I spent a lot of time on-line checking out home theater systems, but had decided I didn't want a room full of wires and speakers. I'm certainly no audiophile, but I wanted better sound than my new Panasonic LCD was putting out and, for the price, this Sony came highly recommended.
I have to disagree with anyone who says don't bother with HDMI. The difference between using them or not is like night and day. You have to spend a few more bucks, but you can get them online for a song these days. Don't buy them at any of the big box stores. On-line is the way to go. I got six foot cables for under five bucks each (including the shipping). Now, I'm not much of a tech guy, so I called support several time and I have to say they weren't much help to me. Thankfully, I have a IT son, so I spend a lot of time on the phone with him as I tried to hook all my components up together. But between my Tivo, my TV and the Sony HT-CT300, it can sometimes be quite a puzzle getting them all lined up properly. (BTW, I'm old, ok).
I've also found that the order in which I turn on the components is very important. Otherwise, my Tivo remote won't adjust the sound on the speaker system. (?@!) That said, I'm very happy with the sound. Sure, it's not surround sound, but it doesn't promise that. However, it does fill my living room with a deep, rich sound that I find much more pleasing than the noise I get at my local multi-plex. On more than one occasion, I have turned off the sound because I thought something was going on outside, only to realize that it was the background effects on the TV.
Overall, I'm very happy with the purchase. The sound bar is handsome and sits unobtrusively in front of my TV and the subwoofer is off to the side next to an arm chair so the entire system is almost invisible. And the sound it delivers turns my new TV into a real entertainment center at a very small price.