When I built the theater room back around 2011, I tried to get the best bang for the buck. Honestly, I couldn't be happier even 10 years later.
The fancy screen? I read an article when a couple of AV guys tried to duplicate the performance of a fairly expensive screen with simple paint. After many iterations, they found a particular a Sherwin Williams white trim paint was spot on. So my screen is literally the wall w/white trim paint. Trim boards usually have a lot of edges, rounded attributes, etc., so trim paint settles longer than regular paint, providing a smoother finish - perfect for a screen. The border is pine 1x4's wrapped in velveteen. Granted, the screen won't have any gain, so I made sure the projector could throw a fair amount of light. Plus we usually only watch at night, so not an issue. The most expensive part of the screen? The stupid velveteen wrapped around the 1x4's at $75! Paint was maybe $40 total for two cans. I also added some Floetrol paint addictive, which makes the paint take even longer to settle out. Link to the article: https://www.projectorcentral.com/paint_perfect_screen_$100.htm
The projector: I bought a refurbished 8350 directly from Epson. 1080p, 50K contrast and 2K lumens brightness. Exceptional performance at the time, good price and 1 year warranty. Still chugging along to this day. Eventually it will be replaced w/a 4K projector since they are getting cheaper. But even at 1080p, and with a decent source material like a Blu-ray...still incredibly impressive. The HDMI cable run between the Rx and projector is version 1.2 (latest at the time), so that might be an issue whenever I switch to 4K.
The receiver: Continuing the 'reduced cost' theme, I bought a new but discontinued Yamaha RX-V671 at 1/2 off the price. Lot's of power, 7.1, and a bunch of DSP crap I'll never use. The center channel developed an issue not long ago, so it has been recently upgraded with a newer model that supports 4K. All the streamers and the receiver are stashed in the bar, out of sight.
7.1 Speakers: Hard to beat Monoprice for exceptional quality at very reasonable prices. I'm not an audiophile, and my ears gave up anything above ~15KHz decades ago. Four 12" active subs, provide enough bass to rattle everything in the basement. I think the in-wall speaker (2 way, 8" woofer, soft dome tweeter) were only around $50-60 a pair (I have front, side, rear). The active subs were ~$80 each w/shipping when on sale. Originally started w/2 subs. But if 2 were good, 4 must be better, right? I also use 8" Monoprice subs on the pins.
Interesting side note: Of course this was set up to watch movies - but surprisingly, watching a concert or music videos is what I do most often.
Notice the bike in the picture? Wife rides that in the winter time indoors. By using a gizmo attached to the tire, an app, and a Bluetooth link - she rides as a 'person' on the big screen, along w/other people via their app at the same time. Kind of neat.
