiration than to build a theater of your own, right in your living room. Of course, you'd probably love to design a theater that rivals your local multiplex--but that would only be possible if you were willing to part with thousands upon thousands of dollars. Luckily, you can still find a lot of pleasure in more affordable home theater setups, some starting for less than $2000.

Whatever your design entails, you'll need at least three components to build a home theater system: a TV or digital projector; a DVD player; and a home theater speaker system, which lets you hear movies the way they sound in big theaters.

Let's take a look at your options for each of these three components, as well as what's involved in actually setting them up to create the optimal home theater experience.