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| Audio Shopping Tips |  Listen: There's no substitute for your own ears, when it comes to evaluating sound. The quality of a system's speakers will make or break its performance, and you can't gauge that from specs or descriptions alone. It is good ides to take your own discs so that you can listen to material you're familiar with. Include some music CDs, even if you are going to use the system only for movies and TV. They will make it a lot easier for you to spot problems with tonal balance.
Push the subwoofer: Calling young Skywalker! Here's where you will need a DVD, preferably a noisy thrill-fest. Seek for a scene with some heavy bass action and note how the system's subwoofer holds up when you really crank it. You want one that won't wimp out on this sort of material at the volume levels you like to hear.
Don't hesitate to go digital: Even if all you've got right now is a VCR and a 10-year-old TV, chances are you're going to wind up sooner or later (probably sooner) with a DVD player or HDTV that will really take advantage of Dolby Digital decoding in the sound system. It's not a big premium anymore.
Look before you leap: It is advisable to take a good, hard look at the room where you want to set the system. What has to go where, what can go where, and how big can it be and still fit? There's no need to pay extra for a 7.1-channel system if you have no place to place the two extra surround speakers, for instance. If you have cabinets, make measurements and carry them with you. A small pocket tape measure can be very useful.
Note such things: A thousand watts into cheap speakers is just really loud bad sound. And 20 surround modes is 17 too many if you want to use only three of them. Stay concentrated on perfect sound and ease of use.
Find out the remote: A poorly laid-out remote control is a pain forever. How easy is it to find critical buttons (volume, pause, mute, channel, and so on) in the dark? How comfortable is it in your hand?
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