One of the easiest ways to Beat Black Friday is to look for package deals.

Having a 50” plasma hanging on the wall is great, but seeing is only half the battle.

You need a little sound to round out the experience. But if you’re shopping for a 720p plasma around Black Friday, something tells me you don’t have a multi-thousand-dollar budget for audio. 

Luckily, Best Buy currently (until midnight Saturday) has a tidy little package consisting of the PN50B450 50” 720p plasma and HT-Z320 HTIB for only $799.

Best Buy, Sears, and Kmart will be selling the similar PN50B430 for $100 less on Black Friday (or $90 less right now, which is already a great pre-Black Friday deal), but that’s a closeout of last year’s model, has fewer inputs, lower contrast ratio, and a less stylish enclosure.

I’m generally not a fan of HTIB systems, but if you were planning on using the display’s internal speakers, even this modest kit (5 satellite speakers, 6.5” subwoofer, and amplifier with scaling DVD player) will be a notable upgrade. 

This package can take you from bare wall to beautiful picture and better-than-TV-speakers sound for less than your therapist’s bill after standing outside Best Buy at 5 a.m. to score a $20 photo printer.

Beat that, Black Friday. 

Stephen Hopkins

Stephen Hopkins is chief technology editor for EH Publishing. He writes product reviews, features, and focuses heavily on 3D TV, iPhone and iPad apps, and digital content.