The average person doesn’t know a ton about the electronics they buy. (I am the average person). Luckily, CNET’s there for us. Here are the first five tips from the article 10 Tips for Better Home Theater Sound:

1. Navigate the speaker-setup menus
“Every 5.1/6.1/7.1 A/V receiver has a setup menu, but if you've never explored the options, your sound may be out of whack…”

2. Check your speaker levels
“Make sure that all of the speakers are equal in level. Your receiver can send a test tone to each speaker, which will help you adjust the relative volume of each channel…”

3. Ensure that speaker cables are connected correctly
“With that tangle of cables looming behind your A/V receiver, it's all too easy to mix up which wire goes where. When you're running through the speaker-level adjustments, double-check that the test tones are coming out of the intended speakers….”

4. Tweak subwoofer-level and crossover controls
“Test tones and meters aren't the final arbiters in the bass department. If your sub's bass is boomy, thick, or uneven, first try lowering its level (volume) control--most folks crank their sub louder than necessary...”

5. Purchase speaker stands or brackets
“Pulling speakers out of bookcases or from the tops of cabinets and placing them on floor stands or wall brackets can radically improve their sound quality.”

Photo CC 2.0, Nick Slide

Lifehacker posted a review on media collection manager Griffith today. It looks like a useful tool for movie fans. Direct from the site:

"Griffith is a media collection manager application. Adding items to the collection is as quick and easy as typing the film title and selecting a supported source. Griffith will then try to fetch all the related information from the Web.

Griffith is a cross-platform application and is known to run on GNU Linux, Microsoft Windows and MacOS Xsystems. Probably, it will run on other POSIX compatible operating systems where a gtk+ environment is available, including FreeBSD, OpenBSD and Solaris."

Although placing your subwoofer in the corner maximizes bass response, it also makes it more uneven. CNET explains where your subwoofer should go:

“With a satellite/subwoofer speaker set, where the subwoofer handles a wide range of frequencies including upper bass, place the subwoofer on either side of the front-center speaker for good blending.

With larger speakers and subwoofers, place the subwoofer for most even bass response. This may take experimentation. One trick is to have the listener and subwoofer exchange places: Put the subwoofer in place of your favorite chair, then walk around the room and listen for the spot with the best bass. When you change them back, bass response should be the same.”

Photo CC 2.0, rick

For optimal sound, you need to identify the first reflection of your sound’s path from the speakers to your ears so you can treat it with an absorptive panel. Audio Video Interiors explains how you can use a mirror to locate the first-reflection point.

“The most commonly treated first-reflection point is on the wall adjacent to the left and right speakers.

Here's why it's important to treat this area. Because the same sound travels two different paths to reach your ears after it leaves the speaker, it arrives at slightly different times. The result is sound that can be muddy and indistinct. In addition, if the first reflection arrives at your ears within 10 to 20 milliseconds of the direct sound, it can affect your brain's ability to perceive spatial cues. You can have problems correctly localizing the sound. If you're having problems with dialogue intelligibility, the natural reaction is to turn up the volume. The problem is that increasing the volume can make the problem worse.

A simple but effective trick for locating the first-reflection point is to sit in the primary seating position and have a friend move a mirror along the side wall of your theater. Just look into the mirror until you can see the respective front speaker. Ta-da! That's where you'll center the acoustic panel. There's no need to completely cover the wall. A panel just a few feet wide and 4 to 8 feet high will suffice, depending on your theater's décor and wall height.”