Retailers Vs E-tailers
Buying at the store is your best bet, just be sure the price you're paying isn't too high. Use the Internet to research the "real" price, then purchase at the store. The biggest reason to buy at a store is because most manufactures won't cover their products' warranties if they were bought out of their supply chain.

The main explanation for this is that the product quality controls put in place through the supply chain are disrupted when you purchase from a non-approved online e-tailer. With this in mind, companies cannot guarantee the quality of the delivered product.

While many people have saved tons of money buying gear online, prices have started to adjust in the real world. There are still many cases where you can buy gear online for less than half of what it costs at the store, and it's when that happens you should ask yourself why the stores are charging so much for a particular product. Is it markup, or is the e-tailer pawning seconds?

The Online Exceptions
Exceptions to the "don't buy HT gear online" rule are manufacturer direct web sites, and online versions of established HT catalogs like Crutchfield. These "manufacturer approved" supply chains offer the convenience of shopping online with the security of company backed products.

Some new companies have emerged the sell their products solely online. These manufacturers are using the cost cutting factor the web offers, to put products out there that perform beyond what their price would indicate. One of these new companies is Outlaw, which sells mid/high-end amps, receivers, and preamps. This new "only online" trend will likely be employed more and more as time passes.

Return Policies
The return policies of buying online can be pretty bad too. Many e-tailers charge a 15% "restocking fee" while most stores charge nothing at all. If you don't plan on returning anything, don't care about the warranty, and are certain the product will be delivered in "factory" condition... buying online can work for you. Otherwise, look to buy from a store, and use your Internet research to get the best HT product at the best price.

Price Matching
Retailers will not price match e-tailers, but many will come closer to the price if you shop hard enough. In many cases you can use retailers against each other by shopping their competitors. Most of the time you will be able to find a retailer that can come close to the e-tailer price. Then it just comes down to doing a price match at whatever store you're most comfortable doing business with.

Sensitive Gear
It's a best bet not to purchase overly sensitive items like TVs online. TVs are the home theater products most likely to have problems associated with shipping: such as a scratch on the screen, or tech problems due to the fact that their core components are sensitive to the impact of travel. It's worth the extra money if your TV can be repaired or returned if something goes wrong.

Consider yourself warned.

Extended Warranties
These things are crap. The best way to go is to buy reliable gear that you won't have to worry about or replace. The solid-state electronics sold today have a very low failure rate, and the reason extended warranties are offered, is that companies make massive amounts of money on them.

The reality is that most solid-state products will break within the original warranty period. All you have to ask yourself is, "Would the stores be selling the extended warranty if they weren't making a huge profit from it?" In some cases the stores will make more money from the warranty alone, than from selling the product.

Extended warranties play on your paranoia. Simply put, Get the warranty if the peace of mind knowing that your HT gear is covered is worth it to you. Otherwise take a pass on it.

Good luck with you home theater shopping. Getting the best gear for your buck is definitely rewarding. After a small amount of research, you'll know why you particular piece of HT nirvana stands apart from the pack.