Estimating the budget for a home theater room, without having some details about the whole project, can be rather difficult. Home theater rooms come in different sizes and shapes and in order to give a more specific answer to this question we have to go into some details. So, let’s begin!
What is a Home Theater Room?
The basic definition would be that it is a specific room in your house built and designed with one purpose - that is to enjoy watching movies, sports events and even gaming. Their purpose is to make you feel like you are at the cinema.
Design and Acoustics
Let’s say you have already picked a room for your home theater. However, in case you don’t have a dedicated room you can expect a cost from $50 to $250 per sq. ft to build one depending on the materials used and the necessary construction.
Now when we have a room we have to take care of the design. When we get all the necessary equipment, we definitely have to place everything in the right place. It takes some knowledge to get this done. Also it may cost somewhere from $1,700 to $3,000 if you want multiple rows for seating.
Take Care of the Acoustics
If the acoustics is bad everything else fails. It doesn’t matter how expensive the equipment is or how good the sound quality is, if you can’t understand what the actors are saying. Taking care of the acoustics will make the average audio equipment sound even better. The cost varies for acoustic treatments vary between $500 up to $30.000 depending on the size of the room and the quality of the panels.
Hire a Professional to Take Care of the Design
The potential cost of hiring someone who specializes in home theater design will cost you somewhere around $500-$3,000. However, we have to say that this money is well spent.
Choosing Your Equipment
When building your own custom home theater you have to avoid buying an average “home theater in a box” system. It would be a clear waste of money and time. For a custom home theater you can expect to spend additional $8,000 for the equipment.
Now let’s see what it’s wise to invest to.
Things you need to invest to
The Projector Screen
The screen is probably one of the most important parts in this story just as the projector. If you get a good quality one, it will last for years. The price for a quality one starts at $1,800 and up to $3,000. However, we have to say that it’s worth the money spent. If you go with the cheaper solution you won’t grasp all the benefits of a good quality projector.
Surround Speaker System
The speakers are the next important thing worth spending money on according to this article from AudioReputation. You can never spend too much money on speakers. While you were in the design phase for your home theater you already selected the adequate speaker configuration. You can choose to have 5 or 9 speaker system and this is definitely something you shouldn’t save money on.
Front and Center Channel Speakers
The main front three speakers may cost you $400 per speaker. When compared to the surround speakers these three are more important. Special attention has to be paid to the center channel speaker because most of the dialogues come from this one.
Subwoofers
A good quality subwoofer will cost you around $500 each and the price goes up depending on the quality. This is also another thing you should never think saving money on.
Side and Surround Speakers
We would recommend to go within the $400 price range for the effects channels. There are many options to choose from and the quality dictates the price. However, make sure to get them cheaper than the three front speakers.
Home Theater Projectors
The projector technology has improved drastically over the years and we recommend you not to get anything below $1,500. Of course if you have enough money you can get projectors in the $10,000 to $60,000 price range which will offer 4K resolution, awesome video processing and widescreen features.
The cost of the lamp is something you have to pay attention to here because the average life of these lamps is 6,000 hours. So it’s good to know the cost of a replacement lamp in order to avoid unpleasant situations when you have to change it.
Home Theater Receivers
The home theater receiver is the heart of your home theater system. Everything from surround sound processing to amplification happens there.
The amps are extremely important and you need to expect paying around $800 for good ones.
If it fits into your budget you can invest in a multi-channel amplifier and a separate home theater processor. The price for these components starts from $3,000 range depending on the power levels and the number of amplification channels.
Home Theater Seating
People use all kinds of furniture in their home theaters. The price range can vary from few hundred to several thousand dollars per seat depending on the fact whether you are buying a seat made in China or one made in the USA. When you think about that you will have to sit there for two hours it is definitely something worth thinking about and also investing in. At least you should get some good quality seating which is around $800 per seat.
Professional Installation and Calibration
The installation of the components and their calibration is something that is often overlooked. A well calibrated home theater and all the equipment that needs calibration can really make a huge difference. The cost of the installation and calibration varies depending on the equipment, acoustics, and other things and it’s good to know that sellers often offer free calibration and installation for the equipment you buy from them.
Bringing Your Home Theater to Life
Now, after you have designed your room, installed and calibrated all the devices it is time to take care of some other things like the carpet, or the curtains, or even that popcorn machine you are eager to try.
After you have read everything above you see that it is not that easy to answer how much a home theater system costs.
