For someone who is new to A/V and Home Theater and wants to ramp up the initial learning curve quickly this book will come in very handy. He explains all the various standards and formats, general tips on choosing what to buy, and finally how to setup your system once you have everything. At the back of the book Harley provides a fairly comprehensive glossary and scattered throughout are warnings for what to watch out for when looking at various specifications. However if you are looking for really in-depth information this book is not the place to look and I'm not even sure such a book exists. If you plan on replacing that old stereo setup with the reel-to-reel tape and quadraphonic sound then I highly recommend reading this book to get you going down the right path.

This book is the best book I have read on Home Theater. It has more information on Audio and Video than most in-depth books on either respective subject. It is well-written, easy to read, and the explanations are detailed, yet easy to understand. He could have left out a little of the THX bias, but it is understandable, everyone lets some personal bias slip a little now and again. Note-he does admit many manufacturers of the best equipment and best values on the market do not participate in the THX program for various reasons. This book cuts through almost all of the misinformation this industry is notorious for being saturated with. I highly recommend this book for any music lover, movie lover, or anybody else for that matter.

P.S. Once you get started on this one, you might not be able to stop.

This is a terrific book that explains the nuts and bolts of Home Theater equipment & terms in plain english. It was written just as DVD's were coming out and Dolby Digital was an emerging, but as yet, unestablished standards, but the author's views and forecasts of these products have been right on, so there's not any misinformation.

He clearly favors high quality equipment over mass merchant stuff (e.g. Rotel over Pioneer), but doesn't provide specific opinions or guidance on individual brands or pieces. The author merely suggests what to look for in a quality AV equipment (e.g. binding posts for speaker connections on receivers rather than simple push clips), then suggests that you read reviews in his magazine, Fi. This review refers to the first edition.