A home theater – or home cinema in the UK – is a bespoke space where comfort meets the latest in cutting-edge AV tech and home automation convenience. It’s a space to breathe easy, escape from the world, and settle back for movie watching, sports viewing, and gaming.
A home theater can be something as simple as one of the best TVs or best projectors paired with one of the best Dolby Atmos soundbars, but there are also dedicated professionals who can take a home theater to the next level when it comes to picture and sound quality and design.
As we regularly do for TechRadar’s Home Theater Week, we’ve assembled a gallery of truly awesome theaters, most of which have been recently completed and feature current examples of the best AV tech. We hope these theaters inspire you to create or commission your own home theater dream space, which can be as simple or as elaborate as you care to make it.
1. Basement Buildout Magic - Audio Advice x Dawn Christine Architects
This installation started life as an empty basement space that Dawn Christine Architects sought to transform into an epic compound for entertaining and family recreation. The theater section measures 20 feet deep by 18 feet wide and features a 148-inch acoustically transparent 2.40:1 Stewart Filmscreen SnoMatte 100 screen, concealing JBL Synthesis SCL-2 2 in-wall speakers for the left, center, and right channels, along with dual SSW-2 12-Inch subwoofers.
The system’s 10,000-lumen Sony GTZ380 laser projector is one of the brightest home theater projectors you can buy, and here it sits in a small enclosure behind the seating area, where its large size won’t detract from the installation’s theater-like design, which is enhanced by multicolored lighting.
The rest of the system consists of JBL Synthesis speakers for the surround and height channels, an Anthem AVM 70 AV receiver, and Anthem 3- and 5-channel amplifiers.
Equipment used:
- Sony GTZ380 laser projector
- 148-inch acoustically transparent 2.40:1 Stewart Filmscreen SnoMatte 100 screen
- JBL Synthesis SCL-2 in-wall speakers (LCR)
- JBL Synthesis SCL-6 speakers (side and rear)
- SCL-5 2-Way in-ceiling speakers (overhead)
- Anthem MCA 325 Gen 2 3-channel power amp
- Anthem MCA 525 5-channel amp
- Anthem AVM 70 AV receiver
- JBL DSi 2.0 MA4-D 4-channel home theater power amplifier
- 2x SSW-2 Dual 12-Inch subwoofers
- 2x BL S4S In-Wall Subwoofers
- Control4 home control system
2. Westminster townhouse home theater - Homeplay x L-Acoustics
This install, by Surrey, UK-based installer Homeplay, transforms a plain media room into a fully fledged home cinema in a townhouse in Westminster, London. James Ratcliffe of Homeplay recalls, “The room was pretty uninspiring and as such completely unused,” so he and his team stripped back the whole room to its bare bones and started again, facing challenges such as “poor sound quality, rattling walls and intrusive pipe noise.”
Working with L-Acoustics, the resulting home cinema room is a 9.1.4-channel Dolby Atmos system with three L-Acoustics Soka on-wall speakers for the LCR channels, two L-Acoustics Syva subwoofers, and ten L-Acoustics X4i speakers, with six for surrounds and four for height. The system is powered by the L-Acoustic LA7.16i amplified controller and includes a StormAudio Evo digital sound processor, which can decode up to 24 channels.
To complete the system, a Sony VPL-X7000ES 4K projector provides the visuals and is paired with a Screen Research drop-down projector screen. Control4 smart home integration is included for easy control of the room, and acoustic treatment is provided by Cinema Build Systems.
Equipment used:
- Sony VPL-XW7000ES projector
- LA7.16i amplified controller
- 3x L-Acoustics Soka speakers (LCR)
- 2x L-Acoustics Syva (subwoofer)
- 6x L-Acoustics X4i speakers (surrounds)
- 4x L-Acoustics X4i speakers (height)
3. The Ultimate Home Theater Gaming Setup - Audio Advice x DIY Guy
AV retailer and custom installation outfit Audio Advice is based in Raleigh, North Carolina, a city closely associated with Fortnite creator Epic Games. Unsurprisingly, they are called upon to do plenty of installations where gamers can experience the ultimate in sound and picture quality for both gaming and movies.
This installation was actually carried out by a skilled DIYer associated with the company and is based around a custom-built gaming PC with a 30-series Nvidia 3060 graphics card featuring three HDMI outputs. Those outputs feed an Epson 6050 front projector mounted behind the system’s central 11.5-foot-wide acoustically transparent screen, along with two Epson LS500 projectors mounted behind the room’s side screens.
An all-KEF speaker system supplies the audio, with Ci5160REF-THX Reference Series In-wall speakers up front for the LCR channels, and six KEF subwoofers for the bottom end. As you enter the theater, you’ll see a digital movie poster, with software supplied by Great Dane Cinemas. We’re not sure what that digital movie poster is all about, but we'd definitely want one for the entrance to our own home theater.
Equipment used:
- 11.5 feet wide acoustically transparent screen with Epson 6050 projector
- 2x Epson LS500 projectors
- Custom-built gaming PC using a 30-series Nvidia 3060 graphics card
- KEF Ci5160REF-THX Reference Series In-wall speakers (LCR)
- KEF Ci3160RL-THX in-wall speakers (rear and surrounds)
- KEF Ci200RR-THX in-ceiling speakers (overhead)
- 4x KEF Ci3160RLb-THX subwoofers
- 2x KEF Kube 12b subwoofers
- Control4 home control system
4. Hove home theater - Dr Smart Homes x AWE Europe
The client for this installation is a movie fan who dedicated a windowless room in their ultra-modern new home to a home cinema. The client was happy to be guided by Dr Smart Homes and AWE Europe on pretty much every decision but one: “The only non-negotiable was the starlight ceiling,” said Daniel Cannard of Dr Smart Homes.
The resulting home cinema is a 5.2.2 Dolby Atmos system. Three Bowers & Wilkins CWM7.3 S2 in-wall speakers serve as the left, right, and center channels, with two Bowers & Wilkins CWM7.5 S2 speakers serving as the rears. The speaker system is rounded out by two Bowers & Wilkins CCM662 600 series ceiling speakers and two Bowers & Wilkins ASW610 subwoofers. Running this setup is the Marantz Cinema 60, a 7-channel, 100W per channel AV receiver.
Completing the home cinema setup is an Epson EH-LS12000B 4K projector and an acoustically transparent 3m cinema screen.
Aesthetically, the cinema room is complemented by two rows of reclining cinema chairs and the aforementioned starlight ceiling, as well as a pick’n’mix corner for “the full movie night experience.”
Equipment used:
- Epson EH-LS12000B projector
- Marantz Cinema 60 AV receiver
- 3x Bowers & Wilkins CWM7.3 S2 speakers (LCR channels)
- 2x Bowers & Wilkins CWM7.5 S2 speakers ( rear channels)
- 2x Bowers & Wilkins CCM662 600 speakers (height channels)
- 2x Bowers & Wilkins ASW610 (subwoofers)
5. Warwickshire home theater - AWE x Mark Maddock Custom Installation
This bespoke home cinema is located in Warwickshire, England, and features a state-of-the-art 7.4.4-channel Dolby Atmos sound system. Starting without any specific equipment requirements other than wanting a starlight ceiling, Mark Maddock Custom Installation had a completely blank canvas from which to work.
The system is based around a Sony VPL-XW7000 4K laser projector and a 4m acoustically transparent screen. With Blu-ray used as a source, the installation includes bespoke shelving for Blu-ray and DVD storage.
On the audio side, a Marantz AV10 processor drives a Bowers & Wilkins CWM8.3D in-wall speakers for the front left, center, and right channels, along with Bowers & Wilkins in-wall surround and in-ceiling height speakers. Four Bowers & Wilkins CTSW15 in-wall subwoofers bring the bass, and the system was calibrated by Cinema Build Systems, who additionally provided the acoustic and visual treatments, including a fabric wall.
Equipment used:
- Sony VPL-XW7000 4K laser projector
- 4m acoustically transparent screen
- Bowers & Wilkins CWM8.3D in-wall speakers (LCR)
- 4x CWM8.5D speakers (rear and back surround)
- Four CCM8.5D in-ceiling speakers (overhead )
- 4x Bowers & Wilkins CTSW15 in-wall subwoofers
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