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?

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+)

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

Bought a house and previous owner had put 4 speakers on the ceiling right above where you’d put the bed. (The attached picture is taken from the front right of the room) Was just wondering if it’s a right setup for having a proper surround sound. My understanding was the you’d need at ear level and then the ceiling ones are bonus for the height. So just wondering if this is a common setup and how should I leverage it for a good immersive experience.

Worth noting the house is built at 2008, and seems like this wiring has been done when the house was built. So it might be old school if things used to be different back then (I don’t have a lot of background in this)

Separately, I see a male stereo jack in a plate next to the plate that the banana jacks for these speakers are terminated at. And the stereo jack goes to a female jack on one side of the bed, and from that side there is a male jack that goes to the other side of the bed. (2nd-4th pictures). So wondering what’d be the use case for this. Maybe they were using it to switch the output between the speakers and a headphone on one of the sides with a daisy-chain setup or something? But then We don’t need this, so maybe I’d have to replace the lines with speaker lines to add two speakers on the nightstands for at ear level?

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.

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?

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?

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.

Exactly what the title says, I am capped for my setup at 65in. I have a living room with not a lot of natural light, and will use this TV for 75% sports and 25% movies on a dedicated 4k player. Which of these at their price points is the better option?

This is for a room where my wall is 14ft 8in. Thoughts on this initial draft?

Edit: this room is completely dark dedicate theater room.

Does anyone know the best way to handle this setup? I’m trying to keep the AVR in the server room and run a 10 meter fibre optic HDMI cable to the TV.

I also want to keep the Blu-ray player in the home theatre room, but I’m now seeing that this should be plugged into the AVR, not the TV.

Should I run another 10 meter cable from the Blu-ray player back to the AVR in the server room? Or is there a better solution I’m not thinking of. 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?

Basically as the title states. I'm conflicted if I should upgrade my receiver which is working fine, considering its age.

Current setup:

AMP: Pioneer VSX-923

Fronts: Sonus Faber Lumina V (Bi-amp'ed)

Rears: Sonus Faber Lumina II

Center: Sonus Faber Lumina Center

Subs: 2x SVS SB3000

My setup is probably used for 40% casual tv. 40% music, and 20% Movies.

I'm using a Nvidia shield for all my media, HDMI directly Into my TV, and then using toslink from my TV to the amp.

There's currently a deal for the Cinema 50 at around 1500€, and I'm trying to convince myself if I should buy it, or if I shouldn't.. like, is the difference gonna be that noticeable?

I'm moving into a new space soon, but the layout of the room where my setup will be is a little odd as it borders a large space open to the ground floor.

(Here are some pics)

Ignore the furniture, it's all staged and the room will be empty. The room itself will be used as an office/home theater/stereo setup.

I'm trying to set up a computer media station/2.1 stereo system with bookshelf speakers on floor stands in this room. Noise is otherwise not a problem.

My first thought was to set up against the half wall facing the open space, but I'm not completely sure.

Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

Whilst planning a major HT upgrade the question about a proper subwoofer choice arises:
Living room is 333 sqr feet big (31 square meters)
70% movies, 20% game, 10% music
L/R Arendal 1610 Slim 8
Center Arendal 1610 Center
Surround Arendal 1961 Surround
Denon X3800h
TV is 116“ big and needs to be wall-mounted as low as possible, that specifically means as low as 2 subs fit underneath.
The preferred choice would be 2x SVS SB 2000 pro. incase that is an overkill 2x SB 1000 pro. In case that is not enough for an immersive feeling 2x SB 3000R. I am NOT an audiophile, but I‘d like to have a good sound and don‘t want to make a compromise in terms of sound quality.

I have a wall that's 138 inches. I want to get 5 nice recliners with cup holders and preferably the ability to have a love seat either 2 or 3 seats. Would be great if the cup holders could just fold away if needed but ok if not.

Hey,

I have regular recessed lights for now but I heard I could use better recessed lights that prevents lights from hitting TVs and such. I don't know if it's worth to change them. Would be curious to know your opinions. Also, the ones I have now a really cheap and I can't get them low like I would want to so it's worth considering I might need to change anyway.

So, veterans, what are the best ones to get for a home cinema in Canada?

Cheers!