It used to be that going to the movie theater to watch the latest release was a time of excitement and intrigue.

Half the fun of seeing a movie was to see the moving pictures on the massive theater screen and hear the sounds and voices booming through the speaker system.

Now, however, consumers have taken steps toward bringing that theater experience into their homes.

“We do see more people, with more electronics becoming available, who want to add more to their homes in terms of a home theater,” said Mickey Rosenfeld, owner of the Sears stores in Suffolk and Franklin.

Typically, home theaters are considered a combination of television, VCR or DVD player and surround sound.

According to a report from the Consumer Electrics Association, by January of 2009, 32 percent of all U.S. households boasted its own home theater.

Rosenfeld said these numbers have risen because of the changes made in surround sound systems.

“You get a semblance of the effect when you go into the movie theater,” Rosenfeld said. “And you get the impact of the dynamics of the sound from the movie in particular.”

Surround sound systems use several speakers to play different parts of the movie or show soundtrack coming from different places.

For example, Rosenfeld said, if someone was watching a classic Western movie, which depicted a herd of horses running by, the speakers would pick up the faint sound of the hooves beating against the ground coming toward the screen, hear it full blast when the picture shows them in view and will continue to hear the faint sound of them leaving, even when they are out of the picture.

“It puts you in the center of it and it gives you a much more vivid experience of the movie or the show you’re watching,” Rosenfeld said. “It’s a neat thing.”

Rosenfeld added that home theaters do not have to be a rich man’s luxury.

“With surround sound systems, there are so many different price points, depending on the size of the room you’re outfitting an your budget,” he said. “Just about any system will work, and give that experience.”

Additionally, people who are looking to maximize their home theaters can also look into purchasing higher-definition television sets, larger size screens or purchasing a film projector that can present larger and more detailed pictures than other video sources.

“People can do a lot,” Rosenfeld joked. “I don’t know though, that’s a lot of money. I personally would rather spend it on my fishing.”