Permission has been granted to turn the spare room into a man-cave for me and my sons. I have no idea what to get though (other than it should be 1280×800/HD & widescreen).

Just looking to play games and films on it, so thought I’d get a PS4 which I can get Amazon prime (films) on I believe.

Anyway, any recommendations on a projector and surround sound would be great? I want something pretty reasonable but don’t want to spend too much, so looking for a best budget buy type of thing. Say £300-400 for the projector.

Thanks.

Lots of advice/man caves to gawp at HERE
Beware can might cycling look like a cheap hobby.

I’ve no idea how things are now, but we’ve had an Optoma projector for a few years and been happy with it. You need a dark room to get a good picture though, and ideally dark décor in the room too, to keep reflected light off the screen.

It’s all a bit of a pain now I think about it. But when we bought it big TVs were very expensive and still relatively chunky in terms of depth. So unless you’re absolutely desperate for a huge screen (like, 100″) you might be better off with a nice 60″ LCD. Wall mounted with everything chased into the wall it would be pretty slick.

omg, I thank you not for that link. I was happy being blissfully unaware I’d been left behind the times 😉

A projector suits us better as it’s more of an occasional thing and can be packed away when not in use/[people stay over.

Dunno about projectors, but I got a reconditioned HKTS 9 surround sound setup from the Harman Kardon website for less than 50% of RRP. They pop up every now and again in their sale section, so might be worth keeping an eye on. It’s a very good sounding bunch of speakers indeed, and that’s compared to the stereo setup with Kef Q5 floorstanders I had before, not just some crappy soundbar.

BENQ 1070 if you’re a long way from the projecting wall or a BENQ 1080st (short throw) if you’re close. Almost the same projector. The 1080st is great for box rooms like mine where you can 70″ at only 1.5m projecting distances.

The projector will take 1080p from your ps4 and it’s how mine is set up. NETLFIX looks great, Amazon okay and blu-ray fantastic.

You need to put a it of effort into your room layout as Projectors have a bit of fan noise.

You can project onto a wall but a screen is more impressive and accurate.

Most projectors need some sort of calibration and selection of the best settings to extract the best picture quality from it. So check out how to achieve that. The BENQs have a fairly straight forward setup. But because they are budget Projectors don’t have lens shift for off centre placement to your screen.

Thanks thats really useful info, thanks rone. The W1070st is more my budget, and looks ok still.

Will keep an eye on the HK website for those speakers too, thanks Flying Ox.

“A projector suits us better as it’s more of an occasional thing and can be packed away when not in use/people stay over.“

Attach it to the ceiling and leave it set up permanently. Unpacking / packing away every time you use it will be a PITA.