Tips for Setting Up a Home Theater on a Budget.
Who says you can’t have a cool theater in your own home? It’s not just for billionaires and celebrities. As long you can spare the space, you can, too, enjoy watching movies on a big screen in the comfort of your own home. You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars for it either, unless you want to. It is possible to set up a home theater system on a budget. Here are several tips on how to do that:
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Buy Budget Versions of the Electronics You Need
Don’t overspend on the TV or the sound system for your home theater. You can easily buy budget versions of these items. You can buy a TV set for under $300. You may not be able to get a really large screen, but the screen can get as big as 22 inches on a budget TV. There are great speaker systems you can buy for less than $300 as well. You may not get the same specs as on higher end products, but you can get as close to the real thing as possible.
Pick a Sound Bar Instead
In case you don’t have hundreds of dollars to spend on a sleek sound system, you can instead go with a sound bar. If the room is small enough, a sound bar would be all you need. (Sound bars are not recommended for larger rooms). Sound bars can create surround sound just like a box speaker. The sound bar is placed on or below the TV, and many come with their own amplifiers to create high-quality audio. Even if an amp isn’t present, you can buy a cheap amp to enhance the sound. If you have a sound bar, you really don’t need surround speakers. You can buy one for less than $100. Refer to this list for suggestions.
Consider a Projector and a Screen
If you want a truly theater-like experience in a large room, consider using a projector screen guide, this guide will explain why you actually shouldn’t use a bed sheet as a projector screen.  What really matters is the projector. You can borrow or rent a projector when you need to use the home theater. Or, you can buy one new for under $200. The price of projectors is often correlated to size. Depending on your room size, expect to pay around $200 for a good projector. It’s still cheap considering professional projectors cost close to $500.
Buy a Blu Ray Player
Don’t bother spending hundreds of dollars on a smart TV. A Bly Ray player can do everything a smart TV does, and some even better. Blu Ray players can play high-def DVDs, Blu Ray DVDs, and CDs and everything else. Some may even improve the graphics of regular DVD players. You can enjoy excellent clean and crisp images with a Blu Ray player. You can buy a budget player for less than $150. It will really be worth the investment.
When equipping your home theater, don’t overspend by buying things that you don’t need. Before you buy anything, make sure you already don’t have a gadget at home that can perform the same task. Upgrade wherever you can instead of buying new. If you follow these tips, you will have a very comfortable home theater system that won’t burn a hole through your wallet.
About the Author:
Eduardo Bridges researches and writes about budget electronics. He is currently an entrepreneur, but used to be a software engineer at a major corporation.
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I agree that you want to consider a projector when setting up a home theater. It would be cool to consider this because it would give you a much bigger picture. My husband and I are looking for a home theater for our new home, so we’ll have to consider a projector.
We have been trying to cut entertainment costs. We do have a Blu-ray player already. We just need to implement the other ideas to set up our home theater.
These are great things to think about. We got a great deal on our TV, but we don’t have any extras or anything. A sound bar could be nice, because I think our hearing is going, LOL!
Having a home theater must be a lot of fun. We have a sound bar that cost around $100, and it really does pump out the sound. What I love about electronics is that you can always find sales around the holidays, and there are a lot of budget solutions.
We are hoping to redesign our basement to have more of a theater room and we certainly need to stay on budget so your tips are really helpful for us right now . I will share this with my husband so we can start planning!
We just bought a home so we are setting the bonus room up as a theater and game room. My 9 year old wants Star Wars theme so it has been a lot of fun buying decor. Can’t wait to move in and get it all together
These are some great tips! I’ve been researching sound bars and I think I’m going to get one to replace the surround sound in my living room. The surround sound is actually too much for the small-ish room and sound bounces around all wierd 🙂
It would be so much fun to have a home theater to watch movies together as a family. We love to do movie night in our living room a few times per month. .I had no idea it would be so easy and affordable to set up a theater room!
I totally agree with you on the sound bar!
We have one for our tv in the living room and the sound it produces is great!
We used to have a home theater in the bonus room but we ended up needing the space so we moved the projector to the garage. Now my hubby has his own indoor golf simulator 😉
My husband has always wanted a home theater.We had a small start on one, but then we had kids and we had to take a hiatus. We watch so many movies at home, though, that this would be nice to have.