Should I feel guilty about my subwoofer?

A few months ago I finally broke down and bought a flat-screen LCD TV. I kept it relatively small — 32 inches — and I love it.

But soon I realized that it was also time to upgrade to an appropriate home theater sound system to complete my 21st-century entertainment setup.

I wanted to go green, of course, but Energy Star, my usual go-to source for product picks, wasn't much help on this front. When it comes to home audio, all it says is that "Energy Star qualified audio products use about 6 percent less energy than standard models."

I couldn't find a list of certified products, so being left to my own devices, I simply looked for a fairly priced system that had gotten good reviews.

My search led me to the Sony HT-DDW790, a five-speaker system plus sub-woofer that promised true Dolby surround-sound nirvana. At about $200 including shipping (it weighs 41 pounds), it seemed like a good deal.

It wasn't until the box arrived that I got a clue about its environmental claims. Printed on the box are two facts: "Halogenated flame retardants are not used in the printed wiring boards. Standby power consumption is 0.3 watts or less." Well, at least that's something.

Speaking of wattage, I've never quite understood the metric of watts per channel and how important it is (or isn't) to pump a lot of wattage through a sound system. My setup has 185 watts per channel for a total of 800 watts which, in retrospect, seems like overkill for my relatively small space.

As an apartment dweller, I can only crank it up so far before the neighbors will go nuts. If any audiophiles out there would like to chime in on wattage, please do.

The bottom line: I'm happy with the sound, and my DVDs finally look and sound as they should. I promise to power down the entire system every night before I go to sleep.

Don Willmott 's blog posts are provided by LifeWire, a part of The New York Times Company.