Theater Setup

Audio

Television Speakers

Television speakers are the simplest form of home theater because all you need is a TV, the speakers come with it.  As manufactures make TVs thinner the speakers also get thinner which equals less than optimal sound. Remember audio is 50% of the TV/movie watching experience so we must place emphasis on it as well.

Advantages: Comes with the television, so no setup required

Disadvantages: Typically the sound quality will be less than all other options

Soundbar

Adding a soundbar to your new flat screen is the easiest way to increase sound quality. Most people choose sound bars for their simple setup, relatively low price, and aesthetics (WAF). All you have to do is connect the soundbar to your TV and place it under your TV. We recommend  placing the soundbar as close to the TV as possible (above/below depending on your setup) so the dialogue will sound just as if it is coming from the center of the screen. We also recommend choosing a soundbar with a subwoofer to handle the movie low end. A subwoofer will allow your soundbar speakers to operate in the frequency range (~150Hz - 20KHz) they are best at. 

Advantages: Simple setup, price

Disadvantages: Not as immersive as 5.1, 7.1, etc

Here is a video of a Vizio soundbar. 

2-D Audio

Dolby TrueHD , DTS-HD Master Audio

Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio are the industry standard for lossless television and movie audio. Lossless simply means you get all the audio bits the director intended. No portion of the audio signal is loss in the encoding/decoding process. Lossy compression on the other hand means some of the audio information is lost. Don't worry the important bits (dialogue, etc) are there but to save disc space things that may be outside of typical human hearing maybe lost. Just so you're aware DVD disc are typically 4.7GB (8.5GB for dual layer disc), Blu-ray disc typically hold 25GB (50GB for dual layer disc), and UHD Blu-ray hold 66GB (100GB for triple layer disc) of information. 

The 2-D sound field places 5 or more speakers at ear level all around you to make a more natural sound. There are typically two ways to get this more immersive sound field, Home Theater In A Box Solution or AV (Audio/Video) Receiver with connected speakers.

Advantages: More natural sound field creating an excellent sound.

Disadvantages: More speakers = more space needed for speaker placement, more expensive