Father's Day is still weeks away, but that won't stop you from waiting until the last second to find him a craptastic present of mediocrity. Fortunately, we're here to help.
Here's What You Know: Your dad loves him some movies, but he's saddled with a home theater system better suited to the silent film era. It's bad enough he's got a 19" TV, he's also got a 19" TV's built-in speakers. He won't even discuss standard surround-sound systems because he doesn't trust any speaker that sits behind him and won't look him in the eye.
What Your Lazy Ass Would Typically Do: Permanently set his TV's volume on the highest level and convince him that his windows are rattling because of the subwoofer you just installed. When he asks to see said subwoofer, quickly change the subject to lawn care and insurance as one of your siblings paints an old Michelob box black and slides it next to the TV stand.
Upgrade: Forget trying to explain a five-speaker layout, just simplify the experience and present him with the Vizio VSB210WS Sound Bar. A complete surround sound experience in one easy-to-install speaker, the VSB210WS also comes with a wireless subwoofer that is effective from up to 60ft away so long as it has a clear sightline to the base speaker. But the real selling points are the remarkable ease of installation (a simple red and white wire connection and he's off) and the price—at around $350, it beats the hell out of a lot of more complicated competitors (there's also a version without the subwoofer that runs around $150, but we recommend the woofer). He'll thank you, then marvel at how he never knew you could actually hear the gunfire in Saving Private Ryan…
