What's Your Home Theater Budget break down? (Here's Mine)

[jay21112]

So, I bought my house 5+ years ago, and since then most of my free time and spare change has gone into building my home theater. I'm in the middle of adding 2 more subs (Thanks to Funk Audio), and I decided to calculate what my hobby has cost me. It turns out I could have been driving a pretty nice car had I spent my money on that (let's not get crazy here, I'm talking maybe a gently used Corvette - with no extras....if I knew the sales guy...and I was buying it in the middle of winter...and...and...).

Anyway, dollars mean nothing because everyone has a different income and spends their money differently. The interesting thing was what happened when I did percentages. For insurance purposes (God forbid there is a fire or a robbery) I keep very detailed records on everything I own. So, I looked at what percentage of the total amount of money I've spent on my theater was spent in different areas. Here it is:

32% Speakers (Speakers, Subwoofers, Transducers, etc..)
15% Electronics (TV, Receiver, Player, etc...): 15%
14% Power (Power Cleaners, Voltage Stabilizers, Extra Circuits and electrical wiring, etc..)
09% Cables (Video, Interconnect, Speaker, Power, Extension Cords)
11% Platforms, Stands, Isolation components
06% Acoustics (Absorbers, Diffusors, Curtains, Insulation, Doors)
01% Cooling (Fans)
11% Decor (Seating, Lighting, Cable Hiders, Tables, Refrigerators, etc...)
1% Accessories (Game accessories, remotes, etc..)
<1% Calibration (Meters, Discs, Software, etc..)

Going into this I never said "I need to spend this amount of money on x and this on y, and this on z." I just slowly bought what I thought I needed and kept going. And what you see above is the result. How does your stand up?

 

[Grador]

I'll try to whip up some numbers later, but for me this is going to be a little difficult. I have a heavy dose of hand me down furniture and some of my other equipment, so the numbers are going to be a little weird. When I get my numbers together I'll probably split the TV out from the rest of the electronics as to me they are separate categories.

 

[brianedm]

Off the top of my head I've spent $4200 or so on speakers and subs, $1500 on a/v specific furniture, I think around $300 or so on power, and about $4500 or so on electronics. This is just the stuff that's still in my set up.

40% speakers/subs
14.28% furniture
2.85% power
42.85% electronics

Edit: forgot to include about $1500 for my tv. And I didn't include cables as that's such a small part of the budget. Updated numbers and percentages.

 

[fuzz092888]

53% on speakers/subs

47% on electronics

But I don't include my TV since I got that way before, nor am I including the projector and screen. I'm also not including the speaker stands I'm making or the component stand that was built for me as a gift or the amp that was given to me as a gift. Then there's the pair of surrounds that were graciously loaned to me and the center channel speaker that was more of trade than a purchase. Plus I didn't account for the gear that's been bought and sold.

Basically I have no idea what the exact number is just a rough estimate. It gets tricky when trying to assign value to stuff that you didn't exactly buy, then the stuff you bought and sold. I know I came out a little ahead on some stuff and took a loss on some other stuff. I'm happy with what I have now so I figure I broke even on the rest.

 

[cpp]

40% - Speakers/subs
20% - AVR & OPPO
20% - TV's
10% - Furniture
8% - Room Treatment (Real Trap - AcoustiMAC)
2% - Cables, Remotes,

 

[hizzaah]

32% TV (Vizio 37")
41% Speakers/Receivers (Onkyo HTiB, Ascends, HSU, and Denon)
20% Sources (Xbox and BR)
5% Remote (Harmony One)
2% Cables/Wires

My theater is currently my living room and my furniture was given to me so I didn't include any of it..

 

[Bryceo]

Living area
60% speakers and subs
10% electronics
30% display
witch brings the total to just under 9,500
bedroom
40% speakers subs
40% display
20% gear
$4,500

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

I think mine is 80% speakers/subs, 19% electronics, 1% cables/accessories.

 

[avnetguy]

HT Setup

44% Speakers
32% TV
16% AVR + AMP
6% Consoles
2% Other

Steve

 

[cpp]

I think mine is 80% speakers/subs, 19% electronics, 1% cables/accessories.

well it would depend on which "system = speakers " you would using at a given time, unless you happen to utilize all of your speakers for HT so actually you could in your case end up with multiple percentages

 

[Steve81]

My breakdown is:

Speakers/Subwoofer: 54%
Receiver/Amplifier/Sources: 18%
TV: 18%
Misc: (Wiring, Fans, Calibration Tools, Etc): 10%

 

[Hocky]

80% speakers/20% everything else seems about right for my junk, too.

 

[agarwalro]

Home office: 100% speakers
Living room: 99.96% TV+PS3 0.04% Wireless headphones (no speakers )
Mobile kit: 20% electronics 80% headphones