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Ok, guys. Help me out here.

I'm finally living in a place where I can have a decent sound system and not have neighbors freaking out on me or anything. (Yay to no more apartment living!!!)

I want a proper sound system, but I don't even know where to start.

Can a home theater system act as my stereo as well? Can I plug my iPod into it or stream directly via wireless to it from my computer? Is there any brand I should look at? Anything to stay away from? SHould I get a receiver and then build from there?

If it helps, my place is small. Maybe 700-800 sq ft. or so for the entire place. The living area is small.

I try to do the research, but this is WAY out of my zone.

I have a Yamaha home theater system (5 speakers, sub, receiver) and I like it.

In your case, you're probably better off getting something like a mini-system/boombox with detachable speakers.

Ohhhh...I hadn't thought of something smaller. Honestly, that's probably more like what I'm looking for since my place is small. I don't want to overwhelm the place, but I do want decent sound.

Boombox is not ideal for home theatre.  You can buy a nice receiver and speakers individually.  Almost any receiver will do what you want, but go to the store and listen to speakers (loudly) and see what sounds best to you.  Its your preference. 

For a smaller place, 5.1 surround is probably fine.  Your room isn't big enough to get benefit from the side channels anyway.

If you want a "proper sound system" don't be cheap and get quality components.  A good receiver will have 8-10 inputs for iPods, cable, bluray, xbox, whatever.  Many of them allow you to hook up HDMI nowadays as well and it will switch your video signal to the TV as well.

Critical components:
How big is your TV?
How far is your TV from your couch?
Is there space around/behind/to the sides of your couch?
Do you have a way to run wires to the other side of the room (attic, under carpet, etc)?

For a smaller place, 5.1 is overkill.  A decent mini system will have iPod input as well as take input from your TV, which should be plenty.  (You may be able to find boomboxes with detachable speakers that can do the same, but at that point you're probably paying more than the mini system for the additional portability.)

I'd recommend something like this (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/50w-bluetooth-micro-music-system/1549014.p;jsessionid=58106E8590F9CDAD7C2E6238780E981C.bbolsp-app02-172?id=1219054924637&skuId=1549014&st=categoryid$abcat0202002&cp=1&lp=4) or this (http://www.amazon.com/Onkyo-CS-355-Hi-Fi-System-Bluetooth/dp/B008YDTSFI/).

Brian,

How big is your TV?  37, I think. It's not huge.
How far is your TV from your couch?  Less than 5 feet
Is there space around/behind/to the sides of your couch? Yes.
Do you have a way to run wires to the other side of the room (attic, under carpet, etc)? Nope. Not really.

Spider, thanks for the recommendations. I was still kind of at a loss as to what to look for. And those are WAY cheaper than my budget. :)

The systems that Spider shows are probably fine for you but don't expect surround sound.  Your room is smaller than I imagined.  Is surround sound important to you?

I honestly don't know what the difference is. Do I need surround? I just saw that everyone else was getting it. The sound out of my tv sucks. I know that much and know I want better. I also REALLY want a stereo since  I can now play music as loudly as I want. I don't want to blow the windows off or anything, but I would like decent sound.

This place is TINY. Think of those old school duplexes from the 50's. A tiny 2/1. I'm guessing 750 sq ft at the largest. (In my defense, my dad owns it and I'm paying very, very little to live here.)

Simplified, there are basically three types of "surround sound":

2.0 / 2.1 (stereo) - left speaker, right speaker, optional subwoofer (subwoofer is .1).  Any media made since the '70s will be in stereo at a minimum.  Music is usually in stereo only. Non-HD television shows will be in stereo only.

5.1 (Dolby Digital) - front left speaker, front center speaker, front right speaker, rear left speaker, rear right speaker, subwoofer.  This is for movies on disc (DVD, Blu-ray) and high-definition TV.

7.1 (DTS-HD) - front left speaker, front center speaker, front right speaker, center left speaker, center right speaker, rear left speaker, rear right speaker, subwoofer.  Virtually no mainstream media has 7 channels, and (in my humble opinion) 7.1 is strictly for "audiophiles" that have too much money.

In your case, unless you are a big fan of action movies, 5.1 is a total waste of money.  5.1 is irrelevant for drama/comedy/romance genres and it's also generally irrelevant for music.  That's why I recommended a stereo (2.0) setup.

If you are a bass fiend you can upgrade to 2.1 easily later.

Thanks, Dan. You answered my question. I just need stereo. Most of the movies I watch at home are independent dramas and stuff.
I'm a bass fiend (I listen to a lot of Miami bass), so I will need a subwoofer.

I'm not a tech geek but if your room is small I'd go with a good sound bar that comes with a sub woofer.  I have a surround sound system in our family room but wasn't going to get anything for my bedroom. I was talked into getting the sound bar for the bedroom and it sounds pretty darned good.

Budda, I completely disagree with Dan. 100%.

First of all, 5.1 is not overkill for a small space. The speakers simply need to be sized properly -- and they need to be positioned correctly (that goes for any sized room, of course).

You can get quite a lot out of a surround sound setup in even a 200 square foot dorm room. Your living space is NOT an issue here, not even remotely. You can get quite mumbo-jumbo'ed up in the theory and technical expressions (Haas effect, Hafler effect, quadrophonics, etc), but just TRY it out. I'm sure you can find an acquaintance with a dorm room -- or even a demo room in a home entertainment store, e.g. your local Bose store).

I also disagree that you need to enjoy action movies to enjoy surround sound.

Even for purely stereo movie sources, I really enjoy the much greater immersion when the sound comes from all around me.

Another issue you should consider is that speakers sound much better when played at a lower volume, so getting those two back speakers (even small ones) allows you to get much more out of your small front speakers.

The only situation where I prefer a 2.0 stereo system is when listening to music. Replicating the right-left channels in the two rear channels ("4.0  stereo") is okay, but doesn't really add much IMHO.

Hmmmm...I'm going to have to go check out Sound Advice or something and see what they think. I just don't want to be oversold. I want nice sound since I watch movies almost every night. I also LOVE music. I don't want to buy 2 different systems.

CF, that sound bar looks really interesting and looks like it will work for a small space.

I hate to be the contrarian again (and sound bars can look and sound very nice), but sound bars have very limited stereo separation. Since you sit so close to your TV (5'), you can get away with having your speakers about 4' apart. That's what "experts" will recommend, anyway, and a sound bar can do something like that.

Those "experts" are wrong, though, unless you watch TV alone and placed smack in the middle of your couch. Maybe that is how you watch TV and listen to music, what do I know? Personally, though, when I watch TV alone, I sit in one of the corners with my feet up. Sometimes I'll be lying down more than sitting up. If my wife is watching with me, we'll either both be at one end of the couch or one at each end.

The ONLY time the middle of the couch is used is when my 4-year-old watches TV. (Or if the couch is seating 3+). And I only suspect she does it because she's short enough that her legs don't hang off the couch.

Bottom line is, if you want decent stereo separation in a off-center position, your speakers are going to have to be a lot further apart than the 4' an expert will quote. If your couch is 6' wide, seating like ours is going to place you 3' off center. Getting good sound there is difficult in a tight space, but placing your speakers further apart will make a huge difference. Even an additional 2-3 feet will be very noticeable.

Of course, there are plenty of people who don't care one way or the other (my wife, for example). In that case, either go with the poor sound from your TV's existing speakers or upgrade (slightly) to a sound bar.

If you do go with a sound bar, make sure it has the inputs that you want/need.

DON'T GO TO SOUND ADVICE.

1) They are out of business.
2) They are crooks!

I was going to recommend a sound bar as an all-in-one solution.  But, I'm not entirely certain how they hook up to the TV, and I don't understand how you'd hook your iPod to it.  I just don't know much about it.

I would strongly recommend to go to a place like Best Buy or HHGregg and listen to the speakers at high volume.  Stay away from anything that distorts at high volume.  A lot of the cheaper systems will sound terrible when you crank it.  You will be very displeased.  Bring your iPod and appropriate cable and maybe you can even hook to the unit to test it out.

When you find the one you like, you can shop around for it.  Amazon usually has the cheaper price than most stores, unless you catch a sale.

So why don't you enjoy stereo music coming from all around you?  It adds exactly as much as listening to a stereo movie in simulated surround.

In any case, it's easy to simply add more speakers (on the same 2 channels) to a 2.0 system.  The 5.1 still isn't worth it, IMO.

Budda, your best bet may be to see if you have a friend with a surround setup that is easily movable and who's willing to drag it to your place. Yes, it'll cost a few hours, but you'll get to hear exactly what you can expect from a stereo vs a surround setup.

You might consider buying a spool of decent speaker cable, since getting your friend to uproot his speaker cable installation might be a tough sell (the equipment itself is usually much easier to get to).

On the topic of speaker cables... this is one area where you DON'T want to overspend. A cheap spool of 12 or 14 guage copper speaker cable would be more than adequate for your needs and sells for 30-40 bucks on amazon for 100 feet:

http://www.amazon.com/14AWG-Enhanced-Oxygen-Free-Copper-Speaker/dp/B009EADB2Q
http://www.amazon.com/CNE62270-100-Feet-Enhanced-Oxygen-Free-Speaker/dp/B00APEG9M4/

For a stereo setup, you would need MUCH less (you could probably even get away with 50' in a surround setup). Just make sure you don't overspend. Brand name cables with all sorts of fancy crap will NOT make your setup sound any different.

Do note that depending on the equipment that you are considering, you might need cable with plugs of some kind at each end (like the Sony system Dan recommended, which requires some weird two-pin plugs -- and unlike the Onkyo system where you can just stick the stripped end of a cable in).

For some reason, listening to music isn't an immersive experience for me. Very different from watching a movie. YMMW.

Music also almost always recorded in stereo, not surround (although there are certainly concert recordings in surround available).

But that's the point.  Buying a 5.1 system to surround yourself in stereo media is a waste of money, just like buying a 7.1 system to surround yourself in 5.1 media is a waste of money.

If you like to be surrounded in stereo, you can just add more speakers to a stereo setup.

I had a 5.1 surround system in my dorm room in college.  It was a 10x20 room and it was fantastic.  In fact, I still have all the speakers and the receiver, but the receiver no work so good anymore.  I am keeping the speakers in case, someday, I get to build the garage I want.

I agree with you, but my understanding was that Buddha had Netflix. Netflix streams in 5.1 surround.

Movies on basic cable channels through e.g. Comcast cable should also be in surround sound.

In other words, I'm not sure where all this stereo media you're talking about is.

Non-HD television shows are not in 5.1 because the original non-HD delivery methods don't support it.  Movies will indeed be in 5.1, but as stated, non-action genres are not going to have anything of value going on in the surround channels.  Music is essentially all stereo.

5.1 is basically for action-genre movies (and HD action-genre TV shows, I suppose).  Outside of that, it's a waste of money.

7.1 is just a waste of money, full stop.

You keep repeating that, but you don't offer any arguments to substantiate your position. Repetition does not make it so.

Doing a quick Google search for best movies for surround sound turned up quite varied lists, many dominated by "effects" movies like Jurassic Park and Prometheus. The Lord of the Rings trilogy also features heavily, as does The Hobbit and various Harry Potter movies. Documentaries like Planet Earth also abound. (Even musicals like Chicago and Moulin Rouge are quoted often).

That said, for surround sound to have any meaningful impact, of course there has to be sound coming from multiple directions. That's a given. And scenes with action in them quite often fall into this category. Clearly, a dialogue-driven drama isn't going to benefit much from the 5.1 portion of surround (although the general immersion might still be worth it).

Edited to add: Some of the scenes I've liked best in surround are actually those with "chatter" around the main focus. Say crowd noises or chatter from other tables in a restaurant. The immersion can be quite terrific and really improves my enjoyment of a movie.

"It just sounds better."

Hahahahaha .... Only on TDMMC can someone asking for audio help can it get turned into a debate.

Your first citations against the "action movies or bust" claim are...  two science-fiction movies and ~a dozen fantasy movies?   Those movies have a sizable amount of action content.

I don't doubt that there is some non-action content out there that employs the surround channels, but it's the equivalent of buying a 3D television to watch Silver Linings Playbook or 12 Years A Slave; you can do it, but why?

I'm not going to debate this with you. If you count any movie that has any action content as an action movie, then fine.

I was just thinking the same thing. Love it!

Brian, I didn't know Sound Advice went out of business. Ha! I like that HHGregg store or whatever it's called.

And...yes I'm a Netflix junkie. It's pretty much the only thing I use.

I finally bought something after a bunch of research. I got a Toshiba soundbar with woofer. It was EXACTLY what I needed for my small space. I love it!