
There’s never enough room in a small house.
If I want to buy a Foosball table, I’m screwed. If Mrs. Cubert wants to bring home a rowing machine, we’d have to lose our second family room. Finding a cheap minimalist home theater with a stellar picture and sound is a daunting proposition.
Home theater is an investment I’ll make room for ANY day. Before the kids came along, I had accumulated various components to fudge a semi-decent system. I had a pair of B&W speakers and monster sub-woofer, and center/surround speakers from Boston Acoustics.
Throw in a $400 bleeding-edge DVD player from 1998, and I was set. Shoot, I even put good money down on Monster Cables. Because, you know, if it’s Monster, it must be better… (Ultimately, I later found out, this is only true if you invest in their heavy-gauge copper speaker wires.)
The catch? My TV was always the runt of the operation. I had finally acquired a piecemeal audio array to blow the walls off the house but was still stuck with a cathode-ray 27″ color TV. Not even innovative “S-Video” could save me.
We finally upgraded to a 32″ LCD flat panel about 12 years ago, but by then, all of the good content was coming out in widescreen (aka “Letterbox”) format. Talk about a proverbial kick in the nuts!
“Oh, I’m sorry, were you hoping to not have to squint at this fine DVD production? We in Hollywood figured you’d enjoy viewing a film with 40% of the viewable area unutilized.”
I know, I know. I could’ve changed the setting to 4:3 crappy cropping, but who wants to miss the action off to the peripheral far left and far right? There could be Jawas hiding behind those rocks!!
Long story short, I had half of the equation for home theater solved, and then our awesome kids were born.
It was then that I realized our priorities for the next several years would not be watching Lord of the Rings marathons, but instead, managing baby and toddler duty in one of the more exhausting (and yet somehow rewarding) marathons of our lives. So, I sold all that $h*t on Craigslist.

Getting Back in the Home Theater Arena
That was almost six years ago. I got some handsome cash selling off those B&Ws, lemme tell ya. We did keep the 32″ LCD and later picked up a slick Samsung 40″ LED for the main living area.
We got hip with streaming, adding an Apple TV 3rd Generation brick to the mix. The minimalist in me sent the Blu-Ray player down to the basement, right around the time we sent Comcast packing.
For the last five-plus years, I was happy to get my big-screen fix by, well, going to the movies! Every six months or so, some big releases would come out that gave me an excuse for a little “me time”.
Or, I’d take a nephew to a show for his birthday gift. “Let’s go check out Guardians of the Galaxy!” or “Hey, I hear another Star Wars movie just came out?”
But a neat little phenomenon has emerged over the last year. Our kids are now 5 and able to sit through a feature-length movie without getting bored. We now have movie nights at home. And it’s lots of fun: stove-top popcorn, rum and cokes, and $3.99 to rent just about any movie off iTunes that Netflix doesn’t offer for free.
Still, that 40″ inch screen leaves a little something to be desired. I may be alone in THIS house with that feeling. Mrs. Cubert and the kids are happy as clams with our current setup.
And heck, I’m entertained too, even without a sound bar in the mix. But there’s a special circumstance on the horizon. Of all the reasons I ever wanted home theater in the first place, the original Star Wars trilogy (GEEK ALERT!!!) was my nirvana.
Simple equation folks: Our kiddos will be six later this year. I was six when I first saw Darth Vader charge down that rebel ship corridor, sometime in the late 70s.
So yeah, Papa is wanting to recapture some of the magic through the eyes (and ears) of his kids. As the mean old Emperor said in the Empire Strikes Back, “Can it be done? Do we have the credits??” (That second part of the quote is unofficial.)
What Is the Best Minimalist Surround Sound System?
Shopping: A love/hate relationship that many of us frugal types STILL struggle with. I kind of enjoy it from time to time. The occasional trip to the big mall (twice a year at most) keeps it a novel experience.
People-watching and other stimuli sure beats sitting at home pretending to be smarter than everyone else. To be fair, I’d always choose board games at the local pub over shopping for relaxing breaks from Minnesota cabin fever.
But I digress. The kind of shopping I’m talking about here is online research. When I need to figure out what’s simply the best, I’ll dive into online reviews, YouTube clips, Amazon ratings from supposed purchasers, and so on. After a while, the eyes glaze over from thumbing through all that jazz on the iPad Mini.
Conclusions? For our sound upgrade, the options I narrowed down to are these:
A.) El Expensive hook-up: Sonos Playbar with Sub-woofer: $1,398 (on Amazon)
B.) Less pricey hook-up: Yamaha YAS-270BL (sound bar and sub-woofer package): $300 (also on Amazon)
Why the BEEF would I even consider option A?? It’s $1,100 MORE than option B. There are just a couple of reasons, but neither of them probably sings to me enough to pull the trigger.
One, Sonos is like the Apple of home theater speakers. They are branded quite well and designed smartly. That’s appealing to me. But how much of that is marketing vs. real value??
When you spend hours researching multiple reviews and such, you figure, “Do I want a super expensive system sitting within spill range of the kids’ Hawaiian Punch??”
And you figure, “Heck. We have a small house. Our 1,500 square foot of living space doesn’t need to sound THAT big.”
And then it dawns on you, “Wait a minute, I write a blog about not spending lots of money on crap you don’t need. WTF, Cubert?”
Here’s our hook-up:

Setting Up a Minimalist Home Theater Room
Oh yeah. We need a big screen. I mean, we want a big screen. Fine. I want a big screen.
The 40″ upstairs won’t cut it. And certainly, the 32″ downstairs in our future home theater room won’t cut it. Gotta go big or go to the movies. But I don’t know if Disney will release the original Star Wars trilogy at the megaplex theater anytime soon. The kids, truly, deserve a big-screen presentation of this classic series. A-hem…
What I’ve learned throughout my research: size matters. When it comes to screens, THX (the granddaddy’s of home theater wizardry) suggests 90″ for a fully immersive experience. Wow. That big. Unga Bunga. Our basement wall isn’t even big enough to support that monster.
Thankfully, there is a lower end of the size spectrum that works. A 65″ screen will fill enough of your field of vision while sitting 9′ away.
STILL. That’s big. Tremendous even. I’ve sat in front of my in-laws’ 60″ behemoth and almost got nauseous. (They left the default high-color motion settings on, so it looked like Sheldon and Howard were about to pop out onto the coffee table.)
I’m gunning for 65″. If I’m going to give a little on the audio side of things, I could use the savings to ensure the picture quality is top-notch. Again, my research has been online and bolstered by lovely YouTube reviews.
OLED is good. But it was also really expensive. You’ll drop over two grand easy on a quality OLED by LG or Samsung. There is an alternative set from Vizio (the Costco/Sam’s Club stalwart) called “Quantum” that comes close to OLED quality, but for a lot less dough. How much less? Not a lot less. It still costs $1,800 last I checked.
Total setback to the Cubert Family wallet? $300 + $1,800, or $2,100. That assumes free shipping. GULP.
Trade-offs With a Minimalist Home Theater Investment
I can count on two hands the things I’d rather be doing on a given day, than sitting on my bum watching a big fat TV in our basement: Playing cards with friends, checking out a new taproom, exploring new paved trails on my bike, etc., etc., etc. So why am I even considering this coin drop?
Well, Winter has something to do with it. Our newfound affinity for family movie night has nicely coincided with the bitter cold and snow that’s now upon us. There are only so many LEGO Death Stars you can build before your fingernails cry “UNCLE!”
Maybe I could make the argument of how much we’ll save by not going to the theater to watch movies. But that opportunity cost argument is a bit of a stretch since we aren’t big theatergoers anyhow.
There are some potential uses aside from movies though, right?? I mean, we have a Nintendo Wii. Maybe it’ll be fun to Wii Bowl on a mammoth screen, with pins falling in heavy bass. We could host a Super Bowl party next year. Workout DVDs would be IN YO FACE!!
It all comes down to whether the annual bonus comes through in the next couple of weeks, and is a decent enough amount. We’re still trying to pay off our mortgage and set aside cash for our Financial Independence wad. Priorities, man. Priorities.
What helps?? After five years of paying through the nose for childcare, we’re finally catching a break with “free” public school and after-school programs that are a LOT less expensive.
Now it’s time to remember my roots and make sure I don’t fall off the wagon…
Do you have home theater hookups you’d like to brag about? Please share in the comments below!
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I’m still hanging on to the remnants of my early adulthood with my huge floor standing JBL speakers (that I spent a fortune on back then) and receiver in our basement. The 6 disc CD changer and high end cassette deck I paid hundreds of dollars for back then are long gone to Craigslist. I think i have visions of once again some day laying on the couch with the volume turned up listening to my favorite bands jam – but right now with a 10 month old in the house it seems that any noise in the house is followed by “shhhh… don’t wake the baby! ”
When we built our house a few years back we made sure to include a mount for a big screen TV in our living room – 50″ in our case. I think that’s just about perfect for our living room. Then we have the FireTV mounted to the back of the TV, and a Nintendo Switch and Xbox inside the cabinet. No fancy sound system or speakers. Just can’t justify it.
That doesn’t stop me from dreaming though. We plan on finishing our basement in the next year or two, and one thing we’re thinking about adding (ok, only me) is the entire home theater setup. In ceiling speakers,subwoofer, 70″ TV, etc. We’ll see if that makes the final cut after all the other fixtures are priced out including the nice river rock fireplace my wife is hoping for. We shall see. Personally I think it’s a necessity for all those Star Wars, Lord of the Rings and Lego movie marathons I’ll be having with the kiddos.. 🙂
See … You’ve got your priorities straight! No bias here, man! 😉
If I get my dream hook-up set up, I’ll have you over to scout it out — bring a blu ray of your choice!
I’m still holding on to JBL 110’s from the 80’s! They just don’t make ’em like they used to.
Hey, Maverick! That’s the truth! Interesting how the initial lines of DVD / CD players, for instance, and even the flat screen TVs seemed to be crafted with more intent and better materials. They were also a lot more expensive, but held up over the long haul.
Good stuff. We have been exclusively Roku streaming for about 2 years now. We don’t miss anything from cable… I need to setup an antenna at some point but with local news available on Roku now too it is less of a need.
For TV, we have always bought one generation back. ~20 years ago, we bought a new shiny rear projection TV (not HD). People thought we were crazy but you really did not need HD back then. About 8 years ago, we bought a replacement (DLP technology) and gifted the old rear projo. RP is still chugging along really well by the way.
We went with DPL for size and cost considerations. Now, I see large, large sets for half what we paid. It’s an amazing world..
I didn’t realize Roku had local TV offerings. I’ll have to look into that!
Rear projection if done right can really look amazing. I was also really impressed with the precursors to LED — the vaunted Plasma Television. Really expensive though…
My wife finally broke and gave me the opening to get a 4K tv to replace my 6yo 1080p 47 inch. The TCL 6-Series are calling to me. 600 bucks for the 55inch for built in Roku (one less wire). I am looking to buy this weekend.
Sweet!!! Congrats on getting your “ticket”, Daniel! The TCL is highly reviewed and CHEAP. Keep us posted how it works out for you.
Sounds like you found something to do during that polar vortex. Nice! I don’t miss Minnesota in February at all. For the super frugal and super high end performance you could always buy speakers and make your own boxes or what I did was buy a decent but couple models past latest Onkyo receiver, a TV from Costco, and then bought in wall speakers online for pennies on the dollar and installed them myself to make a really nice 7.1 system for less than $1K total. Not super frugal, but Imagine how those space battles sound on this thing. Also since I got a quote for $10K to have a 7.1 system put in by a “professional” I liked to rationalize that I saved about $9K by doing it myself. haha.
Hey Chris! That’s exactly right. When it’s 10 below zero with the wind whipping, ain’t no one in this neighborhood out sledding. It could be that this home theater purchase is admission to the fact we’ll have more of these Polar Vortexes thanks to Global Warming. Hoo boy…
Nice DIY work on your system! Man, I can’t imagine spending $10K for this set up. In this day and age of low cost high-tech, just plunk down a few hundred bucks for the soundbar/subwoofer, and a decent TV at Costco. Even Blu Ray players are under $100.
I’m about ready to replace our 40″ 720p TV too. It’s been good enough, but we’re moving into a new home. This thing has got to go. I’ll probably wait for the Black Friday sales, though. No hurry. Hopefully, the price will drop a bit this year. Anything will be better than what we have now. 🙂
Hi Joe — Yep, our 40″ LED has been a pretty reliable screen these past several years. We love it in our main living room – not too big and doesn’t offend the feng shui gods too much… The 65″ beast goes straight to the basement. We rarely hang out down there but this “home theater” business will give us a reason to enjoy a part of our house that often goes neglected.
Good luck with Black Friday (seems so far off!)
i’ve been cobbling this set-up together for many years, cubert. it started with some bose 301’s from around 1989 which we still use. we still have a vcr and that dvd recorder hooked up to our a/v minimal receiver. we have the directtv until i ditch them later this year and i’m a real technology cheapskate on tv’s. the set-up sounds good and a 40″ flat thing works fine for us. even the mlb streaming is HD now with a fire wire.
good luck with the new setup. you could always work another year if you spend too much.
Sounds familiar! I swear, I spent the better part of ten years piecing it all together. At one point, I put our fantastic B&W speakers upstairs, and man, did THAT make for a cable stew. If there’s one thing I can’t stand it’s a cable and wire spaghetti. That’s part of the reason I’m entertaining the Sonos line. Wireless sounds pretty appealing for a novice minimalist.
Our 40″ LED is reliable and has been using for quite a long time. Ideal for play Nintendo Wii.
Thanks, Cubert
Thanks for your comment, Ann! We use a 40″ Samsung LED for 90% of our TV watching. It works nicely for just about everything, including games.