What do you consider when buying a home theater sound system?

Recently, I purchased surround sound speakers, for 5.1 surround sound. Although I do like the sound quality that these speakers produce, I feel that there are better sound systems out there. I would appreciate any advice on what to look for when buying a home theater sound system; one that delivers the kind of sound quality that I'm sure movie and DVD makers intend to be delivered. Thank you.

1. Things to look for when purchasing a home thaeater system

thx certification
dts/ dolby digital decoder
powered subwoofer
total power (watts)/ watts per channel
#of inputs (you'll want a reciever that can accomdate all of youtr current components, as well as allow for any upgrades you may decide to make in the future)

2. Check out avsforum.com. They have several areas for you to research different surround sound systems. They also have areas for best Home Theater system under 1000 dollars and best Home theater system in a box.

2. Blah blah blah. I love it when people who know nothing about surround sound voice their opinion. I worked as a home theater salesman/installer for Best Buy for 3 years and i made the company a load of money because most consumers are retarded and don't know what they're really looking for in surround sound.
Let's look at the biggest mistakes people make:

Wattage- run 3 billion watts through a junk it's still a junk
Brand names- stick a sony logo on a junk it's still a junk
Listening to your buddies- a junk that talks is still a junk

What's really important:

what you're hooking up- not everything will be in true surround sound. Sorry but Elvis was recorded in 1 channel mono, break that up into 5 channel dolby digital and you have...... mono coming out of 5 speakers
the size of your room- i'm not gonna try to fill the astrodome with 5 satellite speakers and i'm not gonna put 5 tower speakers in my dorm room
you're neighbors- noise pollution citations can be a pain in the arse. but if your nearest neighbor is 5 miles down the road you should be good
expandability- something better is always coming along, make sure you can evolve your system with it
listen to it your self- a salesman can't tell you what sounds good to you
keep the receipt- your home has different accoustics than the store does.

3. Dang Romez awesome answer.

Might I add THD, THD, THD! THD should be the first thing to look at, it's the single most important rating an an amplifier, or a receiver. Digital audio, fiber optics & $10,000 speakers don't mean spit if the amplifier, or receiver is sending too much distortion to the speakers.
An amplifier, or receiver should have a THD rating of 0.05% THD @ 20 Hz - 20 KHz or less. You should never buy an amplifier or receiver that has a THD rating of 0.1% THD @ 20 Hz - 20 KHz or more.
Don't worry about how many watts a surround sound receiver puts out, there isn't enough difference between surround sound receivers' wattage output to even look at what the wattage output of a surround sound receiver.
Only buy Bose for the prestige of having the Bose label, because that's what you are paying for. Anything of equal sound quality to Bose is priced a lot cheaper than Bose is priced & will still be going strong long after Bose has either died & been thrown away, or has been repaired, or rebuilt at least 2 or 3 times.
Buy speakers with your ears. Nobody can tell you what speaker sounds best. What one person thinks sounds good, anther person may think sounds bad.
If you're blowing speakers it's not because you have an awesome amplifier that's putting out so many watts that you're blowing speakers left & right. It's because you have a piece of junk amplifier that's clipping so bad it's blowing speakers left and right.
Monster cables are good cables, but Monster is way over priced. You can buy as good & even better for less.
Don't hook up $10,000 worth of AV equipment to a $5 or $20 power strip & expect it to do any good at protecting your equipment. You need to buy a real surge protector (power conditioner / voltage regulator) that's designed for protecting electronics. They can be found in computer stores, music stores & high end audio dealers & cost between $80 & $1,000+. You should be able to find a good that suits your needs for under $200.
Surround sound is for TV, music sounds best in stereo. If you want to listen to music switch from surround sound mode to stereo mode... or even better yet, do your ears a favor listen to music on a real stereo system instead of a home theater sound system.

4. Ugh, you are getting some awful advice.

Ignore THX. It is a meaningless marketing gimick. Uber high end products are rarely THX "certified", yet upper low tier ones are- e.g. Monster cables high end silver cables are not, yet cheap molded plastic $15 RCA plugs are. Do you really think that the $15 cables from Best Buy are better than .999 silver cable from the same company?
People still don't understand what THD is. THD has very little to do with the "cleanliness" of a signal, and anything you buy is going to be less than 1%. If you really want to know what THD is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_harmonic_distortion

5. Go to the big stores like Best Buy or Circuit City where they have a sound room with these systems set up so you can listen to them in a closed room. Try them at all volumes and listen for clarity, natural sounding speakers. Particularly listen for a lack of mid-range that is so prevalent in most of these systems that use 4 or 5 satellite speakers and a sub woofer. Buy what sounds best to you. Only your own ears will tell you. Onyko or Bose have some good systems if your budget allows. TAKE ONE OF YOUR OWN CD'S TO LISTEN WHEN YOU VISIT THE STORES. That way you know what you are listening for.

source:www.audioannex.com