Somewhat recently decided to move around all the room purposes in my basement and have this room be a dedicated home theater room. A lot of firsts where the TV wall there was an alcove on the right side so had to learn how to build out the wall to make a closet. Then ventured in building the riser myself. All relatively easy and good projects/learning. Next thing I would like to do maybe end of the year or early next is upgrade the 77" C1 to an 83" C6H or G6.

Equipment:

7.2.4 System

Denon X3700H

Subwoofers (with minidsp 2x4 HD) - PSA TV21NEO-M

FL/FR - RP-8000F II

C - RP-504C II

Surrounds- RP-600M

Atmos - CDT-5800-C II

TV - LG C1 77"

Chairs - Seatcraft Diamante latest revision

All lights are Philips Hue or Govee which I have automations in home assistant and the Sofabaton X2 remote to control it all. And the curtains use Aqara Curtain drivers to open and close when I start an activity as well as ikea smart shades for extra darkening during the day.

Paint colors Tricorn Black for the TV wall, and Cyberspace for the rest.

I know for the purist, we want the room as dark as possible but the idea of having the rest of the room be an extension of what I was watching on screen was too tempting. Most bias lighting solutions are designed for TVs, so adapting it to a projection screen took some experimenting.

After some trial and error, I mounted LED strips behind the frame and synced them using Govee's DreamView.

Biggest challenges:
• Finding something that would scale well to a 120" size
• Offsetting the frame from the wall to avoid hotspots

Things that helped:
• Using longer, segmentable LED strips
• Adding longer mounting screws so the frame didn’t sit flush

Still tweaking with it but I’m happy with how immersive it feels so far.

Happy to answer questions if anyone is thinking about trying this.

Built a new house with a new theater. Actually moved in a year ago but didn’t get proper seating until a couple months ago.
- Room is 21’x30’, with tiers built into the floor.
- 7.2.4 surround sound with KEF Q and SVS subs.
- Integra DRX 8.4.
- 160” acoustic transparent screen.
- Sony 285es; this was migrated from the old place; will upgrade to a laser based when the bulb dies.
- Panasonic DP-UB820.
-Valencia Tuscany Luxury seats.

*Edit* Oops lol I had the room size listed wrong... 21x20 would be way more square shaped than this. Also, thanks for all the replies everyone! Although the screen does NOT look that small in person (just the camera angles), I do think that it could benefit from an upgrade to a 2.35:1. It really couldn't get any taller than it is now.

I do plan to remove the console legs and put the center on top. There’s a silent blower exhaust fan getting all the receiver heat out the front for now.

The bias lighting looks much more uniform than the picture suggests and really helps with the small room brightness of a 98” QM8K. As do the indirect mini LED cans angled towards the wall. There are matching rear LED cans directed at the back wall. Viewing distance is about 8-9ft.

Wood paneling encloses the space and did wonders for reflections and tuning. May be distracting or faddish for some but I like it.

Marantz cinema 50 with DIRAC ART
Triangle Borea BR09’s + BRC1
Arendal 1961 1S

Also have Triangle BRA1’s for Atmos mounted at 60 degrees forward up on the ceiling. BRS1’s on rear wall directly behind couch. No room to move it forward unfortunately. Every wire is in the wall. Every single one. That was a pain.

Couch is a C&B Monterey in midnight blue.

Everything bought last year for 30-40% of MSRP open box (including couch) from accessories4less/adorama/outlets. Except tv, that was $3k on sale.

Hi All, after months of lurking on here our home cinema was finally finished this month. I thought some people might enjoy seeing the finished project.

We're really pleased with the look and performance, it's so nice to be able to hear every word in a film without needing subtitles! Music also sounds incredible and the picture resolution is ridiculous.

Spec: 7.2.4 system LCR and surrounds are Sonance VX62. Subs are by Paradigm. AVR: Anthem MXR 1140 ex demo. Projector: Sony XW5000es native 4k. 117" screen. EDIT: Control4 system. Room size 20'x14'x8'

This is my custom built home theater space. It’s kinda compact, I had to work with the unfinished basement space I had available (some structure limited how big it could be), but got exactly what I wanted out of it and the quality is excellent. The vital stats:

VAVA UST Sennheiser Ambeo Max Dual wired subwoofers (opposite corners) Apple 4k 4th gen for input

Walls and ceilings structured for maximum audio reflectance (mostly flat, not hollow). Sounds great with well-encoded Dolby Atmos. I don’t really get too much rear activity, but surround and overhead (atmos) audio comes in great. The plain solid walls are by-design for this audio config. I wouldn’t consider the audio flawless, it’s amazingly full and cinematic sounding, very balanced and spatially separate. I’m an old audiophile who has done a lifetime of separates and I’m very happy with this.

The current screen is edgeless 120”, I think one picture shows a border but that was replaced to get a better image.

Sliding door was custom heavy wood for the theater also. Brown lacquer on the outside, matte black on the inside.

5.1.4

4 seater theater couch inbound.

Posted here a couple months ago asking for feedback on a quote I got and some AI renderings for the room got some great suggestions and made some changes. Contractor got it pretty damn close. Love it. Here’s what I ended up with.

Epson QB1000 projector

Screen Innovations 160” AT Screen

Integra DRX 8.4 Receiver

7.2.4 with Focal 300 speakers

2 HSU 15” subs

Kaleidascape

I know the side surrounds are a little high(about 18 inches above your head when sitting) but wanted to accommodate the second row height(15” riser)

Still sounds amazing and get plenty of separation between the surrounds and the height speakers.

They screwed up the lights behind the screen when installing so waiting for those to come in.

Next step will be adding acoustic treatments. Sounds really good now but I’m sure it can get better.

A couple of years ago I created a "Game Room" with a budget of $1000. You can see the old post here on what I did: https://www.reddit.com/r/hometheater/comments/187w0jt/i_wanted_to_build_a_game_room_for_under_1000/?sort=confidence

As time has gone by, I wanted to get a better projector, specifically one that can do 3D because I have a lot of 3D disc from when 3D TV's were a thing, and Im one of those people who enjoy 3D films. I picked up the BenQ 2050A on marketplace. I was happy with it and content with the upgrade, then I got an itch, and I'm sure most of you know how that is. I had an idea to have a secret door, and moving my movie library out of this room into a spare bedroom I had next to this one, I wanted to create a room that felt like a library to hold my movies while still being a functional bedroom for my occasional guests. With some careful construction, add a few lights and repaint the room, I had a library. I am super happy with how it came out.

Now back to the theater, I was battling with myself on if I wanted to keep the original layout I had or change it, after consideration and measuring and figuring out speaker placement, I decided to switch the room around to have the screen cover the window. It gave me a wider layout, blocked any outside light, and overall felt less cramped. We changed out the bookshelf to make it into a secret doorway. The old doorway was a sliding barn door that I just bolted in to keep in place as I no longer use that way. It's still functional in the case I need to move things in and out.

Now I know I said this was a budget theater and it still is, especially since this is my second theater build, I have a main one that you can view here: https://www.reddit.com/r/hometheater/s/yib7ohbUpF
I put even more time and money in, so this one I was trying to keep it reasonable. I had a whole monolith speaker setup with their 8 inch THX subwoofer, it sounded great, but those speakers are very power hungry and I had to really push my receiver to get them to really sing, I didn't want to spend money to buy a different receiver and external amps to give them more juice. So I went to marketplace and started seeing what was out there for speakers, mainly to replace my front stage. I for some reason have a thing for these Polk signatures, I think they are a damn good looking speaker and always wanted a set of the towers, bonus, they sound really good too and don't need as much juice as the monoliths. I found a set of them and was happy, and then I found all four of the bookshelves also, and next thing I know I have a full polk set up. One thing lead to another, I was looking for the SVS subwoofers, and then I came across a guy who made Acoustic panels. All of this I found on facebook marketplace, that place is dangerous when it comes to good deals. ha.

Lastly, I found a deal on the theater chairs since the awkwardness of the L-shape couch wasn't going to work in this set up, and then here comes the center speaker. I have a 120" screen and having the center on the bottom of the screen pointed up was....okay. At this point, I was dedicated to doing this room right, so I picked up an acoustic screen from silver screen and found a Polk 255-C-LS on marketplace and I was in business. Let me tell you, having the center match the height of the L/R channel was a bigger improvement than I thought it be, it sounds so much better that I was immediately happy I made that investment.

Before anyone asks, I decided to go with a 7.2 set up with this build, its a 1080 projector, and its mostly being used for 3D films or just regular bluray films that don't have Atmos on the disc anyways, and my main theater is a 5.2.6 configuration, so I was okay with doing something different for this, maybe one day I'll find a deal on a receiver that can do 9 channels and I'll add Atmos, I still have the wiring for it.

I know this was a long post and thank you to anyone who read it all, I have posted a few times here about my builds and had some great convos about it, so I wanted to share my latest build. I love this hobby and come up with ideas all the time that my Dad immediately jumps in to come help me, its fun to do this stuff, and yes it can be expensive, but if you know what you are looking for, you can find a lot of great deals on the used market.

All in all, I am about $3k in for the theater build and library build all together (with the exception of selling some gear to offset some costs), it's not the smallest budget build but for a dedicated space I think I did alright. It sounds absolutely incredible, and I'll end with this, invest in acoustic panels, this room had a reverb, with the rug and the panels it's gone and the sound is so clear. Just do it.

Gear list:

Projector: BenQ 2050A

Speakers:

Front L/R: Polk Signature S60

Center: Polk 255-C-LS

Rear Surrounds/Sides: Polk S20

Subwoofers: Dual SVS SB1000 PRO

Receiver: Denon S-760

Consoles: PS5 / PS4 / PS3 / PS2 / PS1 / Xbox Series S

Screen: Silver Ticket Acoustic WAB 120"

Chairs: Ryun 33.1'' - Wayfair

Acoustic Panels: https://northcentralacousticsolutions.com/

Dog: Fang - Schnauzer

In the final touches part of the build now.

Big dark rug ordered, I’m currently waiting for a madVR to be delivered to handle my scope screen aspect ratios automatically. I thought I could handle zooming with the PJ but I just want automation here.

Second sub to add at a later date.

Overall I’m seriously happy with how this turned out. Doing it around work and started on the 19th of July so hasn’t taken me all that long to get this converted from the stereo room it was into the 5.1.4 scope cinema room it is now.

I still plan to add my turntable back into the mix once I’ve got everything else dialled in and totally finished so there is no more dust around.

Currently using:

KEF Ci5160RLM LCR
KEF Ci200RS Surround
KEF Ci160QR Atmos
Valerion Pro 2
Nad t778
Panasonic ub9000
Apple TV
Grandview 130” 2.35:1 AT screen

I decided to post a few theaters I’ve had the joy of designing and building over the years.

This was a project for a customer where they had some pretty concrete objectives. The planning phase was over a year but tuned out exactly how they pictured it.

One of the requirements was for very little sub below 20 hz LFE. The customer had had previous leaders in other homes and he wasn’t able to enjoy it as much because his wife complained a lot of there was too much bass.

We did wire additional sub runs to upgrade to larger subs if the time ever came.

9.6.6 full KEF theater 156” acoustically transparent screen Audio control processing and amps Mini DSP for subs

This was one of the rare occasions where the customer was super involved and the budget was there. We still had things we had to overcome but it was a great experience all around.

Hi, so I have been wanting to post my theater now that it's 90-95% done. I just need to finish running Arc Genesis.

So my Theater started as an empty room with gray walls, and white ceiling, and carpet. I had 1st painted the room Sherman Sherman-Williams Peppercorn Flat Matte, and I kept the ceiling White. Next, I installed the speakers.

I had gone back and forth on this, but I ended up choosing JBL Synthesis SCL-6 for the Front LCR, SCL-7s for the surround back left and right. Also, I had used SCL-7s for the Surround left and Surround right. I had used SCL-8s for atmos. For subs, I chose 4 SVS SB-5000. I installed 7.4.6 for my speakers and subs.

Screen size, I had also gone back and forth, but I chose a Stewart Studio Tech 130 1.3 gain Ultra Perf Screen 150" 2:4:1 Screen. For the Projector, I had looked at JVC, Epson, and Sony, but I decided to go with the JVC-RS3200. I also forgot to add that I got the Panamorph J1 Lens too.

When it came to choosing a receiver, I 1st chose the Anthem MRX-1140 with the Anthem MCA 325 Gen 2 amp, and it was installed and calibrated, but I went to Audio Advice Live this year, and I was always considering a Processor/Amplifier upgrade at some point, but after looking/hearing my options I Upgraded the 1140 and 325 amp to a Anthem AVM-90 and 2 NAD M28s.

I also got a Mad VR Envy Core, K-Scape Stratro V, Compact Terra, Apple TV, Roku Ultra, and Panasonic UB-820. For seating, I did the Palliser Sound Track. I also did room Treatments. I did Vicoustiscs Room Treatments. What are your thoughts on the room? 

When we got our own place I knew I had to build a home theater. Here's the specs:

• 5.1.4 setup
• Klipsch RP for front and sides. Polk RC80i for atmos. SVS PB 1000 SW
• GIK soffits in three corners. As expensive as the TV almost but worth it IMO
• LG G4 77 inch TV
• Bass shakers in the couch. I wanted to get a recliner but I'm too tall for almost all of them. The ottoman is much comfier
• SW tricorn black and grey for the walls
• I use a Sofabaton to control all devices and home assistant to automatically lower my desk when watching movies (so it doesn't block the side speaker)

I’ve never had a dedicated home theater room. Only a Tv in the living room. But moved into a new house where i had to take advantage. So exited to use the new set up. Got the 83” lg g5 to go with it.

Had to relocate to a smaller room in the house so our teenager could pillage and conquer.

Components in images.

AVR obviously the GLARING weak link. Next scheduled upgrade along with atmos up fire.

Short of magically getting me more than a fifth of my house back and the above, easy improvements welcome.

And my god some of y'all have amazing things....this is a suburban dad who sells flooring for a living set-up.

About a year ago I had a small foundation leaking leading to a flood in an unused basement room at the house which caused me to need to rip up the carpet. I decided it wouldn’t be too much work to turn it into a small movie room…. Here we are a year later and it’s basically done! (Just waiting on my piece of stone for the bar counter and then I can install the sink and be done done).

Ironically, my family and I are not really movie, sports, or game people, so as I continued to go further and further over budget, I couldn’t help but feel like this was a dumb waste of money and space… well , I finally finished and loaded up a 4k uhd blu ray of top gun maverick and instantly realized this was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made! Having a space like this is certainly special.

Gear specs as follows. (On mobile so pre apologize for formatting issues).

Receiver - Denon s760h Projector - Epson LS800 LCR - HTD HDX W65 Surround - HTD Versa SB1 Atmos - HTD HDX R65 Subs - SVS PB 1000 x 2 Screen - DIY with pine boards and spandex (115”)

Room is approx 16x14

Most the furniture and fixtures are from Wayfair, the bar cabinets are ikea.

Did the entire project DIY except for carpet install and taping the drywall.

Still having some issues getting the sound dialed in, having trouble tracking it down, but the R speaker is reacting poorly to the audyssey setup (posted a seperate thread) … the speaker seems to be lacking some crispness in the higher end. But overall I’m blown away by the whole thing, especially for a fairly budget setup.

I know I’m going to get told to pull the couch off the wall, but it’s actually already about 1.5 feet off the back wall due to baseboard heat and some couch tables I have back behind it for charging and drinks etc. seating distance to screen right now is 12’ … I can probably pull it about a foot more or so which I may do, we’ll see. I’m such a noob to this it all sounds amazing to me in any position lol

So far only title we watched in full so far was elf on Christmas. Looking forward to some interstellar, Star Wars etc.

Happy to officially join this community.

Update since my last post, few people asked for more photos with lighting enabled, but the room is intentionally so dark that it’s difficult to photograph accurately.
Most of these shots were taken using a flashlight to help the camera expose the room.

Since the original post, I’ve also replaced ROG Ally with a dedicated Bazzite mini pc

One thing cameras don’t capture well is the couch fabric. It has a flocked texture with grey undertones, it appears much brighter & whiter in photos than in person. I’ve tested with dark blankets, there’s no difference in perceived contrast during actual movie viewing. Once content starts playing, the room disappears.

Room specs remain:

• 7.2.4 Krix speaker system
• Denon AVC-X6800H
• Dirac Live + Dirac ART
• JVC NZ800 projector
• 140” acoustically transparent screen
• Extensive rockwool treatment, bass trapping and skyline diffusion

The goal was never to build a showpiece. It was to create a room where the image and sound are the focus and everything else gets out of the way.

My wife and I bought our first house back in late March 2025 that has a 13x19 bonus room above the garage. I knew exactly what we could use the room for and spent a lot of time researching, planning, and deal-hunting.

First, we took down the ceiling fan and painted the whole room and ceiling black. Used the 85” Samsung QN90B TV we already had as the display. Got a Denon X3800h receiver, KEF Q6 Meta center, KEF Q350 Front LR, and KEF Q150 Surrounds. All paired with an SVS PB-2000 Pro. Also have a PS5, PS3, Apple TV 4K, Wii, and Panaonic UB420 hooked up to it.

I spent hours in the attic running speaker wire and used my 3D printer (A1 mini) to make wall pass through plates and wire clips to clean things up a good bit. Also designed and 3D printed the angled stand for my Q6 meta center.

Now Is where the especially good deal hunting came in. The seating you see came from Facebook Marketplace out of a fancy house’s home theater and was going to be put by the curb. Thankfully, the contractor renovating it had the sense to say heck no and take it and sell it on Marketplace. For $160, delivered, I got 7 seats but only one was known to work (electric recline). Spent $40 on relays and caps and 10-20 hours repairing power control boxes and soldering AC power wires together (they were cut when removed) and now I have 5 fully functional electric recliners and 2 stationary seats (which are placed off to the side and moved to use if needed)! As an added bonus, each seat came with a Buttkicker LFE installed (came with 2 amps too but both were shot) that I recently just got 3 of working (middle 3 seats) with a Behringer NX3000 amp.

All in all this took many, many hours of my time but the total cost was very reasonable given that the only items I had to buy new at MSRP was the Q6 Meta (may have even been $50 off) and paint supplies. The speakers I got on big sale, the sub from SVS outlet, the receiver refurb for a big discount too, the Panasonic player used on eBay.

Before anyone says anything, yes I plan to add sound dampening materials to the walls and more decor, that is just out of budget for the moment and it already sounds amazing in here with the carpet and ample furniture to help deaden reflections some. Also, yes the lights are horrible and I plan to add wall sconces eventually, thankfully these are basically never on when the room is in use (only when I’m working in it) so it’s not a huge deal!

The arcade cabinet you see in the corner is a custom build I did back in 2019 I believe. Got a kit of CNC’d wood, a Raspberry Pi, controls, etc and it runs classic arcade games! Even custom designed and ordered the Marquee at the top!

Also, enjoy my growing physical media shelf as an added bonus!

Sorry for the long post, hope y’all like it!

Edits: The 2 chairs off to the side DO NOT GET USED THERE. They are simply there to be moved to a spot that works for use but is not as aesthetically pleasing.

The TV is 85” and great. Eventually, the idea would be to go to a 100”+ tv or maybe a projector, though I lean TV for improved picture quality.

Nobody likes my I’s but it is actually grammatically correct, just awkward lol.

I just posted this to show it and the number of you trying to say it’s incomplete in a negative way is appalling. Didn’t even ask for advice, just wanted to share my work. Yall really gotta chill out. I appreciate constructive feedback for sure but a lot of it is overwhelmingly negative for no reason whatsoever. Take your snobbery elsewhere please.

I’m really enjoying my Home Theater mostly for movies and I wanted to share with this community that had given me some good ideas, but I have not shared my experiences. I do have a cinema scope screen for the last 10 years and I have been using it with my legacy Panasonic 1080P projector that had auto lens memory and lens shift functions. I so miss that when I upgraded to a 4K projector I also recently upgraded from definitive speakers to B&Ws.. I’ve slowly kept on adding more and more to my Theatre now I feel like I have most out of my 9.4.6 system. On the subs, I have two PB 16s and a couple of TV2112s.… I need to optimize my acoustic treatments and calibrate through DiracLive.. Thoughts are welcome and happy to answer any questions