Companies like TCL, Vizio, and Samsung are making TVs that cost well under $500 that put to shame the picture quality offered by many projectors three times the price. Even if you’re willing to pour a few paychecks into the effort, it’s not guaranteed you’ll actually end up with an experience leagues better than one provided by a new TV right out of the box. But the quest to build a maximalist home theater system is fraught with needless complications.
With unlimited time and resources, the best way to improve your setup, of course, would be to shell out for a lot of new equipment-a premium projector, surround sound, an AV receiver, the works. The idea is to bring just a touch of that velvet-curtained, MTV Cribs energy to whatever ficus-adorned, love-seat-and-flat-screen situation you're working with. But if you're just looking to affordably upgrade your current setup, you'll probably be pleasantly surprised by how much you can do to improve your home theater hardware-and your home theater space-without spending a lot of money. Most of the 'home theater setup ideas' the Internet has to offer assume that you're starting from scratch and working with an architect.
