During the holidays, I gave you insight into some essential home theater gifts for the film buff on your list. Then more recently, I took the high road and presented a guide to creating the ultimate home screening room experience. Unfortunately for many of you, the costs associated with both of those projects -- especially in the case of the ultimate screening room -- were far too prohibitive and not something you could, or would, want to afford.

Given that, I went back to the proverbial drawing board and decided to put together a guide to low budget home theater gear you could use to achieve as much of the "big screen" experience as possible, given the constraints of a very limited budget. Putting something like this together for almost no money isn't as easy as it might seem. Getting good quality gear can be expensive and even something decent still isn't always what some would consider "cheap."

With that in mind, I decided to challenge myself to put together a home screening room I could enjoy, but with a very limited budget of only $1500.00 -- the approximate amount of my last tax refund. Sticking to this budget meant, of course, a lot of research, bargain hunting and in some cases, haggling. But in the end, I found the following items that will do your movies at home justice. And even if you don't get the "ultimate" home theater experience in your custom screening room, you can still have a good time watching some great movies in your living room while not spending a ton of money.

So, with our budget in mind, let's get to it ...

Like most of you who read Cinematical, I love movies. Thinking about them, reading about them and dreaming about them. But mostly, I just love watching them. Movies can take us to new worlds, introduce us to new characters and situations we've never encountered before, teach us, inspire us and entertain us – all while glued to the edge of our seat in a darkened room. But if you're also like me in another way, leaving the house to go see a film at the local multiplex is often a frustrating and unrewarding experience with ticket prices, parking, people on cell phones and crying children to contend with. So, what's a movie lover with some cash burning a hole in his pocket supposed to do?

Well, instead of braving the highways, fighting for parking, being abused by the price of tickets and popcorn and then having to watch your movie while some idiot breaks up with his girlfrieid via cell phone during the climactic chase sequence, you do what many people are doing these days: you put together your own screening room at home to watch movies. Last year, just in time for the holidays, I gave you some tips about essential home theater gifts for the film buff on your list. At that time, I made an effort to keep costs at a certain level or below so as not to put too much of a strain on people's already taxed holiday finances. This time, however, we're going to throw things like cost right out the window and flush with all that tax return dough, we're going to put together the "ultimate" home screening room without much thought to cost. So, with that in mind, let's get to it and spend some money!


Determine Your Budget & Make a List -- Obviously, you could spend almost as much money as you make in a year on high-end components and the rest of the things that would go into the ultimate home screening room. And even though we're not giving much thought to money this time, you should still consider where to allocate your funds and what general budget you want to hit -- just so you have a guideline. So, the first thing you should do is think about how much money you want to spend and what you want to spend it on. When putting together your screening room, there are a few essentials that every screening room needs to have in order to function at the level we want it to. As this list goes on, we'll get to them.

With the holidays fast approaching, your thoughts have surely turned to gifts -- whether for that special someone or for yourself. Hey, why not? You've been good this year, right? And, as you happen to be reading this at a site whose focus is movies, it stands to reason you may want to watch a few of them once in awhile. I'm sure many of you remember the good old days when you went to a theater to watch a movie in all of its wide-screen, THX enhanced splendor. These days, with ticket prices, parking, waiting in line and those jerks on cell phones, actually going to the theater is something people do less and less.

Instead, people are staying home, curling up on the couch and watching their favorite movie on DVD in the comfort of their homes. I have to admit that its getting harder and harder for me to go to the theater too. Even though I can go to screenings and all that, its still, in many cases, much more of an ordeal than it needs to be -- or that it seems to be worth. Consequently, I spend more and more time watching movies at home. And that, friends, is why we're here today.

If you watch movies at home and want to maximize the "cinematic experience" of those movies, following are some essential tools that will help you get there. As its not possible for me to have owned every different kind of equipment out there, this list will focus primarily on the items that make up my personal home theater setup -- which was put together over the last few months after exhaustive research. Plus, these items make great gifts too. So, on with the show!