Advice

How to actually do it

One procedure per page, from the first move to the last, with the step that settles the outcome flagged as such — and the equipment a page takes for granted is linked because it takes it for granted, not because it pays. Where a job depends on what is behind your wall, the page says so and sends you to the maker's instructions.

Getting started

What to buy first, in what order, and why one good centre channel beats a five-speaker package bought all at once.

Set up a projector on the first evening A projector out of the box is set for a shop floor: brightest mode, sharpness raised, everything pushed. Half an hour in the right order produces a picture that looks better and lasts longer.

Placement

Where the projector goes, where the screen goes, and where the speakers end up once the room has had its say.

Installation

Fixing to a wall that will hold it, running a cable where it will not be seen, and leaving enough slack to unplug something later.

Run the cables without ruining the room The cable run is decided after everything else and it is where most installations become permanent. Two habits — measuring properly and leaving slack — are the difference between a system you can change and one you cannot.

Calibration

Geometry and focus, speaker levels and distances, lip sync — the free half hour that changes more than the last upgrade did.

Set the levels and distances A receiver needs to know how far each speaker is from the listening position and how loud each one plays. Both are set in a menu, both take minutes, and a system where neither has been set is working against itself.

Sound setup

Crossovers, subwoofer position, night modes and dialogue: getting a system to suit the room and the hour.

Make dialogue easier to hear Inaudible dialogue is the single most common complaint about home cinema sound, and most of it is fixed in a menu rather than with money. The order below runs from free to expensive, deliberately.

Buying

How to spend a budget so the money lands on what decides the outcome, rather than on the figure printed largest.

Spend a first budget where it lands The order in which money is spent on a home cinema changes the result more than the total does. This page is that order, with the traps that make a stated price the wrong number.

Mounting & the rules

Stated loads, wall materials and fixings — what each maker states, and the source behind the rule.

What to check before mounting a television A 65-inch television weighs 20 to 30 kg, and a full-motion arm at full extension multiplies what that weight does to its anchors. This page covers what to establish before buying, and it deliberately stops at the point where the wall material decides everything.