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A Home Theater In A Box is a surround sound or virtual surround audio system, pre-packaged and shipped inside a single large box.
See the 7.1, 5.1, 3.1, 2.1, 2.0, 1.1, and 1.0 links near the top of this page? On this website, at least, the number before the dot represents the number of speakers and the .1 or .0 after the dot tells you whether or not there's a separate subwoofer included for supplying low frequency bass effects.
Generally, the HIGHER THE NUMBER of total speakers involved, the MORE DIFFICULTY AND/OR COST may be incurred during setup and installation, but also the MORE CINEMA-LIKE the potential audio performance.
Medium and larger size rooms will usually sound better with a 7.1, 5.1, or perhaps even a 3.1 speaker surround sound system, while smaller rooms can usually "get away with" an easier-to-set-up 2.1 or 1.1 speaker "virtual surround" audio system. If you want to minimize explosive deep bass effects, consider a 2.0 or 1.0 system.
Onkyo HTX-22HDX at Amazon.com
Before you settle on a specific home theater system in a box, be sure that it's got enough inputs and outputs (including HDMI, digital audio, component video, USB, iPod dock, headphone, Zone 2 capability, etc.) to handle all of your current and future source components, and adequate amplifier power and speaker quality to fill up the room with realistic multi-channel digital surround sound audio effects.
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Onkyo HT-S8409 at Amazon.com
Also, be sure to plan ahead of time where you want to place all the home theater components and for wiring up to 8 total speaker locations -- two front left and right main speakers, a center channel speaker, two side surround sound speakers, two rear surrounds, and a subwoofer.
What's NOT INCLUDED? There are other pieces to a "complete" home theater that you may need to supply or purchase separately (of course depending on the exact system you choose and what components you've already got):
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