Stephen Hopkins shows you don’t need a big budget to get a drool-worthy dream home theater.
It’s one thing to hire an installer to create the ultimate home theater dream room. It’s an entirely different story (and a fun one) to create that room all by yourself—for less than five grand. While many home theater creations flaunt wealth in our faces, Stephen Hopkins was all about making us jealous for what he didn’t spend.
Stephen designated a third-floor bonus room for the spot that wouldsoon house a screen, projector, and other A/V equipment.
“Budget was a definite concern,” Stephen says. “Since we were building the house (our first) there was very little budget available for the theater itself.”
However, this doesn’t mean that Stephen did not have his eye on his home theater prize. He designated a third-floor bonus room for the spot that would soon house a screen, projector, and other A/V equipment. To prep for that magical day, Stephen pre-wired the entire room, which included in-wall wiring for speakers and a subwoofer, as well as HDMI and power for the projector.
You don't always need the latest and the costliest
Sure, there was plenty of equipment—items that he had built up over time, mostly while Stephen was in college. So he added theater seats, as well as a screen, which he purchased from a custom installer on craigslist. This wasn’t a “pssst…. buddy” type of business; the installer was trying to unload a crop of “scratch-and-dent screens from Tiger Direct.” His trash was Stephen’s treasure.
From there, Stephen filled in the blanks using his hands, as well as refurbished, “B-stock,” and/or open box equipment deals, which helped him keep costs down. For instance, Stephen says he scored a Samsung BD-UP5000 Blu-Ray/HD-DVD combo player for half of the $450 purchase price at Circuit City. He also got his Onkyo SR805 for $500. “That, more than anything else, has kept my costs down significantly.” he says. “There are risks [with refurbished], but usually not that much more than a new piece of equipment—as long as it’s purchased from an authorized dealer.”
The only downside was that each product was missing its respective remote. It didn’t matter; he uses a Harmony 520 to control everything, as well as wow friends and family. The unit is programmed full of activities, which means that the touch of one button can fire up equipment, drop the screen and dim the lights.
Always a bargain hunter, Stephen also saved by purchasing all of his cables at Monoprice.com . He took advantage of many of the discounts this e-tailer offers—and saved a bundle, especially on HDMI cables.
Another cost-cutting measure was Stephen’s homemade subwoofer. Consisting of a 12-inch Ascendant Avalanche XBL2 driver, a 350-watt BASH Digital Switching amplifier and a custom 6.5-foot enclosure, the total cost was about $300. “It performs at levels similar to an SVS Ultra, flat below 20Hz in-room at over 110db,” Stephen says proudly.
Despite what some may think is a hodge-podge of equipment, Stephen’s room has a clean, simple look. “I’ve always been somewhat OCD about clutter and especially about wiring,” he says. “In apartments you can’t do much to the walls and you can’t really hide wiring all that well. Now that I had a blank canvas that belonged to me, I wanted every wire hidden.”
Stephen's Under $5000 DIY Home Theater
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