Should I buy home theater speakers in a box or seperate receiver/speakers? What specifications to look for?

I recommend Onkyo HT-S5200 7.1-Channel Home Entertainment Receiver/Speaker Package (with Dock for the iPod®) Black http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001VEI2OA?ie=UTF8&tag=nop107-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B001VEI2OA%22

you'l want to hook up your ps3, xbox, cable/satellite box direct up to the reciever. you will get true surround sound(5.1) using a digital cable(digital coax, or optical) from those sources going directly to the receiver. a good reciever will allow you to hook up the video using component cables or hdmi cable directly to the receiver, and running one cable to the tv. this allows the reciever to switch everything and your tv can stay on one input, instead of switching both the receiver inputs and tv inputs. i hope that isnt too confusing. but, onkyo makes good home theatre systems that consist of a reciever, and speakers that match the receiver and sounds good to. i dont know if you are looking for small speakers, and if the size doesn't matter, but onkyo makes a home theater system that is around 499.99 us dollars that comes with a good home theater receiver, with optical inputs, and it might have hdmi inputs, and it come with 7 speakers and a powered sub, with all the speaker wire and sub cable. it has 7 speakers so you can do a 7.1, but you can do a 5.1 and use the other speakers in another room and utilize the "B" set of speakers. im sure other companies like yamaha and denon make similar system, but im an onkyo fan so i always suggest them. you can email me if you have questions, i hope i didnt confuse you more, i just have a lot of thoughts of what you can do, its hard to type them all out. good luck.

Most TVs output only Stereo Sound. If you want to get 5.1, you should connect the Optical (or Coaxial) output from your DVD Player, your xBox and/or your Satellite (or Cable) Receiver directly to your Home Theater Receiver (HTR). If your TV has HDMI output (Output besides Inputs), you could connect it directly to your HTR. So look for an HTR that has at least two Optical or HDMI inputs. Make a sketch of how you would hook them up before you buy it. For less than $400 you could by a decent HTR-in-a-box. If you try to go with separate components you will need to spend more. Also you would have to properly choose the Speakers to match the Amp (or, I should say, the Amp to match the Power needed for the Speakers). Some speakers have very low efficiency, so you'll need more amp power.

Well for that price you are really only going to be able to afford a home theater in a box system. Try Onkyo or another good brand like that. I find that brands that produce good electronics dont have the best speakers so dont just go for the first brand that catches your eye. Cnet has many reviews on good HTIB systems and they actually have a list of the best ones that I'll provide for you. And no if you buy a reciever as long as it has HDMI you will hook it up directly to the receiver with HDMI. Or if it doesnt you could use regular composite video cables and analog sound cables. But you wont get as good a sound.

At that price range you'll be better off with a home theater in a box (HTIB). Separate speakers/receiver setups are much better, but they're also significantly more expensive. What you want to look for is a system that is based on a receiver, not a player. In my opinion the best receiver based systems are made by Onkyo. Their best system at that price point is the HT-S3200. TVs usually don't pass surround sound audio, so you will hook your PS3 to your TV via HDMI and to your receiver via optical cable. You will need to adjust the video output settings to HDMI and the audio output settings to optical and bitstream. Paul said, "Make a sketch of how you would hook them up before you buy it." This advice is golden. You wouldn't believe how many people buy HTIBs and then find out it doesn't do what they think it does.