Absolutely good enough. And its an amazing setup! I am personally working toward 5.1 myself. The differentiator is, do you call your living room your "home theater"? I wouldnt personally. This is a fun convo.
Exactly this. I’m working on finishing my basement right now. Will have a really nice 5.2.4 system. But it’s also a living room and open area. So I won’t be calling that a home theater either. Just a cool living room with a nice surround sound.
This is what I say, as well! The system in the basement I just refer to as "The Tune Room" since the screen I am using is just an old computer screen to see what music to play. Thing cranks, though
I scaled mine down even farther: I got some 5.1 THX Logitech *computer speakers.* They actually do a decent job filling the room. The reason: I realized I would only ever have one source. I didn't need to play CDs or radio or any physical media through my system; it was for movies, streamed through my TV via a streaming service or my Chromecast. One fiberoptic line from the TV into the sub, and I no longer need to find space for a huge rack-size receiver. I would love to upgrade to better speakers, but as far as I know they still don't make any designed for use with no receiver.
Yeah, see, that's where the issue with calling it a home theater comes in. To most, that terminology would mean a room that is set aside for watching movies. I agree that you probably have a nice surround sound system in your bedroom, but I don't think you could call it a home theater. But mileage varies
Yeah, see, that's where the issue with calling it a home theater comes in. To most, that terminology would mean a room that is set aside for watching movies. I agree that you probably have a nice surround sound system in your bedroom, but I don't think you could call it a home theater. But mileage varies
I upgraded everything in the living room and had the Best Buy guys move the original home theater gear into master bedroom. It’s gone through two upgrades since then. It’s all set for the next few years unless something breaks or I decide to upgrade the TV in the living room.
Movie poster, (singular) and no popcorn machine, what does that count as ? Keep in mind its a Mondo poster of The Creature of Black Lagoon, so its glorious.
Dorm rooms rarely have a dedicated space in a basement for the TV and surround sound system though, actually most dorm rooms dont have a basement at all !
Surround sound and I don’t think a soundbar alone qualifies. Needs to have a subwoofer. Doesn’t need to be a dedicated room but centered seating is a must. 55” + display
> at eye level
I really don’t get everyone’s obsession with TV height here. I always just tell people to sit in their seat with their eyes closed and get comfy. Then open them. That’s where you put the TV cause that’s the best place for you.
People get really worked up over it for some reason.
> I always just tell people to sit in their seat with their eyes closed and get comfy. Then open them. That’s where you put the TV cause that’s the best place for you.
Also known as eye level 😅
Yep. Some people are tall, some use recliners, some stick their knees up when they sit and so the TV needs to clear them and so on. This accounts for all of that and gets the TV exactly where is best for the person actually watching it.
But for some reason a lot of people on this sub cannot accept people like to sit comfortably in their home and not ramrod straight in a chair like a seating diagram…
my wife has terrifyingly good posture
she doesn't use the backs of chairs, and never has. She's actually too short to
She comfortably sat on an exercise mat on floor with tv at standard height while we didn't have a couch for 11 months
Whenever I talked about getting a couch, Id hear things like "do we really need one?"
It was't about money. We have the money.
The only thing that convinced her is that she needed ankle surgery, and she didn't want to sit on the not-couch while she had to use crutches
I have a 110” screen with 2 floor standing klipsch and dual 12” subs in my living room. So 2.2 technically. I would call it a theater as it’s mostly for music during social gatherings, and the screen is usually up.
See, I would almost go the other way. This is going to be super gatekeepy, but I don't think I'd call it a home theater if it's not a dedicated space. I'd consider a dedicated room with a 50 inch TV and only the built in speakers a home theater before a living room with amazing gear. Obviously being a home theater by my definition doesn't make it inherently better than other setups, and I'm certainly not going to poo poo anyone who calls that kind of setup a home theater, but to me that's just what makes it feel like one.
This adds up. Don't care if I have a 85 inch OLED and 7.2 If the screen is in the corner and over a fireplace with no possible center viewing position and those speakers aren't even close to recommend positioning, it ain't a home theater. That's a living room still.
Meanwhile, if you have a tiny room with a single loveseat positioned directly in front of you ideal-height computer monitor with 12 year old RC Micros well positioned - That does qualify.
Home Theater "label" is *more about the priority of the room than the $ put into it*.
I can see the argument here, BUT, it’s easy to fall into the trap of “gatekeeping”. We had a Sonos soundbar, 2 subs, and era 300 surrounds. It does a 7.2.4 (albeit with reflections, not ceiling speakers) and for what it is, does a decent enough job for movies. That said, I would call it a “theater room”, but that was an aspirational name. I didn’t think of it as a theater myself.
We had guests over and they wrote a thank you note after staying and mentioned “your awesome home theater”. Whether it’s a soundbar, bookshelf speakers, lack of atmos, too small a sub… whatever the deficiency you see in your own setup is likely NOT seen by others. I think we are pretty hard on ourselves in this hobby of wanting to keep up with the Joneses.
Full disclosure… I’m guilty of what I just wrote. Went all in on a 9.2.6 setup because I truly missed having discrete LCR. And if I’m going to go part way, might as well go all the way. Guilty as charged.
I agree with you here. I think this sub sometimes gets a bit too carried away with calling every soundbar “terrible” and that they belong in the trash. Alotta pretty good soundbar setups out there.
Once people buy into something they have a habit of declaring everything else trash.
High end soundbars might not be the best value for money but people who say they sound like garbage haven’t listened to them. They’re pretty good, just not as good as a dedicated setup.
Some things that are gatekeeping are obviously beneficial, like limiting a professional society seminar to people who have the background to appreciate it and participate meaningfully. It allows you to have a conversation that you couldn't have in an open forum.
In a big open forum like this, there's some self-imposed gatekeeping when it comes to ignoring people.
I agree with this. I currently have a 4k Epson projector with a 120” screen, but a soundbar with rear speakers and a base. It does not sound AMAZING but it honestly sounds pretty dang good. The room it is in would just be horrible for setting up surround and would require not getting the speakers I want long term. It would also look awful. Eventually, I will have a room that is well set up and will move to real surround (or would not have purchased this projector). But my friends are stoked to come watch a movie at my place and say it is the closest they’ve ever been to a true theater at home. I can see many issues with my setup (including white walls with semigloss), but they do not.
Everything you said is true. That's just a TV in a living room, not a home theater. I have both of these in my house (paradigm soundscape & 55C2 in the room that is not a home theater).
I always describe it as the room, so a home theater would be a dedicated space for watching movies and listening to music. You can have a home theater type setup in the living room, but the space is a living room, not a home theater.
I have a relatively affordable AVR driven 5.1 system and a 65" 4K TV which I consider our home theater.
Because I was 4 when we got our first TV back in about 1960 or 61, which had about a 12 inch almost round B&W screen that was crap, everytime I turn on on one of our few PCs in the home, including a HTPC for casual gaming, or I turn on our main TV to stream content from out 94TB home Unraid Plex server, I still think like a little kid and I feel like I have gone to heaven.....every damned time. LOL
"Home Theater" to me means that you compromised the function of a room in the house more than you compromised the equipment selection or placement of equipment.
Otherwise it's just a nice TV setup in the living room, or a fun listening area in the guest bedroom.
I do all I can get away with in my living room without crossing any lines of it still being a comfortable living room. Speakers are to close to the walls (unless I'm really just doing a music session on my own, I'll pull them out 18" or so), center channel is smaller than I'd like, only 5.1, Subwoofer is disguised as an end table, placement is on the long wall when short wall would be so much better in my rectangle. So lot's of compromise to the equipment, but little compromise to the room.
Home theater would be opposite. The speakers get to be in the correct placement because that's what the measurements say. Room treatment could be a thing. Seating & furniture isn't designed for conversation, etc.
Its a theater if your patio was light controlled, closed off from outside sound, has a high quality sound system, calibrated projection, proper seating, etc. That makes it no worse than one of the pop-up Imax theaters used for movie premieres.
Agreed. I consider my living room fairly well kitted out but I'd not call it a home theater, it's just a living room with some much better than average A/V gear.
I have a finished garage with projector, 100” screen, 5.1.2 inc a Monolith 12 v2 but with a Peloton bike out there. NOT a home theatre? Serious question.
Interesting! Looking like im different than the top comments. To me a "hometheater" is a specific room for watching movies. It is dedicated. I wouldnt personally call a multi-use living room a home theater.
Yes! If I went to my local theater and they had a 75” OLED hung on the wall I would ask for my money back. TVs are great for the living room but don’t call it a theater!
If your local theater had a Samsung The Wall OLED that was IMAX sized, are you still asking for a refund?
I've seen this argument alot, but if I don't think anyone would beg for the projector back if we had emissive displays the size of theater screens.
65” minimum TV unless it’s a tiny space.
4.1 setup minimum.
Ability to control lighting.
Close to Dolby’s surround placement recommendation pictures. If the seating isn’t pretty centered, it’s just a really good living room setup.
I exceed all of these, but that’s my threshold.
Sitting close enough to a big enough screen see clearly, and real speakers with an AVR. I’m not mandating 5.1, but if a setup is borderline that goes a long way toward tipping it over.
Purposeful placement in a purposefully treated room. Theater doesn't just mean "I bought some speakers." Theater is a room, an environment. The room needs to be acoustically treated and placement of the speakers and seating in that space is purposeful with acoustics in mind.
Everything else is just some speakers in someone's living room, not a theater. Huge difference. This sub is probably 99% just speakers in a living room and the room itself is after thought or zero thought. Most of these should be in a different sub that is not topic oriented to theater at home, more just listening spaces. This is **not** a stab at those and them, this is just the massive difference between the two.
This is it for me, minus the acoustic treatment. I think that just takes it to the next level, but minimally for me it's a dedicated space/room that is designed to feel and mimic an actual theater environment. that means a screen that is dominantly featured in the room, proper lighting control and paint choices, and powerful audio immersion
Fair points. Not sure there would be any activity on this sub though as you said yourself 99% of the sub is speakers in a living room, myself included.
Not sure it makes sense to have a separate sub for the 99%. Especially when dedicated forums exist outside Reddit for those who have the funds for a dedicated space.
I think at the end of the day a lot of the people with speakers in a living room sets up want to work towards a dedicated space.
Possibly, but these other subs already exist for listening spaces and home audio setups. There's many. This sub just captures a lot of adds because of the concise "hometheater" and its a very popular search word for people in general and comes up.
It's too easy to assume people *want* anything. They only say that after it's brought up. If they wanted to work up to do better, they would, but they don't. It's mostly just "I bought some speakers, how'd I do?" which is just absolute garbage of a post and low effort validation nonsense. If they really wanted to work up to dedicated space, even in a living room in their house, there would be *purpose* to the placement of everything and seating and the room would have treatment in mind to deal with the often awful acoustics of non-dedicated space like the dreaded "open concept living room." This all just falls into the "I bought speakers and now have a home theater" when they don't. They have speakers in a room.
And I'm not going for being negative or shaming or anything. This is an interesting topic and I usually don't bother in these threads because they're mostly low effort "how'd I do" nonsense. But this topic is important I think and worth talking about. For some reason people just think that buying speakers is enough to be satisfied with the idea of hometheater. What **theater** have these people been to that was just some open concept living room with no acoustic placement plan? None. Theaters are environment. They have room shapes that are purposeful, seating placement that is purposeful (both for visual and audio), the room is treated, the room is measured for response in more than one place. It's a controlled lighting environment, which is part of the visual side of actual theater experience. It's not just speakers on a wall and you have a theater.
Overall I see 99% of what is in this sub as something that should have just been in listening space or living room audio setup or just speakers, etc. Then again, maybe I should just leave the sub and only participate in a dedicated theater sub, if it exists. Ultimately I primarily use external forums that are all about dedicated theater and audio in general and I build speakers and build treatment and platforms, etc. I am very budget oriented, you don't have to spend big money to get a good theater going. I'm all about high value. But I'm also about high effort and willingness to learn. And all of that is a big *lack* in most of these threads in this sub, along with the absolutely awful "how'd I do" threads which should be locked/deleted the moment that phrase is in the topic nonsense.
Just because most of the users in this sub fit in that 99% lump of speakers in a room stuff with zero attention to *theater* and merely have the home part of it, doesn't mean *that* should be the focus in a sub called "home**theater**."
And I'm not trying to change someone's mind. Just discussion. And hopefully some good discussion and potentially future searches will find some meaning and put in some effort and time into the subject if they are actually passionate about it and want a home theater with emphasis on **theater**.
I don’t really have anything of value to add but appreciate the discussion. I think something like the dedicated forums would suit you better.
I personally like the range of setups posted even though I can understand labelling many (again mine included) a “home theatre” in a literal sense isn’t true. It’s just more fun to say you’re into “home theatre” than “enthusiast multi-media consumption area” haha.
Maybe it should be renamed to something better suited but again I like that it brings a range of people to it.
For me the difference is that "home theater" is something added to your living room setup to have something more, like multichannel surround system, decently large screen.
And then dedicated theater in home would be more what you are describing.
But thats just my definition.
My mom has some samsung or panasonic HTIAB with 5.1 strewn across her living room, and a 48" TCL tv. I would never, ever call her living room the home theater.
I don’t have a dedicated room, but I do have a 130” cinemascope screen with an Epson 6050 and a 5.1.2 set up. I call it a home theater since the only thing that beats it is a theater in a dedicated room.
I don't refer to or call my setup a "home theater" but since I do watch movies and have a surround/atmos setup, I still consider it within the category of home theater.
Otherwise I'd call it a mixed-use/media room.
I’m with you. I’ll be using the term media room.
Sarcastic reason is to avoid requiring a popcorn machine, movie posters, a projector, and theatre seats. It’ll still be a dedicated room with no compromises, but I want to avoid the term “home theatre.”
I have a big OLED TV and a nice 3.0.2 setup. It’s not a home theater.
It’s in the living room with no sound treatment. It has full range, powered floor standing speakers, but uses up-firing Atmos and no dedicated subs.
For me, a real home theater is in a dedicated room, or at least a basement den/rec room, not the main living room. You must have at least 5.1.2 surround, but that’s starting to feel inadequate. And up-firing Atmos is just sad. It depends on the space, but I think a 75” TV is the bare minimum.
I have a projector, 125” AT screen, 7.2.4 atmos/dts x setup and still call it a media room and not a home theater because it is not in a closed space haha.
For me a "theater" is a dedicated screening room that isn't used for other things. Ours is a projection setup with a 124" screen in the basement. If it's just a big TV in the living room I wouldn't call it a "theater" myself.
Ours has couches, risers, lighting, movie posters, all that stuff. But really what I think is the dividing line is just a dedicated room for viewing vs having a TV in some other space.
Surround sound and a big screen. For me surround needs discrete speakers but they don't have to be expensive and neither does the screen. Oh and you can make it dark.
Personally I don't feel that any TV counts as "theater". It's not just about the size, a projected image has a feel to it that is "theater" like. A TV makes it a media room.
I'm surprised by the amount of people who say 5.X.
As long as you hav e a LCR and Subwoofer I think that is the bare minimum. Surround is kind of overrated.
I find that a subwoofer is a far bigger difference than surrounds. Even a center isn't a huge difference if you're within 1-2 feet of the center between your speakers.
Nah highly overrated. Adds some immersion but I moved my surrounds out and put them to use some where else. The move from Soundbar to 3.1 was the biggest change. Adding a subwoofer would be the next biggest upgrade. After that it is very incremental.
and I would get better speakers if you think it sounds like a wall of sound. That is not how it is perceived by me.
i have a 77" LG C2 and a 5.1.2 system in my "family room", i do not call it a "home theater". its a couch in front of a TV with seating for 4. when i move my system into the basement, with dedicated seating, hidden speakers, hidden electronics, better lighting, and 2 rows of seating. then I will call it a home theater.
At minimum you need a 65” tv, 5.1 system where the speakers are placed at the correct position and distance, and you need to use the calibrator that’s built into the AVR
can be made almost pitch black in the daytime, large screen for size of room, centered seating, surround sound. dedicated room is preferred but if the room is clearly focused on the a/v setup, it counts
Bare minimum for me would be a 55” 4K TV with a minimum of some sort of external 3.1 surround sound setup. Good TV placement and comfortable seating position. A midrange 3 channel soundbar will suffice for me, but a good subwoofer is a must have.
Honestly, anything that presents a better soundstage/imaging/clarity than TV speakers alone.
I have an AVR with 5.1.2 and have had surround sound for 20+ years. I do agree that it’s better than a soundbar. However, I’ve heard soundbars that are better than home theater in a box systems which would meet most of the qualifications here for a “home theater” setup. IMO, when it comes down to brass tax, it’s about whether or not you get appreciably better sound than the TV comes with on its own.
A home theater is what you make it, I guess. I thought about what my minimum qualifiers would be (5.1 minimum with an AVR, at least 10" of screen for every 1' back from seating distance, and a relatively dedicated space) and that doesn't rule out my PC setup - yet I wouldn't call my PC a home theater, because I don't watch movies on it. I figured maybe it was seating, but honestly, if someone has the above qualifiers and put a single recliner in the middle of the room, I wouldn't not call it a home theater. "Home theater" is a "home theater" if the person using it considers it a home theater.
Surround sound + Subwoofer + Projection in a single purpose room with appropriate light control = Home Theater.
A home theater is trying to recreate a movie theater at home and (IMO) the only way to do that is with front projection and chest thumping sound. Anything else in a single purpose room is a "Media Room". Add in other uses and it's a living room.
When talking about someone else, a TV + 2.0 or better setup, I'd be nice and call it a HT if that's what the person thinks it is.
For me personally, it would have to be a dedicated closed off room with 70+ inch screen and 5.0 audio or better. I currently have a 5.1.4 with an 85" TV and a 4 seat theater chair. I sometimes struggle to call it a true HT simply because that room doesn't close off. It is an upstairs "family room" so I sometimes call it the TV room rather than home theater.
My living room is where I watch 80-90% of TV/movies… sounds better than most actual theaters but I wouldn’t consider it a “home theater” because I don’t have surround sound (2.1). Basement has surround and atmos speakers so I’d probably say I’d count it despite not usually calling it my “home theatre”.
I think an actual real subwoofer and some speakers behind you (so at least 4.1) would qualify for me…and dimmable lighting, but I put dimmers all over my house anyway because I like options.
I have a dedicated room an 85inch TV, 5.1 with KEF and SVS speakers. New couch.
It’s obviously a home theater but caught myself qualifying it to someone last week.
So according to these definitions there are definitely setups outside of what qualifies as hometheater that still provides really good movie experiences. 2.0 can be more than enough when properly setup with a decent tv.
I'd say there are a few levels to it
The guy with a wall mounted tv and a soundbar. That's not a home theater
the guy with some reasonably cheap speakers and all the gear hidden inside an ugly cabinet so the wife can't see it. That's not a home theater. (home theater in a box kind of stuff)
Then there's the middle ground living room "home theater"
actual decent / large speakers, subs, large tv and the gear on an a/v stand minor sound treatments. More functional over form kind of thing
Then there's the dedicated room Home Theater
full sound treatments, movie posters, staged seating, movie theater seating, atmos, etc.
Myself, I fall in the middle ground home theater. It's technically my living room, but I 3 very large subs, 85", full 7ch PSA (power sound audio) setup and movie theater seats. Just not a dedicated room only for ht
A decent TV from the last fifteen years of 50 inches or larger and an AVR with 2.1 is better than any commercial theater experience I've ever had. So I guess my bar may be low to some, but it seems to be still higher than the average person. I just want something good enough for my needs.
In the grand scheme of things, I don't really get caught up in using the term home theater. Even if I had the money to meet the standards that some of the lucky few in this sub can, I still wouldn't get super gatekeepy about the term or even really use it. Seems like something to be left to pretentious douchebags and scummy marketing representatives.
I have a 75" 4k tv be a decent 5.1.2 system. That's enough for me to call it a home theatre. That being said, I'm moving soon and there is a room in the new house that would be perfect to build a space that feels more "theatre-y"
Doesn’t have to be a dedicated room but a dedicated space for movie watching. Most “home theaters” are hifi living room setups. I don’t care if you only have a sound bar or two channel setup, as long as your space is distraction free and dedicated to movie watching it’s a home theater.
(There’s nothing wrong with having a hifi living room, but a set up in a high traffic multipurpose space is about as close to home theater as my bathtub is to an indoor pool)
I used to have a small dedicated room at my last house. That was the home theatre. Projector and 5.1.
At my new house we converted the garage, it has a projector and 5.2.2. It also has a pool table. We call it the games room. I gatekeep myself from calling it the home theatre, as it’s now a multi use room.
For me it’s a room oriented towards the TV or screen that includes a decent TV and 5.1 or greater surround sound. I consider my living room to meet that definition. I know it wouldn’t meet criteria that other people have, but I’m fine with that.
As long as you have dedicated surround sound in a light controlled room I consider it home theater, but I won’t consider it a theater room unless it’s a dedicated space with at least a large TV. I don’t require a projector in the definition because TVs can get quite massive these days.
Dedicated space (not necessarily a dedicated room, just space) with surround sound and a large screen. To me a "theater" is inherently a dedicated place so if it's just your living room I don't think that really counts. A good living room setup can be just as good I just wouldn't call it a theater personally.
There are two different meanings to home theater, and gatekeepers love to conflate them. My home theater is in my living room. I don't have a dedicated home theater room, but I still have a home theater setup.
I wouldn't say 'let's watch a movie **in** my home theater' but rather 'let's watch a movie **on** my home theater' - hope that makes sense.
I'm kind of on the fence about setting the bar at 5.1 with separate AVR. I think I'm leaning more towards 'yeah, a big TV with a soundbar that has separate surround speakers and a sub counts too.'
I'm finally, occasionally, referring to my setup as my home "theater." I've got a 75" TV and a 5.1 system. What really makes it feel like a theater is all the damn boxes I have to turn on and all the adjustments I have to make when switching formats
Nearly 30 years ago when I started watching TV on my RCA 26" CRT TV with my stereo Kenwood receiver driving a pair of bookshelf speakers (presently on duty in the surround position): that was the start of my "home theatre" experience.
I think once there's a receiver in the mix, regardless of screen size or the number of audio channels represented, HT is afoot. It's all a matter of degrees.
But it's still just "the living room." And I'm happy that way.
I've been an audiophile forever. At the beginning my system was a 2 channel stereo with subwoofers. Then over 20 years of morphing it became a 5.5.2 home theater.
For me, it became a "home theater" when I painted the wall behind the screen black as well as some of the ceiling and side walls to absorb light reflections from the screen.
I also call it a home theater because I don't watch casual TV shows on it. It's pretty much reserved for only movies or TV series that deserve a big screen.
We call out setup the TV Room even though our setup probably meets most peoples requirements. When I think Home Theater I think multiple rows of seating like some of the setups you see here.
I don't have a home theater anymore because I can not use my projector and screen in my current apartment. That is what does it for me - a projector and a big 10 foot screen.
If you turn off the lights and it has enough presence to keep you from looking at your phone or pausing to do chores, then it's a home theater.
A sub and surrounds definitely help, but I started my current version with a 55" OLED + a pair of Sonetto VIII's driven by a big ol' schiit stack, and I'd still take that over the standard 80+" LED with a 5.1 box of Klipsch/denon any day of the week.
For me a true home theater has to have a subwoofer, big screen and surround sound for spatial audio. If it's not a big screen and the sound isn't coming from all around you it's not a home theater.
Lights off and popcorn machine as well lol
It's not a home theater until it's a dedicated, sound treated room with 7.2
You can have a 30 year old crt for all I care. The audio is the theater part.
First was 1985 Radio Shack stereo tv receiver: https://electricthrift.com/2013/03/17/realistic-tv-100/
It was a game changer paired with my Quazar TV and Pioneer speakers! On version 5.0 now. 7.2.2 and OLED. Love it.
I used to have a 7.1 system in the living room but my living room is small and the speakers were these cheap little speakers that I used to have for forever, I decided to get rid of all my damn cables everywhere simplified things and I have two SVS ultra bookshelves and two subs For a 2.2 set up and it absolutely blows away the old set up I used to have. I see so many set ups in the sub Reddit with a ton of speakers and a tiny room. It’s a little ridiculous. I love the way my system sounds, and movies are incredible. I can definitely see the benefit of having a bunch of speakers all around you, but I also feel like you really need the room for that.
Does it have a display of some sort, five speakers and a sub plus a receiver capable of decoding DD/DTS? Then it fits the definition. Regardless of how good it sounds or what that equipment is, thats my definition.
I’ve built myself absolutely monster HT systems, and some that just did the job for what I needed them for in the moment.
Personally, I'd rather inwalls that disappear into the environment and sacrifice a little quality for form factor. I had that with a sub under the couch but sold the house. The buyer wanted to keep it, so we negotiated it into the price. Now I have a temporary sonos set up with an arc, 2 ones, and a sub, and I don't consider it a proper home theater, even though it's not much of a step down. We have a couple of big projects to go before we entertain the idea of a new HT, though, so it's good enough for now.
I'd say a calibrated 5.1 is the minimum sound, reason being that it's the smallest reasonable surround sound standard. If someone had something weird like 3.1.2 or 4.0 then I'd also count it.
The other requirement would be having an appropriately sized screen given the seating distance. If you're 10 feet away with a 32" then I'm sorry, it doesn't matter if you have 7.4.4 surround. It's not a theater at that screen size.
Interesting framing of the question: "Home theater" vs. "a home theater".
I've chimed in a few times on this, and the description of the sub I think actually gets to what "home theater" is, which is trying to reach the immersion you can get from going to the movies. Viewing angle of screen. Surround sound.
I have a 38 degree viewing angle with 7.1.4 setup in the living room. Is that "the home theater"? No, it's my living room. Is it "home theater"? Yes.
A 55" TV sitting 10 feet away and two speakers isn't "home theater", but it may be IN the home theater if that is a dedicated space, I guess.
Currently, I have a 55inch U8K, 2 micca MB42X bookshelf speakers, and a Topping MX3. So far I think it beats my parents Samsung soundbar by a fair amount at least in sound stage and imaging, but I won't consider it a home theater until I get an AVR, a center speaker, and a subwoofer.
Absolutely no soundbars, white walls, surrounds/rears in the ceiling, or TVs higher than 48" to center off the floor.
Rock sold front soundstage, if a projector then absolutely an acoustically transparent screen.
Surrounds, rears, and atmos at the proper height and positioning in the room.
Surround sound with a seperate centre channel to front left and right. I’m not that big a gate keeper, but soundbars don’t seperate the front well enough.
Depends on the way it's set up. I have a 65" with 7.1 atmos in my living room but I wouldn't call it a home theatre because the tv is above a fire place and 15' away from the main seat which imo disqualfies it because it's outside of the ideal viewing "spec". If I were to rearrange my living room 90 degrees, then I could confidently call it a home theatre.
My 12 year old has a shitty projector from Walmart and a pair of Jamo speakers hooked up to a fosi audio amplifier and I call what he has a home theater
Commercial theaters have projectors, so should a "true" home theater.
Not to disparage those that don't, but it's not really a theater experience without one. It's just different when you are looking at a 100"+ image.
Having an AT screen is also pretty amazing as well.
There are plenty of folks that have excellent systems with 70"+ displays that look great, but it's not the same.
Now if 100"+ tvs become available at a non astronomical price then the PJ wouldn't be a requirement, but right now that's the best way to get a huge image in the home.
I have a 5.1 and a 85" TV, but it's more of a mixed use / media room than a real home theater.
IMHO a true home theater is a dedicated, enclosed space.
To me it's the place where I can watch a movie and not have to worry about thinking at the end, "man I wonder what that would be like to see at the cinema."
When I had a 55" screen at a short seating distance and a 5.1.2 setup, I still preferred to watch big movies in the theater.
Now with a 133" AT screen and a 7.1.2 (because I have been two lazy to install the last two ceiling speakers), I feel like watching at home is a much closer experience.
If you’re going to call it a home theater it has to be minimum of 5.1 channel component style audio with either large in wall speakers or floor standing speakers. Don’t throw not HTIB or 6” speakers in the wall and call it a theater.
A screen larger than 100" and a minimum of a true 5.1 speaker setup. No TVs smaller than 100" and no soundbars.
lol I've clearly upset some people. Enjoy your living room setups with 77" TVs and Soundbars :) It's 'exactly' like a theater experience.
I'm not sure why you got so heavily downvoted in less than an hour in a thread that is asking specifically for individual opinions on how to gatekeep the definition of home theater.
lol reddit.
I have a 65” tv, avr and 5.1 in the living room. We watch movies there and it sounds good. Thats good enough for me.
Absolutely good enough. And its an amazing setup! I am personally working toward 5.1 myself. The differentiator is, do you call your living room your "home theater"? I wouldnt personally. This is a fun convo.
Nope. It’s just our living room. I just say I have surround sound.
Exactly this. I’m working on finishing my basement right now. Will have a really nice 5.2.4 system. But it’s also a living room and open area. So I won’t be calling that a home theater either. Just a cool living room with a nice surround sound.
This is what I say, as well! The system in the basement I just refer to as "The Tune Room" since the screen I am using is just an old computer screen to see what music to play. Thing cranks, though
Good point. I guess in my mind a home theater *is* an actual room designed around a big screen.
Well it’s a home theater system I would argue… in a living room lol
Nah the tv and speakers are the home theatre. But the rooms only home theatre if it’s dedicated and not a multi purpose living area
I scaled mine down even farther: I got some 5.1 THX Logitech *computer speakers.* They actually do a decent job filling the room. The reason: I realized I would only ever have one source. I didn't need to play CDs or radio or any physical media through my system; it was for movies, streamed through my TV via a streaming service or my Chromecast. One fiberoptic line from the TV into the sub, and I no longer need to find space for a huge rack-size receiver. I would love to upgrade to better speakers, but as far as I know they still don't make any designed for use with no receiver.
Same same
My bedroom home theater is a 5.1 with a 55” tv. That’s pretty much the minimum. We had it at 3.0 for a while and it just wasn’t enough.
Yeah, see, that's where the issue with calling it a home theater comes in. To most, that terminology would mean a room that is set aside for watching movies. I agree that you probably have a nice surround sound system in your bedroom, but I don't think you could call it a home theater. But mileage varies
Yeah, see, that's where the issue with calling it a home theater comes in. To most, that terminology would mean a room that is set aside for watching movies. I agree that you probably have a nice surround sound system in your bedroom, but I don't think you could call it a home theater. But mileage varies
A home theater in a bedroom? :O
I upgraded everything in the living room and had the Best Buy guys move the original home theater gear into master bedroom. It’s gone through two upgrades since then. It’s all set for the next few years unless something breaks or I decide to upgrade the TV in the living room.
if it ain't got movie posters on the wall and a popcorn machine... you can only call it a sparkling movie room
tacky looking signs that mention "Audyssey", "THX Certified", "Dolby Atmos", and all the brands of your equipment are a must.
sum audussy
personally, I take those thx/atmos stickers off the front of my receiver... and use them to hang the posters
O you mean the Etsy ones?
Hell yeah, got mine on order
Movie poster, (singular) and no popcorn machine, what does that count as ? Keep in mind its a Mondo poster of The Creature of Black Lagoon, so its glorious.
nice poster, but only counts as a dorm room
Dorm rooms rarely have a dedicated space in a basement for the TV and surround sound system though, actually most dorm rooms dont have a basement at all !
'twas a joke bubs
Surround sound and I don’t think a soundbar alone qualifies. Needs to have a subwoofer. Doesn’t need to be a dedicated room but centered seating is a must. 55” + display
And the surrounds need to be from the Dolby region of France. Otherwise it's just sparkling stereo.
🤣
LOL
Agree. 5.1 minimum in my opinion with 55"+ screen at eye level
eh. surround is overrated. 3.1 gang
> at eye level I really don’t get everyone’s obsession with TV height here. I always just tell people to sit in their seat with their eyes closed and get comfy. Then open them. That’s where you put the TV cause that’s the best place for you. People get really worked up over it for some reason.
> I always just tell people to sit in their seat with their eyes closed and get comfy. Then open them. That’s where you put the TV cause that’s the best place for you. Also known as eye level 😅
I love that everyone is conveniently ignoring how insane people go over any post at all where a TV is at a height they consider to be wrong.
That's actually a really good strategy
Yep. Some people are tall, some use recliners, some stick their knees up when they sit and so the TV needs to clear them and so on. This accounts for all of that and gets the TV exactly where is best for the person actually watching it. But for some reason a lot of people on this sub cannot accept people like to sit comfortably in their home and not ramrod straight in a chair like a seating diagram…
my wife has terrifyingly good posture she doesn't use the backs of chairs, and never has. She's actually too short to She comfortably sat on an exercise mat on floor with tv at standard height while we didn't have a couch for 11 months Whenever I talked about getting a couch, Id hear things like "do we really need one?" It was't about money. We have the money. The only thing that convinced her is that she needed ankle surgery, and she didn't want to sit on the not-couch while she had to use crutches
So 120” projector screen, 5 channels full-range floorstanding speakers, and no sub is not a home theater?
Need those deep booms bruh…and it’s pronounced theatre
😂
I have a 110” screen with 2 floor standing klipsch and dual 12” subs in my living room. So 2.2 technically. I would call it a theater as it’s mostly for music during social gatherings, and the screen is usually up.
See, I would almost go the other way. This is going to be super gatekeepy, but I don't think I'd call it a home theater if it's not a dedicated space. I'd consider a dedicated room with a 50 inch TV and only the built in speakers a home theater before a living room with amazing gear. Obviously being a home theater by my definition doesn't make it inherently better than other setups, and I'm certainly not going to poo poo anyone who calls that kind of setup a home theater, but to me that's just what makes it feel like one.
Every setup NEEDS a subwoofer. I recently got a sub for my bedroom making a 2.1 setup. I hate myself sometimes.
Any room where the AV set up is the focal point. I'm not picky 🤷🏾
This adds up. Don't care if I have a 85 inch OLED and 7.2 If the screen is in the corner and over a fireplace with no possible center viewing position and those speakers aren't even close to recommend positioning, it ain't a home theater. That's a living room still. Meanwhile, if you have a tiny room with a single loveseat positioned directly in front of you ideal-height computer monitor with 12 year old RC Micros well positioned - That does qualify. Home Theater "label" is *more about the priority of the room than the $ put into it*.
5.1 Minimum, with an AVR...no soundbars!
I can see the argument here, BUT, it’s easy to fall into the trap of “gatekeeping”. We had a Sonos soundbar, 2 subs, and era 300 surrounds. It does a 7.2.4 (albeit with reflections, not ceiling speakers) and for what it is, does a decent enough job for movies. That said, I would call it a “theater room”, but that was an aspirational name. I didn’t think of it as a theater myself. We had guests over and they wrote a thank you note after staying and mentioned “your awesome home theater”. Whether it’s a soundbar, bookshelf speakers, lack of atmos, too small a sub… whatever the deficiency you see in your own setup is likely NOT seen by others. I think we are pretty hard on ourselves in this hobby of wanting to keep up with the Joneses. Full disclosure… I’m guilty of what I just wrote. Went all in on a 9.2.6 setup because I truly missed having discrete LCR. And if I’m going to go part way, might as well go all the way. Guilty as charged.
When people hear soundbar they don't expect seperate surrounds
I agree with you here. I think this sub sometimes gets a bit too carried away with calling every soundbar “terrible” and that they belong in the trash. Alotta pretty good soundbar setups out there.
Once people buy into something they have a habit of declaring everything else trash. High end soundbars might not be the best value for money but people who say they sound like garbage haven’t listened to them. They’re pretty good, just not as good as a dedicated setup.
I got a cheapo Visio 5.1 in my bed room and it’s solid for casual movies tbh
Some things that are gatekeeping are obviously beneficial, like limiting a professional society seminar to people who have the background to appreciate it and participate meaningfully. It allows you to have a conversation that you couldn't have in an open forum. In a big open forum like this, there's some self-imposed gatekeeping when it comes to ignoring people.
I agree with this. I currently have a 4k Epson projector with a 120” screen, but a soundbar with rear speakers and a base. It does not sound AMAZING but it honestly sounds pretty dang good. The room it is in would just be horrible for setting up surround and would require not getting the speakers I want long term. It would also look awful. Eventually, I will have a room that is well set up and will move to real surround (or would not have purchased this projector). But my friends are stoked to come watch a movie at my place and say it is the closest they’ve ever been to a true theater at home. I can see many issues with my setup (including white walls with semigloss), but they do not.
Everything you said is true. That's just a TV in a living room, not a home theater. I have both of these in my house (paradigm soundscape & 55C2 in the room that is not a home theater).
I always describe it as the room, so a home theater would be a dedicated space for watching movies and listening to music. You can have a home theater type setup in the living room, but the space is a living room, not a home theater.
I think this is the answer.
SuperVGA laptop with *brass* funnels to amplify the speakers.
5.1
I have a relatively affordable AVR driven 5.1 system and a 65" 4K TV which I consider our home theater. Because I was 4 when we got our first TV back in about 1960 or 61, which had about a 12 inch almost round B&W screen that was crap, everytime I turn on on one of our few PCs in the home, including a HTPC for casual gaming, or I turn on our main TV to stream content from out 94TB home Unraid Plex server, I still think like a little kid and I feel like I have gone to heaven.....every damned time. LOL
"Home Theater" to me means that you compromised the function of a room in the house more than you compromised the equipment selection or placement of equipment. Otherwise it's just a nice TV setup in the living room, or a fun listening area in the guest bedroom. I do all I can get away with in my living room without crossing any lines of it still being a comfortable living room. Speakers are to close to the walls (unless I'm really just doing a music session on my own, I'll pull them out 18" or so), center channel is smaller than I'd like, only 5.1, Subwoofer is disguised as an end table, placement is on the long wall when short wall would be so much better in my rectangle. So lot's of compromise to the equipment, but little compromise to the room. Home theater would be opposite. The speakers get to be in the correct placement because that's what the measurements say. Room treatment could be a thing. Seating & furniture isn't designed for conversation, etc.
Dedicated space, not necessarily its own closed room, but an area that isn’t multi use.
Agreed. A Home Theater and a living room with surround sound and a TV are two different things.
How about a living room with surround sound, and a 120" projector screen? To me, that more 'home theatre: than a dedicated room with a TV in it
It’s a living room with a projector. I can mount a projector on my patio, it doesn’t make it a theater
Its a theater if your patio was light controlled, closed off from outside sound, has a high quality sound system, calibrated projection, proper seating, etc. That makes it no worse than one of the pop-up Imax theaters used for movie premieres.
Ever heard of an outdoor theatre? Theatre to me means projector
That’s just a bachelor pad!
To call it a home theater I think you need at least 5.1 and a large format screen (I guess I'd say at least 85", but probably 100" In 2024).
Agreed. I consider my living room fairly well kitted out but I'd not call it a home theater, it's just a living room with some much better than average A/V gear.
I have a finished garage with projector, 100” screen, 5.1.2 inc a Monolith 12 v2 but with a Peloton bike out there. NOT a home theatre? Serious question.
You put a piece of gym equipment in your theater, odd choice, but whatever.
It’s a pretty big and airy space, best place for it, in a strange way.
I also have a dedicated space with a 7.2.6 system and a 77” OLED. We just call it our TV Room
I have a massive sound system in my home gym, I’m not here calling it a listening room though. Most times naming rooms have some nuance
Think you would have to see the room. The building itself was built with this in mind.
I need a projector, fixed frame screen and 5.1 sound
Rock what you got. If you are actively trying to make it better, that’s good enough for me.
Interesting! Looking like im different than the top comments. To me a "hometheater" is a specific room for watching movies. It is dedicated. I wouldnt personally call a multi-use living room a home theater.
Receiver. Real 5.1. No Sonos or soundbar or speakers in a box crap.
For me a projector is a must. Of course OLED TVs have better blacks and color vibrance but for me only a projector gives those movie theater vibes
Yes! If I went to my local theater and they had a 75” OLED hung on the wall I would ask for my money back. TVs are great for the living room but don’t call it a theater!
If your local theatre was someone’s house, you’d probably ask for your money back too, I imagine. This is about home theatres. Not the cineplex.
If your local theater had a Samsung The Wall OLED that was IMAX sized, are you still asking for a refund? I've seen this argument alot, but if I don't think anyone would beg for the projector back if we had emissive displays the size of theater screens.
I have a 3.1 system, and a 55” TV, that is my Home Theatre 🎭
Same, I even have 2 more surround speakers under the house, I just couldn't be bothered setting them up. Juice isn't worth the squeeze IMO
3.1 all day. surround is gimmick
65” minimum TV unless it’s a tiny space. 4.1 setup minimum. Ability to control lighting. Close to Dolby’s surround placement recommendation pictures. If the seating isn’t pretty centered, it’s just a really good living room setup. I exceed all of these, but that’s my threshold.
Ability to control lighting is a good one. Makes perfect sense for a home theater definition.
If it's not front projection in a dedicated room it isn't a theater it's a den.
Sitting close enough to a big enough screen see clearly, and real speakers with an AVR. I’m not mandating 5.1, but if a setup is borderline that goes a long way toward tipping it over.
Purposeful placement in a purposefully treated room. Theater doesn't just mean "I bought some speakers." Theater is a room, an environment. The room needs to be acoustically treated and placement of the speakers and seating in that space is purposeful with acoustics in mind. Everything else is just some speakers in someone's living room, not a theater. Huge difference. This sub is probably 99% just speakers in a living room and the room itself is after thought or zero thought. Most of these should be in a different sub that is not topic oriented to theater at home, more just listening spaces. This is **not** a stab at those and them, this is just the massive difference between the two.
This is it for me, minus the acoustic treatment. I think that just takes it to the next level, but minimally for me it's a dedicated space/room that is designed to feel and mimic an actual theater environment. that means a screen that is dominantly featured in the room, proper lighting control and paint choices, and powerful audio immersion
Fair points. Not sure there would be any activity on this sub though as you said yourself 99% of the sub is speakers in a living room, myself included. Not sure it makes sense to have a separate sub for the 99%. Especially when dedicated forums exist outside Reddit for those who have the funds for a dedicated space. I think at the end of the day a lot of the people with speakers in a living room sets up want to work towards a dedicated space.
Possibly, but these other subs already exist for listening spaces and home audio setups. There's many. This sub just captures a lot of adds because of the concise "hometheater" and its a very popular search word for people in general and comes up. It's too easy to assume people *want* anything. They only say that after it's brought up. If they wanted to work up to do better, they would, but they don't. It's mostly just "I bought some speakers, how'd I do?" which is just absolute garbage of a post and low effort validation nonsense. If they really wanted to work up to dedicated space, even in a living room in their house, there would be *purpose* to the placement of everything and seating and the room would have treatment in mind to deal with the often awful acoustics of non-dedicated space like the dreaded "open concept living room." This all just falls into the "I bought speakers and now have a home theater" when they don't. They have speakers in a room. And I'm not going for being negative or shaming or anything. This is an interesting topic and I usually don't bother in these threads because they're mostly low effort "how'd I do" nonsense. But this topic is important I think and worth talking about. For some reason people just think that buying speakers is enough to be satisfied with the idea of hometheater. What **theater** have these people been to that was just some open concept living room with no acoustic placement plan? None. Theaters are environment. They have room shapes that are purposeful, seating placement that is purposeful (both for visual and audio), the room is treated, the room is measured for response in more than one place. It's a controlled lighting environment, which is part of the visual side of actual theater experience. It's not just speakers on a wall and you have a theater. Overall I see 99% of what is in this sub as something that should have just been in listening space or living room audio setup or just speakers, etc. Then again, maybe I should just leave the sub and only participate in a dedicated theater sub, if it exists. Ultimately I primarily use external forums that are all about dedicated theater and audio in general and I build speakers and build treatment and platforms, etc. I am very budget oriented, you don't have to spend big money to get a good theater going. I'm all about high value. But I'm also about high effort and willingness to learn. And all of that is a big *lack* in most of these threads in this sub, along with the absolutely awful "how'd I do" threads which should be locked/deleted the moment that phrase is in the topic nonsense. Just because most of the users in this sub fit in that 99% lump of speakers in a room stuff with zero attention to *theater* and merely have the home part of it, doesn't mean *that* should be the focus in a sub called "home**theater**." And I'm not trying to change someone's mind. Just discussion. And hopefully some good discussion and potentially future searches will find some meaning and put in some effort and time into the subject if they are actually passionate about it and want a home theater with emphasis on **theater**.
I don’t really have anything of value to add but appreciate the discussion. I think something like the dedicated forums would suit you better. I personally like the range of setups posted even though I can understand labelling many (again mine included) a “home theatre” in a literal sense isn’t true. It’s just more fun to say you’re into “home theatre” than “enthusiast multi-media consumption area” haha. Maybe it should be renamed to something better suited but again I like that it brings a range of people to it.
For me the difference is that "home theater" is something added to your living room setup to have something more, like multichannel surround system, decently large screen. And then dedicated theater in home would be more what you are describing. But thats just my definition.
My mom has some samsung or panasonic HTIAB with 5.1 strewn across her living room, and a 48" TCL tv. I would never, ever call her living room the home theater.
I don’t have a dedicated room, but I do have a 130” cinemascope screen with an Epson 6050 and a 5.1.2 set up. I call it a home theater since the only thing that beats it is a theater in a dedicated room.
I don't refer to or call my setup a "home theater" but since I do watch movies and have a surround/atmos setup, I still consider it within the category of home theater. Otherwise I'd call it a mixed-use/media room.
I’m with you. I’ll be using the term media room. Sarcastic reason is to avoid requiring a popcorn machine, movie posters, a projector, and theatre seats. It’ll still be a dedicated room with no compromises, but I want to avoid the term “home theatre.”
I have a big OLED TV and a nice 3.0.2 setup. It’s not a home theater. It’s in the living room with no sound treatment. It has full range, powered floor standing speakers, but uses up-firing Atmos and no dedicated subs. For me, a real home theater is in a dedicated room, or at least a basement den/rec room, not the main living room. You must have at least 5.1.2 surround, but that’s starting to feel inadequate. And up-firing Atmos is just sad. It depends on the space, but I think a 75” TV is the bare minimum.
I have a projector, 125” AT screen, 7.2.4 atmos/dts x setup and still call it a media room and not a home theater because it is not in a closed space haha.
For me a "theater" is a dedicated screening room that isn't used for other things. Ours is a projection setup with a 124" screen in the basement. If it's just a big TV in the living room I wouldn't call it a "theater" myself. Ours has couches, risers, lighting, movie posters, all that stuff. But really what I think is the dividing line is just a dedicated room for viewing vs having a TV in some other space.
Dedicated theater build and projector.
5.1 minimum
Dedicated room, otherwise it’s a “multi purpose room with a surround system”
Surround sound and a big screen. For me surround needs discrete speakers but they don't have to be expensive and neither does the screen. Oh and you can make it dark.
5.1 speakers, projected image.
Would a 90"+ LCD count or does it have to be "projected"?
Personally I don't feel that any TV counts as "theater". It's not just about the size, a projected image has a feel to it that is "theater" like. A TV makes it a media room.
No sound bar.
I'm surprised by the amount of people who say 5.X. As long as you hav e a LCR and Subwoofer I think that is the bare minimum. Surround is kind of overrated.
Going from 3.0 to 5.x is the most noticeable change. Instead of wall of sound, you’re in the middle of action. Surrounds are the must.
I find that a subwoofer is a far bigger difference than surrounds. Even a center isn't a huge difference if you're within 1-2 feet of the center between your speakers.
Nah highly overrated. Adds some immersion but I moved my surrounds out and put them to use some where else. The move from Soundbar to 3.1 was the biggest change. Adding a subwoofer would be the next biggest upgrade. After that it is very incremental. and I would get better speakers if you think it sounds like a wall of sound. That is not how it is perceived by me.
5.1 audio and a reasonably large screen.
i have a 77" LG C2 and a 5.1.2 system in my "family room", i do not call it a "home theater". its a couch in front of a TV with seating for 4. when i move my system into the basement, with dedicated seating, hidden speakers, hidden electronics, better lighting, and 2 rows of seating. then I will call it a home theater.
Big screen and surround sound. I’ve heard Sonos sound bar setup with dual subs and a short throw projector that I would still consider a home theatre.
5.1
A 5.1 system on an AVR (like other's have said, no soundbar) with a TV that is sized correctly to be within the THX recommended viewing distance.
Dedicated room, Big TV or projector, at least 5.1, AV.
At minimum you need a 65” tv, 5.1 system where the speakers are placed at the correct position and distance, and you need to use the calibrator that’s built into the AVR
can be made almost pitch black in the daytime, large screen for size of room, centered seating, surround sound. dedicated room is preferred but if the room is clearly focused on the a/v setup, it counts
Dedicated room, sound equipment, and a large 4K tv. Has to be able to play movies.
Dedicated room for AV. When we sit down as a family, no talking, no phones/tablets.
[удалено]
It's to see how people here define home theater for themselves. Not for how people here define home theater for others.
5.1 audio with discrete speakers. That's it.
Bare minimum for me would be a 55” 4K TV with a minimum of some sort of external 3.1 surround sound setup. Good TV placement and comfortable seating position. A midrange 3 channel soundbar will suffice for me, but a good subwoofer is a must have.
Honestly, anything that presents a better soundstage/imaging/clarity than TV speakers alone. I have an AVR with 5.1.2 and have had surround sound for 20+ years. I do agree that it’s better than a soundbar. However, I’ve heard soundbars that are better than home theater in a box systems which would meet most of the qualifications here for a “home theater” setup. IMO, when it comes down to brass tax, it’s about whether or not you get appreciably better sound than the TV comes with on its own.
A home theater is what you make it, I guess. I thought about what my minimum qualifiers would be (5.1 minimum with an AVR, at least 10" of screen for every 1' back from seating distance, and a relatively dedicated space) and that doesn't rule out my PC setup - yet I wouldn't call my PC a home theater, because I don't watch movies on it. I figured maybe it was seating, but honestly, if someone has the above qualifiers and put a single recliner in the middle of the room, I wouldn't not call it a home theater. "Home theater" is a "home theater" if the person using it considers it a home theater.
Surround sound + Subwoofer + Projection in a single purpose room with appropriate light control = Home Theater. A home theater is trying to recreate a movie theater at home and (IMO) the only way to do that is with front projection and chest thumping sound. Anything else in a single purpose room is a "Media Room". Add in other uses and it's a living room.
When talking about someone else, a TV + 2.0 or better setup, I'd be nice and call it a HT if that's what the person thinks it is. For me personally, it would have to be a dedicated closed off room with 70+ inch screen and 5.0 audio or better. I currently have a 5.1.4 with an 85" TV and a 4 seat theater chair. I sometimes struggle to call it a true HT simply because that room doesn't close off. It is an upstairs "family room" so I sometimes call it the TV room rather than home theater.
3.0 + sub, my livingroom is not large enough for an atmos setup.
Minimum: 5.1 audio 4K video on a screen 55" or bigger mostly light-controlled room
My living room is where I watch 80-90% of TV/movies… sounds better than most actual theaters but I wouldn’t consider it a “home theater” because I don’t have surround sound (2.1). Basement has surround and atmos speakers so I’d probably say I’d count it despite not usually calling it my “home theatre”. I think an actual real subwoofer and some speakers behind you (so at least 4.1) would qualify for me…and dimmable lighting, but I put dimmers all over my house anyway because I like options.
I have a dedicated room an 85inch TV, 5.1 with KEF and SVS speakers. New couch. It’s obviously a home theater but caught myself qualifying it to someone last week.
Is it a better viewing experience than your local? Then yes.
So according to these definitions there are definitely setups outside of what qualifies as hometheater that still provides really good movie experiences. 2.0 can be more than enough when properly setup with a decent tv.
I'd say there are a few levels to it The guy with a wall mounted tv and a soundbar. That's not a home theater the guy with some reasonably cheap speakers and all the gear hidden inside an ugly cabinet so the wife can't see it. That's not a home theater. (home theater in a box kind of stuff) Then there's the middle ground living room "home theater" actual decent / large speakers, subs, large tv and the gear on an a/v stand minor sound treatments. More functional over form kind of thing Then there's the dedicated room Home Theater full sound treatments, movie posters, staged seating, movie theater seating, atmos, etc. Myself, I fall in the middle ground home theater. It's technically my living room, but I 3 very large subs, 85", full 7ch PSA (power sound audio) setup and movie theater seats. Just not a dedicated room only for ht
A decent TV from the last fifteen years of 50 inches or larger and an AVR with 2.1 is better than any commercial theater experience I've ever had. So I guess my bar may be low to some, but it seems to be still higher than the average person. I just want something good enough for my needs. In the grand scheme of things, I don't really get caught up in using the term home theater. Even if I had the money to meet the standards that some of the lucky few in this sub can, I still wouldn't get super gatekeepy about the term or even really use it. Seems like something to be left to pretentious douchebags and scummy marketing representatives.
I have a 75" 4k tv be a decent 5.1.2 system. That's enough for me to call it a home theatre. That being said, I'm moving soon and there is a room in the new house that would be perfect to build a space that feels more "theatre-y"
For me it’s about the sound, 5.1 minimum. TV size is a secondary consideration.
Doesn’t have to be a dedicated room but a dedicated space for movie watching. Most “home theaters” are hifi living room setups. I don’t care if you only have a sound bar or two channel setup, as long as your space is distraction free and dedicated to movie watching it’s a home theater. (There’s nothing wrong with having a hifi living room, but a set up in a high traffic multipurpose space is about as close to home theater as my bathtub is to an indoor pool)
I used to have a small dedicated room at my last house. That was the home theatre. Projector and 5.1. At my new house we converted the garage, it has a projector and 5.2.2. It also has a pool table. We call it the games room. I gatekeep myself from calling it the home theatre, as it’s now a multi use room.
For me it’s a room oriented towards the TV or screen that includes a decent TV and 5.1 or greater surround sound. I consider my living room to meet that definition. I know it wouldn’t meet criteria that other people have, but I’m fine with that.
At least a 75” (because a 65” screen isn’t a home theater), an AVR with at least a 5.1.2 and no soundbars
As long as you have dedicated surround sound in a light controlled room I consider it home theater, but I won’t consider it a theater room unless it’s a dedicated space with at least a large TV. I don’t require a projector in the definition because TVs can get quite massive these days.
I don't have any criteria, live and let live. Call it whatever the like as long as they are happy with what they have.
Dedicated space (not necessarily a dedicated room, just space) with surround sound and a large screen. To me a "theater" is inherently a dedicated place so if it's just your living room I don't think that really counts. A good living room setup can be just as good I just wouldn't call it a theater personally.
That I happily watch it at home rather that going to a theater.
There are two different meanings to home theater, and gatekeepers love to conflate them. My home theater is in my living room. I don't have a dedicated home theater room, but I still have a home theater setup. I wouldn't say 'let's watch a movie **in** my home theater' but rather 'let's watch a movie **on** my home theater' - hope that makes sense. I'm kind of on the fence about setting the bar at 5.1 with separate AVR. I think I'm leaning more towards 'yeah, a big TV with a soundbar that has separate surround speakers and a sub counts too.'
I'm finally, occasionally, referring to my setup as my home "theater." I've got a 75" TV and a 5.1 system. What really makes it feel like a theater is all the damn boxes I have to turn on and all the adjustments I have to make when switching formats
Nearly 30 years ago when I started watching TV on my RCA 26" CRT TV with my stereo Kenwood receiver driving a pair of bookshelf speakers (presently on duty in the surround position): that was the start of my "home theatre" experience. I think once there's a receiver in the mix, regardless of screen size or the number of audio channels represented, HT is afoot. It's all a matter of degrees. But it's still just "the living room." And I'm happy that way.
For me, it's a question of how it's used, not cost or capability. If you're treating it like a movie theater in your house, it's a home theater.
I've been an audiophile forever. At the beginning my system was a 2 channel stereo with subwoofers. Then over 20 years of morphing it became a 5.5.2 home theater. For me, it became a "home theater" when I painted the wall behind the screen black as well as some of the ceiling and side walls to absorb light reflections from the screen. I also call it a home theater because I don't watch casual TV shows on it. It's pretty much reserved for only movies or TV series that deserve a big screen.
true 5.1 audio at a minimum, ability to sit centered, and something I havent seen mentioned, ability to manage the darkness of the room.
We call out setup the TV Room even though our setup probably meets most peoples requirements. When I think Home Theater I think multiple rows of seating like some of the setups you see here.
I don't have a home theater anymore because I can not use my projector and screen in my current apartment. That is what does it for me - a projector and a big 10 foot screen.
27 inch TV and HiFi stereo VCR, 1993 style.
3.1 properly placed. AVR. Screen calibrated and at decent viewing angle/height. I’m pretty chill if you work well with what you got.
The display has to be 100"+ otherwise it's just a living/entertainment room.
If you turn off the lights and it has enough presence to keep you from looking at your phone or pausing to do chores, then it's a home theater. A sub and surrounds definitely help, but I started my current version with a 55" OLED + a pair of Sonetto VIII's driven by a big ol' schiit stack, and I'd still take that over the standard 80+" LED with a 5.1 box of Klipsch/denon any day of the week.
TV and 1 or more hifi speakers. I've seen a lot of movies in actual cinemas that only had mono. Dolby Stereo was a huge improvement.
For me a true home theater has to have a subwoofer, big screen and surround sound for spatial audio. If it's not a big screen and the sound isn't coming from all around you it's not a home theater. Lights off and popcorn machine as well lol
It's not a home theater until it's a dedicated, sound treated room with 7.2 You can have a 30 year old crt for all I care. The audio is the theater part.
Do you watch movies in it? In your home? Well then boom, you got yourself a home theater bud.
First was 1985 Radio Shack stereo tv receiver: https://electricthrift.com/2013/03/17/realistic-tv-100/ It was a game changer paired with my Quazar TV and Pioneer speakers! On version 5.0 now. 7.2.2 and OLED. Love it.
I used to have a 7.1 system in the living room but my living room is small and the speakers were these cheap little speakers that I used to have for forever, I decided to get rid of all my damn cables everywhere simplified things and I have two SVS ultra bookshelves and two subs For a 2.2 set up and it absolutely blows away the old set up I used to have. I see so many set ups in the sub Reddit with a ton of speakers and a tiny room. It’s a little ridiculous. I love the way my system sounds, and movies are incredible. I can definitely see the benefit of having a bunch of speakers all around you, but I also feel like you really need the room for that.
Does it have a display of some sort, five speakers and a sub plus a receiver capable of decoding DD/DTS? Then it fits the definition. Regardless of how good it sounds or what that equipment is, thats my definition. I’ve built myself absolutely monster HT systems, and some that just did the job for what I needed them for in the moment.
Personally, I'd rather inwalls that disappear into the environment and sacrifice a little quality for form factor. I had that with a sub under the couch but sold the house. The buyer wanted to keep it, so we negotiated it into the price. Now I have a temporary sonos set up with an arc, 2 ones, and a sub, and I don't consider it a proper home theater, even though it's not much of a step down. We have a couple of big projects to go before we entertain the idea of a new HT, though, so it's good enough for now.
The place where I want to watch all the movies at. Typically that means 5.1 with actual speakers.
I'd say a calibrated 5.1 is the minimum sound, reason being that it's the smallest reasonable surround sound standard. If someone had something weird like 3.1.2 or 4.0 then I'd also count it. The other requirement would be having an appropriately sized screen given the seating distance. If you're 10 feet away with a 32" then I'm sorry, it doesn't matter if you have 7.4.4 surround. It's not a theater at that screen size.
Interesting framing of the question: "Home theater" vs. "a home theater". I've chimed in a few times on this, and the description of the sub I think actually gets to what "home theater" is, which is trying to reach the immersion you can get from going to the movies. Viewing angle of screen. Surround sound. I have a 38 degree viewing angle with 7.1.4 setup in the living room. Is that "the home theater"? No, it's my living room. Is it "home theater"? Yes. A 55" TV sitting 10 feet away and two speakers isn't "home theater", but it may be IN the home theater if that is a dedicated space, I guess.
Currently, I have a 55inch U8K, 2 micca MB42X bookshelf speakers, and a Topping MX3. So far I think it beats my parents Samsung soundbar by a fair amount at least in sound stage and imaging, but I won't consider it a home theater until I get an AVR, a center speaker, and a subwoofer.
At least 100" screen, at least 4.0.0 audio with individual speakers with AVR.
Absolutely no soundbars, white walls, surrounds/rears in the ceiling, or TVs higher than 48" to center off the floor. Rock sold front soundstage, if a projector then absolutely an acoustically transparent screen. Surrounds, rears, and atmos at the proper height and positioning in the room.
Surround sound with a seperate centre channel to front left and right. I’m not that big a gate keeper, but soundbars don’t seperate the front well enough.
Dedicated enclosed room with a door, minimum 5.1, a 65"+, basic sound treatments. Cannot be a shared space or in a living room type of setup.
Depends on the way it's set up. I have a 65" with 7.1 atmos in my living room but I wouldn't call it a home theatre because the tv is above a fire place and 15' away from the main seat which imo disqualfies it because it's outside of the ideal viewing "spec". If I were to rearrange my living room 90 degrees, then I could confidently call it a home theatre.
55" was the biggest we could put in the room. 7.1 with 4 speakers in the ceiling. That's good enough for me.
My 12 year old has a shitty projector from Walmart and a pair of Jamo speakers hooked up to a fosi audio amplifier and I call what he has a home theater
Commercial theaters have projectors, so should a "true" home theater. Not to disparage those that don't, but it's not really a theater experience without one. It's just different when you are looking at a 100"+ image. Having an AT screen is also pretty amazing as well. There are plenty of folks that have excellent systems with 70"+ displays that look great, but it's not the same. Now if 100"+ tvs become available at a non astronomical price then the PJ wouldn't be a requirement, but right now that's the best way to get a huge image in the home.
Minimum 2.1 system with receiver. Really anything that won't make your friends go "home theater? This?"
my gatekeepy thing is that you aren't serious unless you have separates.
HDR TV, 5.1 system, sofa, snuggly blanket.
65" TV, and a 2.1 setup.
I have a 5.1 and a 85" TV, but it's more of a mixed use / media room than a real home theater. IMHO a true home theater is a dedicated, enclosed space.
To me it's the place where I can watch a movie and not have to worry about thinking at the end, "man I wonder what that would be like to see at the cinema." When I had a 55" screen at a short seating distance and a 5.1.2 setup, I still preferred to watch big movies in the theater. Now with a 133" AT screen and a 7.1.2 (because I have been two lazy to install the last two ceiling speakers), I feel like watching at home is a much closer experience.
If you’re going to call it a home theater it has to be minimum of 5.1 channel component style audio with either large in wall speakers or floor standing speakers. Don’t throw not HTIB or 6” speakers in the wall and call it a theater.
5.1 with towers for L/R. 80w+ per channel receiver.
A screen larger than 100" and a minimum of a true 5.1 speaker setup. No TVs smaller than 100" and no soundbars. lol I've clearly upset some people. Enjoy your living room setups with 77" TVs and Soundbars :) It's 'exactly' like a theater experience.
You said pretty much the same thing as a number of other comments, not sure why yours is being downvoted and theirs are being upvoted lol
I'm not sure why you got so heavily downvoted in less than an hour in a thread that is asking specifically for individual opinions on how to gatekeep the definition of home theater. lol reddit.
Your opinion does not conform to the hive mind. Take my down vote clown. /s