Don't let the upgrade bug leave you with gear that's obsolete or leftover for another room. Use forethought and preplanning in your home theater purchases now, and you'll save money over the long run by avoiding the wrong purchases today.

Keeping up with the latest in technology can force you to upgrade gear you may be perfectly happy with. Generally only two main technologies change often in the the home theater industry: video display technology, and surround sound technology. Everything else remains static with minor improvements over time. If the purchase of these static technologies has enough preplanning done before you purchase them, you shouldn't need (or desire) an upgrade for many years.

What are these static components that offer a usefulness many times than that of all others? Speakers, Subwoofers, DVD Players, CD Players, AC Line Conditioners, Cables, and MD Players are all pretty static as far as home theater technology is concerned.

What you get today should be perfect many years from now. Speakers and subwoofers are especially the most long lived pieces of equipment you can own. Many can last 20 years or more depending on how well you take care of them.

Preplanning
Preplanning and forethought can be the hardest thing to do when purchasing new home theater gear. What this requires mainly is to think about where a particular piece of gear will be used in the short term and where it will end up in the future.

Example: you may want a new pair a speakers to be used for your main left and right channels. You know that you live in an apartment now, but may be switching to a house with a larger room. You'll need speakers that can handle the loudness levels the size of your room demands from your speakers in both the apartment and your future home. So one solution is to buy better speakers now that you'll be able to use later. If the apartment is too small to accommodate the larger speakers, another option is to buy a nice pair of smaller speakers that can be moved to the surround channels when you move into the house later on.

This preplanning can save you the expense of having to throw or give away speakers that are no longer useful to your system's needs. Saving you the headache of having to speaker shop and change your entire system every time you make a change to either the system or the environment.

Things to Consider With New Gear

Speakers: Generally you should aim to buy the best speakers you can afford that you know you'll be happy with over the years. Buying cheap speakers now will only make the upgrade bug come quicker and leave you with extra gear. Reaching for better speakers that you know will suit your needs can add greatly to you system and save money.

A smart upgrade path for those just starting out is to purchase cheap center and surround channels combined with the best pair of bookshelf speakers you can afford for the main left and right speakers. Upgrade the main left and rights in the future and move the speakers previously used for that function to the rear channels. After that all that remains is to upgrade your center channel to match the left and right. Over time the only speakers you'll be left with are the cheap center/surround speaker package that you can get for as little as $80.

For more on speakers see:
On Gear: Speakers

Subwoofers: Subwoofers get expensive really quick, but the same problem exists with your main speaker purchase also pertains to your subwoofer. If you move to a larger room, the sub will need to be able to play louder. While a 200 watts, 12 inch massive sub may seem like overkill in an apartment, you definitely should ever need to replace it for a very long time. Spending $200 extra now could save you $800 in the future.

For more on subs see:
On Gear: Speakers: Subwoofers

DVD Players: Aside from a progressive scan unit that can be had for as little as $300 now, most DVD players all offer the same options. You do get better sound quality when you spend more money. If your looking to use the DVD player as a CD player than the best advice would be to spend a little more for the extra sound quality as you'll notice it more on analog stereo playback. If you're planning on eventually owning a HD capable TV than you shouldn't consider purchasing anything other than a progressive scan DVD player.

For more on DVD players see:
On Gear: Components: DVD Players

CD Players: CD players will always offer better sound when you spend more money. The exception is with the mega-changers that offer 100+ plus CD capacity. Spending $100 on a single disc player and $300 on a mega-changer should offer the same sound quality. If you're really into music consider paying a couple hundred extra for better sound quality, or roll the money you were planning to spend on a CD player into your DVD player purchase to achieve better sound for both music and movies.

For more on CD Players see:
On Gear: Components: CD Players

MD Players: While not sold in most major retail outlets in America it is still an awesome product ,and well received in Japan. MD players can be bought online with software still available anywhere blank tapes are sold. You do get better sound by spending more, but the most useful features relate to the editing features. The ability to plug in a keyboard to type in song titles is a definite plus, as is the inclusion of a CD player so that you can record from CD to MD at 3x speed.

For more on MD players see:
On Gear: Components: MD Players

Cables: Upgrading cable may seem like one of the last items any home theater enthusiast would do, but after you hear the difference high quality can make, your mind gets rolling as to how much improvement better cable can make. While some people give testament to $300 per ft cable, the simple fact is that middle of the road cable costing from $1-$2 per foot is the only type of cable most HT hobbyists will ever need. The only thing to consider is if you can afford a little extra and use the $2 per foot cable all around do it. Be sure to buy a couple feet longer than you need so you can cut the leads that plug into your amp and speakers every year to remove the oxidized cable and keep your system sounding it's best.

For more on cables see:
On Gear: Cables

AC Line Conditioners: These things do more than just protect your home theater from brownouts, they protect it from lightning strikes and can improve the sound and video your home theater provides. Starting at $200, chances are you'll only need to purchase one in your lifetime. Extra features to consider are more phone and antenna jacks, and delayed turn on for power hungry equipment such as amplifiers.

Non-static Gear Considerations

TVs: If you're in the market for a new TV now, it would be a shame not to purchase and HD capable TV now. A little extra now could save you an entire TV purchase in 3 years when you'll most likely want to view HDTV programs. The good news is the DVDs take advantage of HDTVs allowing you to view movies at their best.

For more on TVs see:
On Gear: TVs

Receivers: Even the current crop of $300 receivers can offer all the latest surround processing such as DTS, Dolby Digital, SACD and the 6.1 surround formats. There will be new surround formats in the future, and the best bet is to pay for sound quality first and surround formats last. Systems that offer only Dolby Digital and DTS standard 5.1 versions will still sound awesome since the 6.1 soundtracks are backward compatible. Use enough preplanning to buy a receiver that not only has enough power for your speakers now, but has enough to play your system when you upgrade it in the future.

For more on receivers see:
On Gear: Components: Receivers

Most preplanning revolves around the simple fact that you should spend a little extra now to avoid outdating your system in the future. This buying process not only saves time, but storage room as well. Good luck, and happy upgrading.