Setting up a home theatre: gear, wiring and installers

What a home theatre install involves

At the simple end, an installer wall-mounts the TV, conceals the cables in the wall and sets up a soundbar — a few hours of neat work. A step up is a surround system: a receiver, five or more speakers placed around the room (in-ceiling, in-wall or on stands), cabling run inside the walls, and a calibration pass to balance it all. At the top is a purpose-built cinema room with a projector and screen, many speakers, acoustic treatment, blockout and lighting control.

The big practical variable is cabling. Running speaker and HDMI cable through existing walls and ceilings is slow, fiddly work; roughing the same cable in while a room is open during a build or renovation is quick and cheap. If you're renovating anyway, pre-wiring for surround sound — even before you buy the gear — is one of the smartest cheap decisions you can make.

How the cost works

Home theatre pricing splits into equipment and installation, and the equipment usually dominates. Labour often runs at a typical hourly rate, but the display, amplifier and speakers are where the budget really goes — the calculator on this page shows indicative bands from a simple setup through to a full cinema room. Treat all of it as a guide until an installer has seen your room.

Beyond the gear tier, the multipliers are retrofit difficulty and room treatment. Fishing cable through a finished two-storey home takes far longer than a single-storey new build with open walls. Acoustic panels, blockout curtains and soft furnishings add cost but genuinely improve the result. A projector-and-screen combination usually costs more installed than even a very large TV.

Choosing an installer (and the electrician question)

Audiovisual installation itself is largely an unlicensed specialty — you're choosing on experience, tidiness and whether they measure and plan rather than guess. But the moment the job needs new power points, a dedicated circuit or any hard-wired mains work, that portion must be done by a licensed electrician. Ask upfront whether the electrician is included in the quote or a separate cost, because it's a common hidden extra.

Good installers talk about speaker placement and acoustics, not just brand names, and they'll steer you to spend proportionally more on speakers and room treatment than on the screen — because sound is what actually makes a theatre feel like one. Ask to see or hear a finished room, and confirm who calibrates the system once it's in.

Mistakes to avoid

Most home theatre disappointments come from spending the budget in the wrong place — a spectacular screen let down by thin sound — or from discovering the electrical work wasn't in the quote. Planning the cabling and the power before the gear arrives avoids both.

• Pouring the budget into the display and skimping on speakers and acoustics
• Not confirming whether new power points and circuits need a licensed electrician, and who pays
• Missing the cheap chance to pre-wire for surround sound during a build or renovation
• Retrofitting cabling through finished walls without budgeting for the extra labour
• Ignoring room treatment — a bright, echoey room undoes good equipment
• Buying all the gear yourself, then finding the installer won't warrant a system they didn't supply