Coming Soon to a Home Near You: the All-Purpose Theater

Not everyone assembles a home theater piece by piece. Some people start from Sound Zero, with checkbooks and credit cards on standby, and say they want it all in one shot--speakers, receiver, DVD player and television.

For all that, $3,500 is not an unreasonable ticket into the wonders of home theater. So, to readers who have requested an all-in-one home-theater guide, here it is. And remember, it’s only a suggestion.

The mission statement: to provide value, a home theater that’s future-ready, adept at both music and movies, and is ready and willing to serve at any time of the day.

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Speakers

Alpha: $249 a pair; Alpha Mini: $199 a pair; Alpha Center: $179; SubSonic 5 subwoofer: $439. Total: $1,066. PSB Speakers International: (888) 772-0000; https://www.psbspeakers.com.

It’s not a stretch to call the PSB Alpha the finest budget bookshelf speaker of the past 10 years. PSB reformulated the Alpha speaker and expanded the Alpha series for home theater, retaining its best qualities: a beautiful, laid-back mid-range and an uncanny ability to reach loud volumes without strain. This system sounds great with both movies and music. Many home-theater speaker systems, built specifically for reproducing bang-zoom special effects, have no clue when it comes to music.

Cosmetics note: The Alphas look much better in cherry veneer finish than they do in utilitarian black.

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Receiver

Outlaw Model 1050: $600. Outlaw Audio: (800) 392-1393; https://www.outlawaudio.com.

A group of industry executives took the outlaw route last year, forming a company in Durham, N.H., that sells audio/video equipment exclusively over the Internet at prices far below competitors who use a conventional dealer network. It offers a 30-day money-back guarantee on its products.

These outlaws obviously know what’s going on in home theater. The new thing is a 6.1 surround format, with a center rear-surround channel added to the basic 5.1 setup of five discrete channels and a low-frequency-effects channel, the “point-1,” for the subwoofer. Someday, it will be standard equipment in every receiver.

(Onkyo also has introduced a 7.1 THX Surround EX receiver.) For now, both new 6.1 formats--Dolby Surround EX and DTS-ES Discrete 6.1--are relegated to top-shelf receivers. The new DTS format, for example, just showed up in Denon’s $3,800 AVR-5800. Outlaw’s Model 1050, though offering neither of these 6.1 formats, includes a digital signal processing chip from Zoran with generic 6.1 processing for Dolby Digital discs. In this home theater, all you do is add another Alpha. Meanwhile, the Model 1050 handles all the everyday Dolby Digital/DTS 5.1 decoding, too.

The Model 1050, though rated on the low side for a receiver (65 watts a channel), will have no problem driving the Alphas--even seven of them.

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VD Player

Pioneer DV-434: $449. Pioneer Electronics: (800) 421-1606; https://www.pioneerelectronics.com.

This machine may not be available immediately, but it’s worth the wait because it’s outfitted with a progressive-scan output. Not long ago, only DVD players costing upward of $2,000 had progressive-scan capability. (After discount, DV-434 pricing will probably bottom out at about $299.)

This is a dramatic development in popularly priced players. Why? Most televisions assemble a picture through a process called interlacing, displaying the odd-numbered scan lines before the even-numbered scan lines. The progressive-scan process, used on computer monitors, displays the line at a faster rate, all at once, for a more stable image and higher-resolution picture closer to film quality.

But this feature is useless unless it’s matched with a television that accepts progressive-scan video.

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Television

Panasonic CT32XF56 SuperFlat TV: $1,799.95. Panasonic USA: (800) 211-7262; https://www.panasonic.com.

The CT32XF56 looks like a basic 32-inch set, but it’s actually ready for the here-and-now--yes, it’s out there somewhere--digital television format. As digital programming increases, you can connect a set-top decoder box to this TV and receive a picture in digital television’s standard-definition format. It won’t be quite as good as a high-definition picture, but it will be a dramatic upgrade from your analog set.

The CT32XF56 will show all the flaws in cable TV. The best picture will come if you decide to add a satellite dish. But right away, you can get the standard-definition digital picture with a progressive-scan DVD player.

This set, discounted to as low as $1,400, will get you through the transition from analog to digital TV. The CT32XF56 will be replaced by the CD32HX40 in October, so if you wait until fall you might find even lower prices.

After discounts, this suggested home theater should fall below our $3,500 target. Spend the rest on cables and speaker stands. Then have some fun.