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The best of today's home theater in a box systems are excellent, but how do you find the one that's right for you?

First, read my CNET reviews; they're loaded with information about how easy the HTIB is to use and how well it performs. It may be a dubious honor, but I probably hold the record for testing more HTIBs for magazines and Web sites than any other reviewer.

Most HTIBs come with Blu-ray or DVD players, receivers, and five or more speakers and a subwoofer. Right, HTIBs also come with lots of wires and setup chores, so they're almost as complex to install as separate receiver, player, and speaker-based home theater systems.

Onkyo's HT-S9100THX is the best-sounding HTIB on the planet.

(Credit: Onkyo)

If that's more than you bargained for, maybe you should be looking for something simpler: a single-speaker surround system? That would eliminate most of the wiring and setup hassles. Check my CNET reviews to see if one is right for you.

For small bedrooms or dorm rooms, a budget HTIB or single-speaker surround system may be ideal. Family-size home theaters may require larger systems with larger speakers and powered subwoofers.

Connectivity varies a lot in this category, so don't assume all HTIBs have what you need. If you don't want to switch inputs on your TV every time you select a different video source, say from a game system to a Blu-ray player, make sure the HTIB has enough HDMI and other video inputs. Some HTIBs don't switch video at all. Some have USB inputs and iPod-docking capabilities.

HTIBs tend to sound best with movies; music comes in a distant second place. I always refer to HTIBs' performance with movies and music, so if you plan on listening to a lot of music over your new system, definitely look for that in the reviews. Don't assume the sound will be equally good for music and movies; it rarely is.

Zvox Z-Base 525

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

Surround sound and its accouterments tend to dominate a living room, requiring an AV receiver, several speakers, stands, and wires to make the whole thing work. That's why many people choose to skip surround sound, opting instead for the tinny acoustics of their TV speakers.

Single-speaker solutions like the Zvox Z-Base 525 represent a middle ground approach, promising much better audio than your TV without all the fuss. The Z-Base 525 is particularly fuss-free; its unique design makes it look like nothing more than a pedestal for your HDTV. Even better, the Z-Base sounds better than most sound bars do, although it doesn't have as much of the surround effect as other sound bars. (The step-up Z-Base 575 sounds even better, but it's larger and more expensive.)

Like any sound bar, it doesn't compare with a full 5.1 system, but if you can live with the compromises, the Z-Base 525 ($350) is one of the more affordable options with respectable sound and an outstanding design.

Read our full review of the Zvox Z-Base 525.

Zvox Z-Base 525 photos

The Z-Base575 is a speaker and a TV base.

(Credit: Zvox)

Sound bar speakers vastly simplify home theater setup and installation, but their sound quality always falls short of bona fide 5.1-channel speaker-subwoofer-based systems. The single-box Zvox Z-Base575 get closer to that ideal than most.

The problem with sound bars is they're too small. Even pricey bars like Yamaha's YSP-3050 ($1,199 MSRP) can't generate full-blown home theater impact. And it's a bit bigger than average (31.5 inches wide by 6.1 inches high by 6 inches deep), but films like "Mission: Impossible III" sound tepid over the YSP-3050. The film's explosive effects lack the excitement you'd get from a 5.1 system. Yamaha's technology is amazing, but it can't produce high-impact sound from skinny cabinets. I'm not singling out Yamaha here; Denon, Marantz, Polk, Samsung, and Sony sound bars all--to varying degrees--squash dynamic range of movies.

Stepping up to the YSP-4000 ($1,600 MSRP) won't make that big a difference; in my CNET review I noted that it stumbled with big special effect-driven flicks like "Mission: Impossible III." The explosions fell flat, the bass was rumbly, and the Yamaha couldn't play loud at all. Hooking up an Acoustic Research HT60 subwoofer to add extra muscle helped a little, but the YSP-4000 still lacked punch.

Part of the problem is that almost all sound bar speakers are too small. Zvox's Z-Base575 is big and very, very deep. How deep is it? Sixteen inches! So unlike other surround bar speaker systems that can either be wall-mounted or set on a shelf, the Z-Base575 was designed to be used as a base under your TV. Don't worry, the sturdy medium-density fiberboard cabinet can support heavyweight displays.

(Credit: Wall of Sound)

For a stereo, the Wall of Sound isn't massive. But for an iPod dock, it's gargantuan.

Pitched as "the world's most powerful iPod speaker," the Wall of Sound is a $4,500, handcrafted iPod dock with a stocky 3x4-foot frame that weighs in at 225 pounds.

As for the sound itself, the 125W system promises a frequency response of 40Hz to 20kHz that will provide "graceful mids and crystal clear highs," according to the product's Web site. It's also purportedly "for people who believe that music should be listened to loudly."

This story originally appeared on Gizmodo.

Believe it or not, iPod speakers were once rare objects--and Bose's SoundDock was one of the first to hit the market back in 2004. Since then, the company has followed up with the SoundDock II ($299) and the SoundDock Portable ($399), even as the iPod speaker category has become completely commoditized (nowadays, there are plenty of sub-$100 clock radios with built-in iPod docks). For the 2009-2010 buying season, Bose has gone back to the drawing board and produced the SoundDock 10.

Bose says it worked for several years on this new speaker system for the iPod and iPhone, with the lofty goal of building a product that can deliver "audio performance previously unattainable from a one-piece speaker system for iPod." The SoundDock 10 is bigger and more expensive (costing a whopping $599) than previous SoundDock models, but it's still relatively compact, measuring 17 inches wide by 9 inches high by 10 inches deep, and has a nice clean, understated design that gives the whole system a classy look.

The centerpiece of the unit is a hefty, custom woofer, bracketed by two Bose Twiddler transducers (no, that's not a new social-networking site; it's a combination of a high-frequency transducer and midrange driver). The woofer alone adds a lot of weight to the unit, and while the speaker can be moved around the house easily enough, the SoundDock 10 weighs a beefy 18.9 pounds (that's three times as much as the aforementioned SoundDock Series II and SoundDock Portable). Held in hand, this model feels quite substantial and well built.

So, does Bose deliver on its lofty sound goals?

Read the full review to find out (or just watch the embedded video).

Twin aluminum cylinders belt out a huge sound.

(Credit: Steve Guttenberg)

The Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2009, held last week in Denver, showcased the best and brightest in high-end audio gear.

Hundreds of high-end manufacturers, from tiny one-person operations all the way up to industry giants like JBL were on hand. RMAF has a very different vibe than the Consumer Electronics Show held in Las Vegas every January--RMAF is a more grassroots affair.

I never heard of RAAL, a company based in Serbia, but its small (I'm guessing 7-inch-tall) speakers, produced a huge, room-filling sound. The speakers totally disappeared as sound sources.

The speaker uses twin aluminum cylinders, with 4-inch drivers firing up and down and a special "ribbon tweeter" sandwiched between the two cylinders, firing front and rear. Each speaker has its own, separate woofer, housed in another tube with 6-inch woofers at each end.

It's a fully powered system; just hook up a source such as a CD player and you're good to go. Price and availability weren't announced, but the company is hoping the complete system will cost around $4,000.

TAD speakers and Bel Canto electronics sang ever so sweetly together.

(Credit: Steve Guttenberg)

TAD (a division of Pioneer Electronics) had the best sound I heard at RMAF. Their newly revised Reference One speaker ($60,000 per pair) was far from the most expensive speaker in Denver, but the 330-pound towers produced the most vivid, clear, and transparent sound. Bass drums were tight, pitch-perfect; stereo imaging was, again, remarkably precise and three-dimensional. Vocalists virtually materialized between the two Reference Ones.

Some of that amazing sound quality has to be attributed to the Bel Canto electronics that TAD was using. The compact e.One Series components use just a tiny fraction of the AC power consumed by their hotter running, bigger and heftier competition. Bel Canto does things differently.

The Limited Edition System amplifier.

(Credit: EMP Tek)

High-end audio can be expensive, but there are deals to be had.

Take a gander at EMP Tek's nifty Limited Edition System that goes for $595. It's a three-piece affair with a stereo tube integrated amplifier and a pair of sweet-looking bookshelf speakers.

Call me jaded, but I've heard a bunch of iPod speaker systems in that price range that sounded like glorified boom boxes. And since most of them are single-box systems they don't do much in the way of stereo separation. Yes, they make bass, but it's always bloated, thick, and boomy bass. Impressive to some at first, but its not what you'd call hi-fi sound. These iPod systems' power amp wattage is rarely specified or it's wildly exaggerated. For $600 you should be able to get a decent sounding system, and there's no such thing as a decent sounding iPod speaker for that kind of money.

The EMP Tek Limited Edition System is something else again. Its 40-watt-per-channel rating seems about right. Small enough to fit on a desktop, it's just 6.6 inches wide, 4.5 high, and 10.25 deep, and the amp has three inputs. Two are minijacks, so you can plug your iPod/MP3 player in, and there's a stereo RCA input you might use to pump the sound of your DVD or Blu-ray player through the system. The amp's two tubes are backlit with blue LEDs, which look extra cool. The amp weighs 8 pounds.

Seven channels from one skinny speaker? We'll see.

(Credit: Atlantic Technology)

Atlantic Technology claims its FS-7.0 Surround Bar is the first loudspeaker capable of reproducing all seven channels of a home theater soundtrack from a single wall-mountable enclosure. A matching 8-inch powered subwoofer will be offered for optimal integration with the FS-7.0.

A lot of very expensive soundbars are either tweeterless, or include just one tweeter, like Bowers & Wilkins' $2,200 Panorama. The FS-7.0's front baffle includes three 1-inch soft dome tweeters, for the front left, center, and right channels. The front panel also has a pair of 4x6-inch woofers.

Surround channels use full-range 3.25-inch drivers mounted on the sides of the cabinet. The Atlantic Technology FS-7.0 and SB-800 compact theater system will be available this month at suggested retail prices of $800 for the FS-7.0 in Gloss Black and $300 for the SB-800 subwoofer in matte black.

Small size, big sound: Bose's $599 SoundDock 10.

(Credit: Bose)

Bose has been busy the last few weeks. First, it announced its new QuietComfort 15 noise-canceling headphones. And now it's introduced another high-profile product with a double-digit model number, the SoundDock 10.

Bose says it's been working for several years on this new speaker system for the iPod and iPhone (yes, it has GSM shielding), and its goal was to build a product that delivered "audio performance previously attainable from a one-piece speaker system for iPod."

The SoundDock is bigger and more expensive ($599) than previous SoundDock models, but it's still relatively compact, measuring 17 inches wide, 9 inches high, and 10 inches deep. The centerpiece of the unit is a hefty, custom subwoofer, and two Bose Twiddler transducers (no, that's not a new social-networking site, it's a combination of a high-frequency transducer and midrange driver).

The subwoofer alone adds a lot of weight to the unit, and while the speaker can be moved around the house easily enough, Bose reps told me the SoundDock 10 weighs three times as much as the SoundDock Series II ($299) and SoundDock Portable ($399). In case you're wondering, those models will stay in the line.