I owned a basic surround system before I bought my big television, but only because I scored some hand-me-down speakers which encouraged me to buy an entry-level surround sound amp (a discounted, superseded ex-demo model from a hi-fi store clearance sale). I was on a budget, so I decided to hold off on a sub-woofer. 

When I moved house three years ago, my widescreen TV took pride of place in the lounge room but the surround sound system stayed packed away in the garage. My pre-school kids loved the big screen but seemed too young to appreciate the benefits of surround sound. Unfortunately their bedrooms are so close to the lounge room that it’s not practical to fire up the surround sound once they’re in bed, so the sound system sat idle.

Then I bought the Star Wars movies on Blu-ray last week, which got me thinking about surround sound again. Now the kids are starting to watch more grown-up movies, and we’ve got a Blu-ray player, it seems wrong to leave the surround sound system in a box when we’re watching sci-fi classics.

I spent the weekend setting up the surround system and tweaking it to my liking. It’s not perfect, but perfection is a cruel mistress and sometimes you just need to be happy with what you’ve got. I’d forgotten how much of a difference the surround sound makes and now I wish I’d done it sooner!