What Is Meant by “Home Theater-In-A-Box”?

The basics of basics are what About.com is all about. The options for getting started out in the home theater hobby and be somewhat daunting and many choose to go the route of a HTIB (Home Theater In A Box). As the name suggests, you get all of your audio needs packaged in one box from the reseller. They usually consist of a DVD player, receiver and speakers bundled together and are much easier to hookup then seperate components.

From the article:

1. These are not high-end systems. Home theater-in-a-box systems have a tendency to cut corners on speaker construction and quality, when compared to their separate unit cousins. However, with advances in both compact speaker and compact subwoofer technology, some of these "budget" systems will surprise you as to how good they can sound.

Most people will agree that you will be happier if you buy seperates. Dollar for dollar you are likely to get a system that sounds a lot better.