Is a home theater even worth it or doable?

I probably differ from many, but I cannot bear the time, expense, and space of setting up a home theater system. I did a basic one, and while it’s fun, the friends I know with good soundbars (really good) with perhaps one sub are good enough for my needs. The sound is clear and accurate, there is spatialization, and there is minimal disruption to the room; this conserves space for a listening system. I’m planning on selling all my home theater stuff and economizing the space.

One further consideration for me -- for movies and TV, the story and dialogue are the main thing. I do not need to have a movie experience in my home. For really high technology movie experiences -- think, Dune -- I’m content to leave my house and actually go to a movie theater.

I am primarily a two channel audio guy. But my partner is into movies.

We have what is probably the best sound bar (Sennheiser) in the bedroom with her 65” tv (she is disabled and more or less lives in there) and in our living room a 77” tv and a high end surround system… which we built incrementally over ten years… so we have had less expensive surround stuff.

There is a huge difference between a surround system with discrete speakers and a sound bar. The sound is instantly more involving. We go into the living room and watch movies together on the weekend.

In the end the quality of the sound is not quite as important as a music only system, because you are a bit distracted by the video… but quality really matters.

You can see my system under my ID. We have stand mounted speakers. With an open concept you will have to decide if you want to put some speakers in the wall / ceiling or just do basic 5.2.

I would stick with brands like NAD and Rotel as they are built to sound good not just have lots of functions. But in choosing every aspect all the principles of choosing audio apply. Separates are better, a big multichannel amp is much better… two subs better than one. Better speakers are better speakers.

When the depth charges go off in U-571 the whole house shakes. But even a modest system will sound enormously better than a sound bar.

I guess one way to look at it is our Sennheiser sound bar currently cost about $2.5K a $2.5K surround system would sound much… much better..

Oh hell yes. However I won't bother going past 5.1 setup in my smaller setup 55" monitor.

I agree, a lot of streamed content sounds better when I switch the AVR to 2 channel.

Blu-Ray/DVD programming separates center channel info, that is just missing if you don't have center channel speakers.

rear, just loud enough that you are unaware until you turn them off. Black Hawk Down, they are key in many scenes.

Sub, I keep it low, but it kicks in for Jurassic Park.

Most people (people not nerding out here on an audio forum) can enjoy a good home theater and most people spend more time watching TV and movies than anything else. Streaming a movie, or playing from a BluRay disc doesn't really matter, a decent system makes both enjoyable, and many people will never know the source unless you show them a disc or bore them with talk about streaming, and they still will tell you they sound the same. Focus more on the basics, like a good center channel as that is where most of the sound will come from for video. Get decent mains, and that is where the other important sound will come from for music and video both. Definitely pre-wire the room as much as possible if the walls are open, and keep in mind that most minor imperfections in sound stage from surround speaker placement can be adjusted from the surround processor. Get a decent processor/head unit that also allows you to play 2-channel stereo in some type of "pure direct" mode. Keep in mind that you may be the only one that is even concerned about having good sound in your circle of family or friends, and in my case not a damn one cares about the details of my system or spends time doing any critical listening.