For many people, the audio aspect of enjoying home entertainment is equally important, or even more important than the video aspect.  And they have a point:  if you watch a movie without a sound, you can never understand a story.  But if you listen to stories dictated on the radio, you can fully understand the story without seeing a picture.

If is fast becoming common for people to buy top of the line LCD or Plasma TV that becomes part of a sophisticated home theater system.  People are spending more quality time with family without going out of the house.

High Fidelity (Hi-Fi) is the term used high quality audio systems.  High Fidelity systems almost have the same quality as the original master recording of any material.
This means that sound quality has very minimal distortion and noise if there is at all.

Buying a Hi-Fi may come at a certain price but with careful selection and knowledge, you can get your money’s worth with fewer headaches.

Speakers

Since you want to buy a Hi-Fi system, you need to consider how many speakers there are in the system. The more traditional consists of two speakers.  This can be complemented with a subwoofer for more dramatic effect especially in action movies.  You can choose from 2.1, 2.2, 5.1, 6.1 or 7.1 home theater system that comes as full digital surround to give you the feel of being in a real movie house.

Speakers also come in different designs and sizes that should fit the overall theme of your room.

The speakers are the most important part of the hi-fi system because what good does a high end DVD player if the final output device sounds bad?

Power Output

For Hi-Fis, the power output is usually quoted in watts Root Mean Square (RMS) per channel.  This also indicates how loud the volume can get which is directly proportional to the watt RMS rating.  Models are available starting 1 watt per channel going upwards.  Be extra careful when if you are replacing existing speakers because you can possibly damage them with very powerful system

AV Receivers

These look like hi-fi amplifiers but their main function is to take the audio signals from the CD or DVD players and other devices and then decode the signals for the sound system.  Some models have the THX feature that is certified by the George Lucas audio company.  For 7.1 channel system, it is important to make sure that the system is capable of decoding Surround EX and DTS-EX soundtracks.

Connectors

The kind of cables for connecting the system can affect the quality of sound, and too many, cabling is often overlooked.

Cables which are thicker and better coated can protect sound from interference.  Solid gold terminating connectors, although obviously more expensive, is a good choice for high performance. It is also good to put a limit to cable, preferably up to 50 feet only. 

Separates

Many Hi-fi enthusiasts prefer separate equipment instead of all-in-one bundles.  You can select your own brand and model of CD or DVD players, digital tuner, amplifier or mini-disk player that will complement your hi-fi speaker system.