How to "politely" criticize someone's system.

[pixelthis]

I think Pixel confused the OP's request for a polite way to help a friend with "How to be an asshat".

That is a polite reaction.
My normal reaction would be to go to the car , get a tire tool, and go to work on
"improving" his system.
Its a great test of dedication tho, when you sadly tell a friend that his HTIB
needs to have a road flare (lit of course) stuck into the DVD tray and then the entire thing pushed off of a convienent rooftop, and that its going to take the cost of a decent used car to get something listenable.
This is HT and high end audio, it aint for sissies.
You are not doing anybody a favor by pretending a decent system is within reach.
However if you can convince him to put out a grand or so he can have something
that is quite listenable, probably quite suited to his plebian tastes.
And "new leaf"?
All I said was LETTUCE proceed!!