This beautiful surround sound system is old school in all the best ways and wouldn’t have looked out of place a decade or two ago. (Don’t get us wrong: We literally mean “seen,” as in looks; this is a thoroughly modern performer.)
We feel that as good and improving as the products Dolby Atmos soundbars may be, you really can’t do better for home theater sound than through a true multi-channel home theater amplifier and surround-sound speaker package. The disadvantages of such an arrangement are clear: you cannot avoid the fact that you need quite a bit of space to house all those speakers, and the AV amplifier itself is a hefty beast.
And all that before we mention the projector. For which you need both a screen and a room big enough to warrant one.
If you don’t quite have that space, we recommend replacing the projector here with a decent large-screen television, such as the Sony XR-55A95K QD-OLED. The sound this setup produces deserves to be heard.
The system
Projector: Epson EH-TW9400 (£2499 / $3999 / AU$4999)
AV receiver: Denon AVC-X3800H (£1499 / $1700 / AU$2550)
Blu ray player: Panasonic DP-UB820EB (£299 / $399 / AU$453)
Speaker Package: Wharfedale Evo 4.4 5.1 Pack (£2799 / $5095 / AU$8067)
Total: £7,096 / $11,193 / AU$16,069
or
TV: Sony XR-55A95K (£1499 / $2499 / AU$3000)
AV receiver: Denon AVC-X3800H (£1499 / $1700 / AU$2550)
Blu ray player: Panasonic DP-UB820EB (£299 / $399 / AU$453)
Speaker Package: Wharfedale Evo 4.4 5.1 Pack (£2799 / $5095 / AU$8067)
Total: £6096 / $9693 / AU$14,070
Projector: Epson EH-TW9400
Each of the products you see above is the proud owner of one Which Hi-Fi? Best Buy from our recent 2022 Awards. You can’t always throw together a bunch of award winners and expect them to perform at their best, tempting as that may seem. In this case, however, the separately protruding components fit together wonderfully.
The projector uses Epson’s 4K Enhancement pixel shifting technology to display that higher resolution, but does so with panache and is significantly cheaper than a true native 4K unit. As we say in our review, “At the moment, unless you’re on a budget over £4000, the EH-TW9400 is as good as it gets.”
4K QD OLED TV: Sony XR-55A95K
Let’s face it, not everyone has the space to place a beamer and projection screen in the living room. An alternative option would be to go for this Sony QD-OLED TV. It offers some of the best pictures we’ve ever seen, packed with detail and blessed with excellent color reproduction. Ask it to handle any 4K movies and TV shows and you’ll be handsomely rewarded with a natural, authentic presentation that you can’t help but be blown away by.
AV receiver: Denon AVC-X3800H
Just as the Epson sits at the center of our award-winning projectors, Denon’s mighty AVC-X3800H is our midfield general when it comes to home theater amplifiers. This is a flexible, feature-packed behemoth that has everything any enthusiast could want – maybe even a little bit more for future-proof improvements.
All six HDMI inputs and three outputs are HDMI 2.1 rated up to 40 Gbps, capable of 8K/60Hz or 4K/120Hz pass-through. They offer compatibility with every major HDR format and a whole range of gamer-friendly technology is supported too.
Speaker Package: Wharfedale Evo 4.4 5.1 pack
And of course the Denon AVR is capable of making this rather special speaker package exciting while watching a movie.
Another winner of Product of the Year, the Wharfedale Evo 4.4 5.1 speaker package feels excellent value for money despite the price tag. This powerful yet detailed system never sounds like it’s working too hard. Voices are projected with transparency and full of character, and there’s an ease and spaciousness to the performance that makes this a hugely enjoyable setup to listen to for long periods of time.
Blu-ray player: Panasonic DP-UB820EB
As this is a full cinema system, it makes sense to have a Blu-ray player in it, to take full advantage of the 4K advantages disc players have over streamers – although we’d probably add some sort of streamer at some point too. (the new Apple TV 4K will probably fit, but we haven’t tested that at the time of writing).
This Panasonic was the only Blu-ray player in our Awards this year, proving just how much streaming stole the show. But there’s no question that the most consistent quality 4K picture is still delivered by a disc player, and this one delivers a hugely immersive and impactful picture, backed up by a strong audio performance that the rest of this brilliant system deserves.
Verdict
This is a pleasantly old-school looking home theater setup with modern smarts thanks to award-winning kit. You might be tempted to opt for the convenience of fewer, smaller boxes and if space is at a premium, that’s totally understandable. However, if you’ve got the space (and budget), we highly recommend this more conventional, not to mention great-sounding, AV system.
LAKE:
This humble TV and Dolby Atmos soundbar system is a brilliant bargain
This premium home theater system of your dreams is packed with award winners
Our pick from the best speaker packages we tested