How to set up a home theater in your living room

Not every home theater setup needs to have a projector screen and a popcorn machine. Since most of us are working with a regular living room and a couch, the good news is that a few targeted upgrades can transform that space into something that feels like a movie theater every night (sans the $20 ticket prices!).

At Reviewed, we’ve tested hundreds of TVs, soundbars, and streaming devices to figure out what’s actually worth it and what to skip. Below is our not-so-secret recipe for how to set up a home theater right in your home.

1. Start with the right TV

Our top pick: LG C5 OLED

Everything else in your home theater is only as good as the screen it’s feeding. Our current top pick is the LG C5 OLED, the latest chapter in a C-series lineage we’ve been recommending for five years running.

What makes an OLED the right foundation for a home theater setup comes down to one thing: black levels. Unlike LED TVs, which use a backlight behind the panel, OLED pixels produce their own light. That gives you contrast ratios that no LED can match, which is what makes dark scenes in movies look like they do in a theater rather than washed-out gray. The C5 pairs that with vibrant, accurate color, Dolby Vision HDR, and a new α9 AI Processor Gen8 that handles everything from upscaling to motion processing automatically.

For gamers, the C5 brings a 144Hz refresh rate and a 0.1ms response time, plus HDMI 2.1 ports for PS5 and Xbox Series X passthrough at 4K/120Hz. For movie nights, it has Filmmaker Mode, which disables all post-processing and shows you exactly what the director intended.

It’s available in sizes from 42 to 83 inches, making it a genuine fit for almost any living room. If you want to see all of our tested options at every price point, check out our guide to the best TVs.

Buy the LG C5

2. Upgrade your sound

Our top pick: LG Sound Suite H7 with Dolby Atmos FlexConnect

Here’s the thing most people get wrong when building a home theater: they spend everything on the TV and treat the sound as an afterthought. Your TV’s built-in speakers, no matter how good the panel is, can’t produce the low-end response or spatial depth that makes movies feel the way they do in a theater.

A great Dolby Atmos soundbar is one of the highest-impact upgrades you can make, and now, one of the most interesting ones has just hit the market. The LG Sound Suite H7 is the world’s first soundbar with Dolby Atmos FlexConnect, a technology that genuinely changes how wireless surround sound works.

The problem with most Atmos setups is placement: traditional systems require you to position speakers in specific spots, calibrate manually, and hope the result is optimized for your room. FlexConnect skips all of that. Pair the H7 with LG Sound Suite wireless speakers, put them anywhere in the room—on a shelf, behind the couch, in a corner—and the system uses built-in microphones to detect their exact position and recalibrate everything automatically. You’re not telling it where the speakers are; it figures it out.

The hardware backs it up: a 9.1.6-channel configuration with 12 speaker drivers and 8 passive radiators, driven by LG’s α11 AI Processor. AI Room Calibration Pro analyzes your room’s acoustics and tunes every channel without any manual input. Sound Follow tracks your position in the room and shifts the soundfield accordingly. And if you want to expand, the H7 anchors the full Sound Suite ecosystem, adding wireless speakers and a subwoofer incrementally as your budget allows.

If you want to explore other options at different price points, we’ve tested the best soundbars across every budget.

Buy the LG H7 Sound Suite H7

3. Add a dedicated streaming device

Our pick: Roku Ultra

Even if your new TV has a built-in smart platform, we almost always recommend adding an external streaming device. They’re faster, get software updates more reliably, and give you a better interface than what most TVs ship with. Our favorite for most people is the Roku Ultra, our top-ranked streaming device and a recommendation we’ve held for several years.

The Roku Ultra supports 4K, HDR (including Dolby Vision and HDR10+), and Dolby Atmos audio on compatible services. Its Voice Remote Pro is genuinely the best streaming remote available—rechargeable, with programmable shortcut buttons, a lost remote finder, and a headphone jack for private listening.

Buy the Roku Ultra

4. A few more things that actually matter

Once you’ve got the three main components sorted, a handful of smaller upgrades can sharpen the experience considerably. None of these requires a big investment but they make a noticeable difference.

• Use HDMI eARC, not optical. If you’re connecting a soundbar to your TV, use the HDMI eARC port (labeled on most modern TVs). It supports lossless audio formats, including full Dolby Atmos, which the older optical connection can’t carry. This single cable swap can meaningfully improve what you’re hearing.
• Control your ambient light. Contrast is the single biggest factor in perceived picture quality, and nothing kills it faster than a bright window behind the screen. Blackout curtains or even basic blinds make an OLED TV look dramatically better during daytime viewing.
• Get your TV off the floor. Screen height matters more than most people realize. The center of your screen should be roughly at seated eye level (around 42 to 48 inches from the floor for most setups).
• Calibrate your TV’s picture mode. Most TVs ship in “Vivid” or “Dynamic” mode, which is tuned to look punchy on a bright showroom floor, not in your living room. Switch to “Filmmaker Mode” (on LG and Samsung TVs) or “Custom” and dial back the brightness and sharpness. It takes five minutes and makes a real difference.
• Don’t overlook the streaming plan. 4K HDR content is only available on certain subscription tiers. Netflix, Disney+, and Apple TV+ all require an upgrade from their base plans to access 4K. Make sure your plan matches your hardware, or you’re leaving quality on the table.

That’s really it. A great TV, a reliable streaming device, and a soundbar worth its specs will take your living room further than any amount of cable management or room treatment.