You have a nice, big TV. You have a big DVD collection. Somehow, something is missing. It's time to stop experiencing your movies through those anemic TV speakers and enjoy sound that will match the great picture you have.

Step 1: You need an AV receiver. The AV receiver is going to be the brain of your home theater. All AV receivers currently being offered will support 7.1 channel sound. Unless your viewing room is 20' or longer, 5.1 channel is plenty for your space. Don't feel like you are giving up anything by not going with 7.1. All cable, satellite, DVD, Blu Ray and HD DVD soundtracks are 5.1.

Your AV receiver should have at least three HDMI inputs. HDMI is the type of cable that Blu Ray and HD DVD players use for audio and video. Beyond that, many current and all future cable and satellite tuners support HDMI, as do newer DVD players. The Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360 (newer versions) game consoles also utilize HDMI. So, we want an AV receiver that can handle the sources we want to connect to it. More is better, but have at least three HDMI inputs. Your AV receiver is going to have onboard decoding of Dolby Digital and DTS audio. This is for your DVDs. Newer AV receivers are hitting the market that have onboard decoding of Dolby Digital+, Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD and DTS-HD Master Audio, which are all types of compressed audio formats that appear on Blu Ray and HD DVD players. Don't worry about these, because even if you have, or are thinking about adding a Blu Ray or HD DVD player, your player will decode these formats and send them to your AV receiver as PCM. Ok, that's a lot of terminology. In a nutshell, you will be able to enjoy the high definition audio on Blu Ray and HD DVD discs just fine without an AV receiver that does the work. AV receivers are rated in watts for their power output. You want 100 watts per channel. You will never use that much, but what it means is that A) your receiver will not be forced to work as hard to play at your movie listening levels, and B) you have enough power in reserve so that dynamic moments in movies and music will have the impact they are supposed to.

Step 3:You need a subwoofer. This is part of Step 2, but such an important element that it deserves it's own step. Your speakers can only go so low, and a lot of the impact of movie sound is in low frequency effects. Believe me, once you add a decent subwoofer, you'll wonder how you ever managed without. Without becoming a specs expert, know one spec on subs that you are considering. A subwoofer used for movies should be plus/minus 3dB from 20Hz to 100Hz. What this means is that it's output does not significantly decrease until it hits these frequency levels. You are going to use the AV receiver to set the subwoofer crossover point at 80Hz, meaning that at that frequency your loudspeakers are going to trail off and your subwoofer takes over. By being within the 3dB tolerance at the low end of 20Hz, you are assured of low frequency effects having the slam and impact they are supposed to. Be prepared to spend at least $500 on a quality subwoofer. Don't raise your eyebrow at me, I said $500. Anything less will be a box that sits in the corner of your room and draws attention to itself with boomy thumping sounds. A decent subwoofer will never draw your attention to it. It will integrate smoothly with your loudspeakers, and you will feel dynamic scenes in movies like you have never felt them before. Trust me. Subwoofer placement. Rule of thumb, start in a front corner of the room and experiment by moving it around and listening from your listening chair. Every room is different, and a few inches can have a huge impact on the depth and volume your sub outputs.

Step 4:You need cables. We need to hook everything up. If you are using HDMI, simply hook up your components to the AV receiver and then run the output from your AV receiver to your television. If your TV does not have HDMI input, you will need to use component video cables for your sources that you want to enjoy in high definition. Component cables are the rca plug type that consist of three cables, one red, one green and one blue. If your source does not have an HDMI output, in addition to the component video cables, you will need to use either spdif, also called toslink or optical, or digital coax for audio. My advice is not to run to Best Buy and buy the most expensive Monster Cable. There is better cable for the same money and equal cable for less on the internet. Nothing wrong with Monster, and if you find a great deal on some on ebay, by all means. Here's my cable advice: you could mortgage your home to pay for audiophile cables. For our purposes, we don't need to get that crazy. Don't buy cheap cable at Radio Shack either. I am going to name three brands, Ixos, Monster and Phoenix Gold. These three brands are not the pinnacle of audiophile cabling, but they are leaps and bounds above cheap cables, and you won't have to take out a loan to get some. You can always find good buys on these cables on the web, whether through ebay or elsewhere, and you will get quality cable for the money you spend. Time to get speaker wire. Again, let's not get crazy buying overpriced wire at the local Best Buy. Don't go buy lamp cord at Home Depot either though. Get oxygen-free copper wire, 14 guage or 12 guage would be my recommendation. Buy a 100' spool and you'll have extra if you need it. Try Parts Express for good service and prices. As long as we're talking speaker wire, there are several ways to terminate the ends of your speaker cables. Spades make for the best contact. Banana plugs are the most convenient and work best when the back of your AV receiver is tight and cluttered. Bare wire works fine too. The truth is, the important part is that your connections are secure and you are not crossing your negative and positive speaker wires. Any cable labeled "twisted pair" is a good thing too. Twisted pair cable offers additional protection from interference, which means it's less likely that your wireless home network, phones or microwave will cause you audio headaches.

Step 5:You need to calibrate your system. This part is easy, because most modern AV receivers will have built-in room tuning software. If your AV receiver has this functionality, rest assured that it does a good enough job for the average person. If your receiver does not have this feature, then we need to pick up a spl meter. An spl meter is a digital or analog handheld meter than measures changes in sound pressure level, hence spl. Position your spl meter where your head sits in your listening position. Turn the volume on your AV receiver til the spl meter reads around 75dB. Now, use the built in test tones in your AV receiver. This will play some pink noise (static) on each of your speakers. The goal here is to add or subtract decibels from your speakers in the AV receiver settings until all our speakers have the same output according to the meter. Go about +5dB on your subwoofer as you want the sub to be a little "hotter" than the rest of your speakers. Voila! Your movies and music sound better than they ever have. Sound in movies is three dimensional, filling the room with sound that goes a long way toward convincing you that you are in the action. Welcome to the country club, AV Enthusiast.