4 Cool Audio Gadgets To Upgrade Your Home Theater Setup

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Owning a home theater system isn't just a great way to save money on movie tickets and concession costs (a large popcorn is around $10 these days) — it's a long-term lifestyle investment that can bring years of entertainment to the table, if not decades. But beyond a great soundbar or an awesome pair of floor-standing speakers, there are plenty of other home theater add-ons that can improve or enhance a setup you already love — you just need to think past the more traditional upgrades.

Whether you're rocking a 9.2.4 Dolby Atmos configuration or a single pair of bookshelf speakers, we have four cool audio gadgets that could have a big impact on how your home theater looks and sounds, regardless of its size. The full roundup is available to shop online at major retailers like Amazon and Best Buy, and we did our best to include reasonably priced products. You'll find a full rundown of how we selected these items at the end of this article. 

Investing in a wired system is one of the best ways to experience premium audio formats like Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, but all those speaker wires and subwoofer leads can make one heck of a mess behind your TV stand. If you're building your home theater from the ground up and know your system will include in-ceiling, in-wall, or wall-mounted speakers, this Cable Matters Triple Gang 7.1 Speaker Wall Plate with HDMI is a great way to reduce cable clutter.

In a traditional wired home theater, all the non-front speakers are typically wired in-wall or in-ceiling. One end of the wire connects to the speaker, and the other end is routed to the bottom of a stud bay that's near your AV receiver. Instead of all those leads jutting out of a cable pass-through in your drywall, the Cable Matters wall plate lets you connect those leads to its rear terminals. You'll just need to run a speaker wire from the matching front terminal into your AV receiver.

Not only does this help to keep the back of your entertainment center looking cleaner, but the plate's gold-plated connectors help maintain signal strength between your speakers and amplifier. Conveniently, this model also features hookups for one active subwoofer and an HDMI device. The latter will come in handy if you want to keep your AV receiver in a different room or tucked away in a hidden media closet.

Driving a home theater system requires an AV receiver or dedicated amplifier, but even the most advanced gear can only do so much when challenged by poor room acoustics. Drywall, hardwood floors, and even certain furniture in your home theater may introduce unwanted reverberation; they may also prevent your speakers from delivering immersive sound to your seating area. But there's a good chance you can skirt around an unfavorable room layout by simply adding acoustic panels to your setup.

This Umiacoustics Acoustic Panels with Hanging Brackets 4-Pack scored 4.7 out of 5 stars on Amazon (based on over 170 reviews). The panels use two-inch-thick fiberglass to absorb and redirect home theater sound. If you're having issues with dialogue clarity or your system produces too much reverb/echo, these panels should help to corral decibels into a more cohesive soundstage. Each panel measures 23.6 x 11.8 inches, and Umiacoustics offers six unique color options.

All the necessary mounting hardware is included, and the panels can easily be removed and repositioned. For best results, we recommend placing panels at reflection points along side walls, and behind your main seating area. You may also want to try installing them on ceilings if a room's vertical reflection points are muddying up your audio.

Running speaker wire from one end of a large room to the other isn't impossible, but if you don't want to cut into drywall or deal with long runs, you'll miss out on complete home theater sound. Rear and surround speakers may not deliver the same forceful sound as your front channels, but they play a significant role in background details and spatial immersion.

Fortunately, this Rocketfish Wireless Rear Speaker Kit is here to save the day. This is a combo system that uses a transmitter and a receiving unit that operate on a 2.4GHz frequency with a range of up to 100 feet. The transmitter plugs into the speaker outputs of your AV receiver, while the wireless receiver is placed near your rear speakers. You'll need to connect the receiving end to a wall outlet, and you will still need to run shorter wires between the receiver and your speakers, but you'll avoid the headache of running 50-foot (or longer) speaker cables. 

The Rocketfish system is a great audio accessory for those building a one-piece-at-a-time home theater, too. You can start by focusing on front speakers and essential AV components, then add wireless rears when your budget opens up again. While a phased approach may not be for everyone, it's a great way to prevent you from putting time, energy, and cash into a part of your surround sound you're not ready for yet.

One of the biggest thrills for an audiophile is incorporating legacy gear into a modern home theater setup. That said, analog connectivity has mostly been de-throned by digital audio and video, which can make wiring up certain parts of your system a bit of a challenge. But if you're willing to invest in a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) like the Prozor 2.0-Channel PCM DAC, you should be able to bridge the gap between your vintage AV hardware and your newer TV and AV components.

Here's a common use case: You just bought a brand-new TV and plan on using its built-in apps to stream movies and shows. You want the app audio to run through your surround sound, but your AV receiver is on the older side and doesn't have HDMI ARC/eARC, digital optical, or digital coaxial. What you'll do is connect the Prozor DAC's provided digital optical cable to the output on your TV, and plug the other end into the DAC input. You can then run a left-right RCA cable (red and white) or a 3.5mm headphone jack from the DAC's output to an available input on your receiver.

This Prozor device supports up to 192kHz/24-bit audio signals, so you shouldn't have to worry about quality loss when converting. One thing to keep in mind, though: most DACs — including this one — will downsample 5.1 signals to stereo audio, which means you should set your TV's audio output to PCM. While this means you won't get "true" surround sound, you may be able to set your receiver to a simulated surround mode that spreads stereo PCM signals across multiple speakers. It's not bitstream-powered Dolby Atmos or DTS:X, but it definitely gets the job done.

The main focus of this article was finding audio accessories to help you vanquish home theater obstacles you may be facing or to enhance your existing setup without overhauling the whole system. Instead of focusing on soundbars, speakers, and other big-ticket items, we set our sights on a range of budget-friendly products that make your home theater nicer, sound better, and add compatibility.

Each of the four products we selected is sold through major retailers like Amazon and Best Buy, and we chose only items that scored 4 stars or higher in user reviews. We also did our best to keep costs reasonable (our most expensive pick is just shy of $100).