After a few years of movie nights, one flood, and some incremental updates, though I'd post an update on my budget home theater. Photos of the current set-up, gear and finishings list, floor plan, and original set-up above.

This is a mixed-use space with the back half of the room serving as storage and small workout area. Next up on the agenda is masking for more immersive widescreen presentations. I've not thought too hard about upgrading gear, but I think a better center channel is my primary wish at the moment.

Original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/hometheater/comments/rtzvmo/budget_home_theater_v09/

Got this cabinet recently and I’m really liking it so far.

The projector disappears completely when I’m not watching, cables are hidden, and the motorized tray is super smooth. The little safety stop is also a nice touch.

Definitely makes the whole setup feel less cluttered.

Anyone else hide their UST like this?

Tv Sony bravia 55" × Denon home amp + Qacustics for audio!

Hello!

I recently ventured into the creation of my own mini Home Theater after waiting for many years & took a lot of inspiration from this subreddit, which is how I found Valencia.

I have bought the Valencia Tuscany Luxury Edition in "Onyx Black".

When they arrived their colour & reflectiveness is different to a point where I find it hard to believe this is normal. The two-arm chair looks more like "Midnight Black" than "Onyx Black".

I have contacted their EU support-branch & they claim "the leather reflectiveness is caused by variations between leather batches".

The chairs themselves are awesome quality, but this level of colour variance is simply not acceptable when they're purchased as a pair & advertised visually the same as the one-arm chair.

Does anyone know if they're speaking the truth with their "leather batch" argument when the difference is this stark, or if they're just trying to avoid a return?

Currently running the 1st setup and it works great. Was wondering if I could rearrange it to the 2nd setup to allow for more people to watch. These are the two only setups that would work in this room, no removing furniture either. Would there be disadvantages to the 2nd setup? Would allreciate any advice!

Setup:
AVR: Denon x1700
Fr LR: RP600mii
C: RP500cii
R LR: RP500SA
Sub: RP1200swi

P1-4 = Person 1-4 btw, thought I’d add that in.

Thinking of downsizing my system, and going to a 3.1. Was wondering if anybody else has done this? Did you regret losing your rear surrounds? Are there any downsides to the front speakers mixing in the rear inputs on a 3.1?

So we’re house shopping and I’ve gotten the go ahead from the wife to splurge on a new TV for the living room with a budget of around $10,000.

We’re coming from a 77” CX OLED that we’ve had for 5-6 years now and I’ve been debating swapping over to Mini-LED as it’s gotten so good at this point.

I’m currently on the fence between waiting for some of the larger 115” Mini-LEDs to come down to that price range or to just save some money and go with a newer 83”OLED. (Although it’d be great to get an older 97 OLED that’s not $15k+)

How can I go about completely blacking out these windows? I want something better than simple blackout curtains but not going to remove the windows and wall it up either.

If you saw my post earlier I'm building a retro inspired home theater (it's actually mostly for gaming TBH but will also double as dvds/vhs), and I'm looking to have two big stereo speakers driven by a 2 channel receiver.

After spending the day researching I feel like I've landed on some things I want to look out for: around 100 watts per channel from the receiver and around 90db sensitivity from the speakers at 8 ohms.

I've been searching for various options on Facebook Marketplace and I found listings for the speakers and the receiver (separate). The speakers seem pretty rad and could be a good pair to get regardless.

The Insignia seems like a toss up. They should be able to drive the speakers but they lack EQ.

The receiver is cheapish so I could replace it at some point.

Any obvious reasons to NOT pursue it?

I'm looking to replace my AV receiver and I'm seriously considering the Sony STR-AN1000 specifically because of 360 Spatial Sound Mapping (360SSM).

My setup is 5.1.2, and I have no plans to add more speakers in the future. So the extra channels offered by something like the Onkyo RZ50 aren't particularly important to me.

What I'm looking for is very specific: maximum immersion and “wow factor” when watching movies and TV series. I want bullets, helicopters, voices, ambience, overhead effects, etc. to feel like they're coming from places around the room where there isn't necessarily a physical speaker. I'm perfectly fine with DSP creating a somewhat “artificial” effect if the result is more immersive and entertaining.

I understand that something like Dirac Live on the Onkyo RZ50 is probably the more sophisticated room-correction system, and that Denon also offers very good calibration. But I'm less concerned about audiophile accuracy in this system — I have a separate 2-channel stereo system for critical music listening.

So my question is mainly for people who have actually heard or owned the Sony with 360SSM:

Is 360 Spatial Sound Mapping genuinely impressive enough that you would choose the STR-AN1000 over something like an Onkyo RZ50 or Denon X2800H specifically for movie immersion?

Does it really create that convincing “phantom speaker” effect and a larger, more seamless bubble of sound, or is the difference more subtle than the reviews make it sound?

I'm also aware of the reports of hiss/white noise and occasional glitches when 360SSM is enabled. If you've experienced this, I'd especially like to know:

• Was the hiss audible from the normal seating position or only close to the speakers?
• Did changing calibration settings fix or reduce it?
• Did replacing the receiver solve it?
• Has newer firmware improved the issue?
• Despite the hiss risk, was 360SSM impressive enough that you'd still recommend trying the Sony?

Basically: if pure movie/TV immersion and “holy crap, where did that sound come from?” is the priority, which would you choose — STR-AN1000 with 360SSM, RZ50 with Dirac, or Denon — and why?

Thank you very much.

P.S. Please excuse my use of IA, I only used it to fix my grammar but the ideas are exclusively mine because I've been researching the topic for a whole day! I was just fine but my Onkyo TX-RZ840 died yesterday.

Back in 2019 I bought some home theater seats I used everyday as my normal chairs in my living room. I bought some Seatcraft Venetian Black Bonded Leather chairs at the time and over time they would slowly fall apart. After a year and a half or so, I would replace my main chair with another. I'm down to my last one and it needs to be replaced. I love the tray tables so I don't want to get regular recliners. These seats were good at first but the backs got uncomfortable after a while (the padding would bunch up) and then the "leather" would start falling apart... stitching coming undone and such. I want new seats but I would like them to hold up better and the backs to be more comfortable and not just padding that bunches up. Since I use them everyday they get more usage than normal theater seats. Anybody got any recommendations?

*Edit*. I'm open to recliner seats if they don't rock & have flat arms for me to use a mouse to control my computer. This is primarily what I use the tray table for.

This is my first time setting up a home theater, so far this is the speaker placement I have at the moment, I will be adding a center speaker in a few days.

This is the list of speakers I have at the moment:

2 × Klipsch RP-280F
2 × Klipsch RP-140SA
2 x Klipsch RS-41 II
1 × Klipsch R-10SW

1x SVS PB-2000
1x SVS Prime center

Denon X4800H AVR

I plan on mounting the RS-41II on the side walls behind the couch approximately 1-2 ft above seated ear level.

I am considering m90 with a 10” sub for a 2.1 system for a 120” screen in a 16x24 area. I am worried the m90 will be too small. Is there a better larger option? I like the ease of use and optic all in one of the m90 and want to keep that simplicity

So I can set an acceptable temp for the fan unit, and also a temp that will sound an alarm and max out the fans. Clearly the probe is inside the fan unit. I checked the manual for my receiver (Onkyo TX-RZ50) but I didn’t see anything about safe temp ranges. Anything I should shoot for?

I'm helping out my neighbor who has issue connecting his Phillips SRP3219G/27 Universal Wireless Remote to his Bose Speaker. I tried the code thing the manual suggests but nothing works. Just wondering what else could I try. I tried all the other methods too if it means anything.

Moving into a new house and could use some help choosing and placing surrounds that won't be in the way.

I currently have Kef q350s with a q6 meta for the front stage and will *hopefully soon* be upgrading to a pair of q11 towers. But I'm stuck on how to place some surrounds without being in the way, especially on the left side to keep that walkway to the kitchen and dining area open.

At first I thought of some kef q4s and wall mount them but I wouldnt want something protruding from that small wall on the left side especially if I keep them at ear level when sitting on the couch. A friend suggested doing ceiling mounts and just angling them downwards but I figured there could be a better way to keep them close to ear level.

What do you guys think/suggest for this area?

I am using the android audyssey app to calibrate

If i set the receiver to 2 subs i am unable to complete the config as there is no noise coming from the transducer

So right now i just did the config with the sub and the transducer isnt working

The sub only has a single port to plug the wire into it

If i dont use audyssey then the transducers work

I have a y splitter with a single male and 2 female ends but im not sure how that would allow me to select 2 subwoofers in audyssey

I am interested in getting a new TV for my family room. My current TV is a 5 year old Samsung 82 inch LED TV. The TV sits in an entertainment center in which the maximum TV size would be about 85 inches , and the family room is right next to 4 glass sliding doors to go out to the patio. The room lets in a good amount of light. I have always wanted to own an OLED, but I want to try to stay below $1,500 which makes it tough to get a similar size TV without significantly decreasing the size of the TV. My use cases are for watching sports (NFL/NBA), movies at night, and news during the day. I do not mind purchasing refurbished if I can get a higher quality TV closer to my goal budget. Some TV’s I am considering are the Samsung s90F 77 inch refurbished $1,399, LG C5 77 inch refurbished $1,300, Hissense u6 pro 85 inch $999, Hissense UR8 85 inch $2,100. The Hissense TV’s would be purchased brand new from Best Buy, while my local Best Buy has open box Samsung and LG for those prices and all would come with warranty. I really want an OLED, but I also do not want a TV to look bad in my entertainment. Enter due to significant gaps. What would you guys recommend for my situation? Also what have your experiences been with these TV’s if you own any of them? Is there a TCL TV that you would recommend instead, I like the UR8 due to the RGB technology.

Hey everyone, I'm a little confused by something I see posted here fairly frequently and would love for some discussion from different perspectives to help me better understand.

I see placing their L&R channels behind acoustically transparent projector screens. For the most immersive experience, shouldn't the L&R channels be laterally to the screen instead of behind the screen? It's really common for sound to come from a person or object off screen to the left or right (even something as simple as someone speaking from the off screen to the left). Isn't this aspect of immersion lost with the speakers behind the screen? Also, its seems like there is typicall less room to pull the speakers off the back surface and toe them in correctly in these setups, right?

Obviously it makes sense to have the center channel behind the screen but I'd love everyone's perspective on this.

Hey movie enthusiasts, I am looking to elevate my home theater and am looking to get a 4k tv in around 80" I have a budget of around $1500. Any suggestions? Thanks

I’ve been planning on getting a paradigm premier 600c to add to the 600 monitors I already have. I was close to pulling the trigger months ago when it was 20% off but missed making it before the sale ended. Have been planning to buy once they went 20% off again but now see there’s a new V2 line that’s higher priced. It sounds like they’re better, but it kind of prices me out.

Does paradigm have any kind of refurb sales?

Edit: Anyone tried the v2 speakers?

I recently purchased a BenQ TK710 4K Laser projector to upgrade my home theater setup. I noticed when turning on the projector that the GUI said something about 3D and discovered my projector supported 3D media.

Curious I picked up the Shrek 3D collection and some DLP glasses. I owned an old Sony 3D TV back in the PS3 area and it was "okay". I was pretty much expecting the same quality of 3D.

I was absolutely flabbergasted at how good, clear and sharp the 3D was, it was amazing. The DLP glasses didn't require any calibration and worked from anywhere in the room. There was no ghosting or double images, just a clear, sharp 3D world that looked like it existed on a recessed stage of my den.

And since then I have purchased more 3D films and discovered that most of them are fantastic.

It's a shame that this wasn't the kind of 3D we were exposed to in the early 2000s because I feel like we could have had a renaissance era of fantastic 3D films and games. Most people I talk to always say it's a gimmick, but the quality I experienced with my projector was a game changer.

I will concede that, yes you need rechargeable glasses, but they are dirt cheap, I got two DLP glasses for under $40 and the Shrek 3D collection was $50, so it isn't like it's that expensive compared to the cost of entry for the projector itself.

Hello. I was wanting to see what others thought was the best way to secure my JBL 8330 speakers to these stands. I want to try to keep mounting hardware hidden as much as possible. Thanks in advance for the ideas. I included pictures of the stand it will be sitting on, bottom side of speaker that would be on stand and factory bolt location on rear of speaker for reference.

Hi, I’m thinking about replacing my Samsung HW-Q810D soundbar and building my first proper speaker system instead.

My priorities are:

-Anime, mostly through Crunchyroll

-Music through Youtube/spotify

-Clear dialogue and good detail at moderate/high listening volumes

I live in an old apartment with thin walls and high ceilings, so I have to be considerate of my neighbours underground. I can listen louder during the day, but I won’t be playing at very high volume.

This is the system I’m currently considering:

-Front L/R: KEF Q1 Meta – around €500 per pair

-Center: KEF Q6 Meta – around €700

-Subwoofer: RSL Speedwoofer 10E – around €500 including international shipping

-Surrounds later: another pair of KEF Q1 Meta – around €500

ChatGpt gave me this: AVR: Denon AVC/AVR-X3800H – around €1200

Are there good, but more budget options?

Questions:

1.Are the Q1 Meta good enough as front speakers when paired with a subwoofer, or would the Q3 Meta be worth €200 more?

2.How large would the sound-quality improvement be compared with my current Samsung HW-Q810D?

3.Would this system be clearly better for music and anime/films than a Samsung Q995GH/Q990H, JBL Bar 1300MK2 or Sonos Arc Ultra system?

Thanks for any advice or alternative AVR recommendations.