You could put together a home theater audio system on a tight budget by pairing an inexpensive 5.1 speaker package like one of those featured in the above carousel with a home theater receiver.

Each of these six-piece speaker systems includes a pair of compact satellite speakers for the front left and front right channels, a center channel speaker primarily for dialog, a pair of rear surround effects speakers, and a powered subwoofer to provide the low frequency effects.

If you want to set up 7.1 surround sound, you will need to separately purchase two more surrounds, or consider the bargain-priced Onkyo SKS-HT540 7.1 channel home theater speaker system.

You should also leave a bit of room in your budget for some (better quality) speaker wire and a subwoofer cable. Depending on your particular situation and room layout, you may also need to buy some speaker mounts or stands for locating speakers on walls, ceiling, or floor.