Can I save my surround sound speakers or do I have to buy a completely new system?

No. Those "crap-tastic" $299 systems are only designed to work with the included parts. You will destroy real amps if you try an use those speakers on them. The ability to mix and match parts is one of the features you gave up for the low price. When 1 part breaks - you throw the whole thing away. That is why you cannot get anybody to repair it. The repair costs would be more than the thing was worth. Give up the idea that it is a "home theater system". It is more truthfully a DVD player with cheap attached speakers. If you want to do your parents a favor - hit your local Craigslist and find older-but-decent gear and assemble a HT system for them. I spent about ... $400 on my parents system. It consisted of: * Old Yamaha RX-V793 receiver * 5 Miller & Kressell bookshelf speakers for $47/each at a scratch-and-dent sale * 1 Home Theater Driect subwoofer from Craigslist for $100 Properly setup - it rocks.

If the older home theatre system has an optical or analog RCA input you can just buy a DVD or Blu Ray player and connect the audio out to this input on your home theatre. It s usually labelled as "Aux" input. If it doesn't have this "Aux" input you can still keep your old speakers and just buy a DVD or Blu Ray player along with a home theatre receiver and connect these old speakers to the new receiver.

Since HDMI has made traditional Dolby Digital receivers obsolete, there's plenty of them on the secondhand market, and often at very low prices. $40 to $100 should get you one, and it should be a big step up from an all-in-one system. You may need a powered subwoofer, but that's a very worthwhile upgrade anyway.

Those home theater in a box are not very reliable and for adding anything to it. Check if the system has an optical audio input in the back. If it has you can still use it by connecting an optical audio cable from the tv to the system. With a new DVD or blu ray disc player you connect it directly to the tv. This will provide you surround sound through the system. If not then you will need to buy a new system. Most home theater in a box are not worth saving the speaker to them. The only system I would recommend is the Onkyo HT-S 3400, it is a 5.1 receiver and a set of speakers, you just add a blu ray disc player to it like a Panasonic BD-65 ot 75 and you have a nice system. Keep in mind you get what you pay for. Those home theater in a box are not worth repairing, when one item fail the whole system needs to be replaced. Hope this will help you out.