Back to school: Dorm-ready home theater gear

Ah, life in the dorm—shared bathrooms, the "study" lounge, hallway confabs, and most of all, close quarters. Check out some space-saving—not to mention eye- and ear-popping—home theater gear that'll keep your mates entertained between classes.

Flat-panel TV: Samsung LN-T2354H
Good luck fitting a 42-inch—or even a 32-inch—HDTV into a dorm room. A 23-inch set, however, might do the trick. Check out this Samsung 720p LCD TV, a 23-inch set with three HDMI inputs. CNET praised its bigger, 32-inch brother for its "relatively deep blacks" and "accurate color"—and if you look hard enough, you'll find the 23-inch version for about $500 online.

Surround speakers: Soundmatters MainstageHD
No room for a 5.1 surround speaker setup? Try the all-in-one MainstageHD on for size. This 16.7 by 2.5 by 9-inch box crams in three speakers—a pair of individually-powered mains and a four-inch woofer—for "refined," "extroverted" simulated surround performance, according to CNET. No DVD player, but given that the MainstageHD itself only costs $299, you can probably scrounge up another $50 for a separate DVD deck.

Headphones: Sennheiser HD280 Pro
Got a roommate with a no-tolerance policy for loud music or rat-tat-tat-tatting machine guns? Keep the noise to a minimum with a pair of closed-cup headphones. CNET audio guru Steve Guttenberg put the Sennheiser HD280 Pro ($99 and less online) through its paces, and came away impressed with the detailed yet bass-y sound. Even better, the HD280 Pro's closed-cup design means you won't disturb your slumbering roommates, even when you're watching "Transformers" at full blast.

iPod dock/digital clock: iHome iH9
It's not much to look at, but the iHome iH9 comes with decent, if not ear-splitting sound, and it also packs in a feature that's essential for any dorm room—a digital clock with an alarm. The iH9 also boasts an FM/FM tuner, a virtual 3D sound mode, an equalizer, and a remote that'll control your docked iPod. Available for less than $100 online.

Set-top box: Netflix Player by Roku
Talk about a bargain. Roku's $99 set-top box lets you stream any "Watch Instantly" title on Netflix for free, provided you have a Netflix subscription and a broadband connection (which most dorm rooms do). As Chris wrote in his review, the Roku's image quality falls somewhat short of HD levels, but it'll look reasonably sharp on your 23-inch Samsung set.