Home cinema on the cheap / secondhand goods?

[C0ffin D0dger]

One of the last rooms to get done on the renovation of our house was the "front room" and our intention was to have this as a snug for relaxing, watching movies etc. It's separated from our open plan living area by some bi-folding doors and my plan was to fit a projector screen above this that can be pulled down in front of the doors for movies. Then we had kids, the wife gave up work, money isn't as freely available as it once was, and the room just became a play room for the kids and even they don't use it that much.

As of now I can't justify the £2-£3k I'd want to spend kitting the room out for media.

Can I do this on the cheap? I've seen decent projectors selling on eBay that have been reconditioned i.e. new lamps fitted etc. for ~£300. Obviously I could source all the other bits and pieces secondhand. Is it likely to be any good? What I don't want is a pile of kit that is going wrong every 6 months?

My requirements:

1080p projector with decent brightness / contrast. 3D would be a nice extra, I know the take up wasn't great but I think on the big screen 3D could be quite cool and the kids would like it. Manual pull down screen, size according to the space I've got, not actually measured up yet.

5.1 sound including Dolby and DTS HD. Don't need anything powerful as we're in a semi and the neighbours won't thank me for it. Lifestyle type speaker system would be good + an AV receiver with enough HDMI inputs to cope. Something by Yamaha with MusicCast (we have some other kit) would be a bonus.

Blu-ray player.

Some sort of Kodi box (Nvidia Shield maybe or RaspberryPI).

Cables, networking, etc.

Wondering if I can do this for somewhere around £1k (or less!)?

[Caddyshack]

I think I may have an old 5.1 Denon that was pretty good back in the day...will have a look for it.

I am a little wary of the old refurb projectors after trying to limp one along and it just kept blowing bulbs early, it was an Optoma.

[Type R Tom]

Kef 3005se speakers would be a good place to start

[InitialDave]

I think you can do this for £1k with new kit, by choosing sensibly. Have a look at Richer Sounds, you can get an AV receiver and speaker bundle for £250-£350, a 1080p projector for £400-£450 (with a 6 year warranty), and a fixed screen us easy to make yourself using the proper material, cost me under £100 to make about a 100" one.

[justin220]

I would say that would be easily do able. I did something similar but set a budget of £1500. I went for a new projector (BenQ) and a Cheapish AV amp (Denon). I used old 5.1 speakers I had which I guess are what you called a lifestyle system, but I also upgraded the Sub.

I'd imagine getting a used projector will save quite a bit of money, and there should be plenty available as people upgrade to 4K.

I'd probably go with a playstation for the bluray, which also gives you gaming if you want it

[davek_964]

Depending in the size you need, you might not have to get a manual screen. I have a motorized one which I really need to get rid of - post up the size you need when you've had a measure.

[tomsugden]

I did most of what you want for about £1500:

New inFocus projector ~£650
New fixed screen ~£300
Second hand Bose Lifestyle 48 £500
Amazon firestick ~£30
HDMI switch ~£30.

[K50 DEL]

I'm doing exactly this and expect to spend under half your budget, picked up a lovely Epson projector and electric screen from eBay for under £250 and will source a Denim AVR amp (recommended on here) and small speaker set for under £250 - job done!

[ledger]

davek_964 said:

Depending in the size you need, you might not have to get a manual screen. I have a motorized one which I really need to get rid of - post up the size you need when you've had a measure.

If the OP doesn't take you up on the electric screen, I would be interested, currently I have a manual 92 inch screen.

[C0ffin D0dger]

ledger said:

davek_964 said:

Depending in the size you need, you might not have to get a manual screen. I have a motorized one which I really need to get rid of - post up the size you need when you've had a measure.

If the OP doesn't take you up on the electric screen, I would be interested, currently I have a manual 92 inch screen.

Go for it, I'm unlikely to be doing this for a while yet but eBay is turning up some interesting ideas...