Best Home Theatre Systems Under $1000 Reviews

If your budget is limited, but you want to upgrade your home multimedia system, choose equipment as seriously as possible. Enjoying quality equipment with modern features is quite affordable today, so I’ve selected the best home theater systems under $1000 for you. By choosing one of these, you can be on-trend and more importantly, enjoy the benefits of surround sound, whether you’re a beginner or just prefer the compactness and portability of home theater. Here you’ll find equipment for every taste.

Our pick

Yamaha YHT-5960U

Best home theater system under $1000

Transform your home entertainment with the YHT-5960U home-theater-in-a-box. This 5.1-channel surround sound system includes a powerful subwoofer and a complete set of surround speakers, delivering an immersive experience. Read the full review.

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What kind of home theater systems are there?

While searching for a home theater system, you will definitely face the question of which system to choose. After all, there are several options on the market to consider, based not only on your budget but also on your capabilities. And I’m referring to your room size, whether you can afford to drill through walls or whether you move often. Or maybe you just prefer compactness? Or are you a fan of minimalism and don’t want to deal with many wires?

Sure, you can install your inexpensive home theater anywhere, but it will work most effectively when it matches the square footage. Remember, those inexpensive home theaters are usually designed for small spaces because they are not the maximum configuration, even in their classic form. And often consist of several small components altogether. In this review, I offer three types of home theater systems, and I can promise that you will find a solution that is right for you!

Home theaters in-a-box

The home theater in-a-box kit consists of speakers and a receiver. Everything is ready to plug in effortlessly. Often these systems suffer from poor quality, but my review presents two great options.

Home theater systems comprised of separate

Selecting individual system components is difficult because you need to understand compatibility options. My review presents two home theater speaker sets to facilitate your selection process and give you quality surround sound.

Soundbars

This system is not full-featured in the traditional sense, but it will be perfect for those who appreciate portability. It will save you space and get rid of unnecessary holes in the wall openings because the soundbar already has built-in speakers of the center and side front speakers. Subwoofer and rear speakers are also often included. But it is worth noting that such a system loses in sound to the above described. Nevertheless, it is a worthy alternative.

Best home theater systems under $1000 reviews

Home theaters in-a-box

Yamaha YHT-5960U – best home theater in-a-box

And first on my list is the optimal theater in-a-box in the price/quality ratio Yamaha YHT-5960U, which has 5 channels and can connect 2 subwoofers. Its main advantage is compact speakers, which will suit those who appreciate minimalism and style.

The receiver has 80 W power (6 Ohms, 20Hz-20kHz, 0.06% THD, 2ch) and offers surround sound in Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio formats. These are older 3D sound formats, but most Blu-ray content is available today. But you’ll have the advantage of concert sound with Yamaha’s patented CINEMA DSP 3D technology.

HDMI 2.1 inputs with HDCP 2.3 will allow you to watch content in HDR 10+ and Dolby Vision at 4K/120Hz and 8K/60Hz (upscaling to 4K/60Hz). More goodies are Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless connectivity for streaming services, voice assistants, multi-room audio MusicCast, AirPlay 2, and Spotify Connect (2 Zones). My drawbacks include the lack of a phono input for the turntable. Although you can connect the turntable via Audio In using an external preamp, I would prefer to have one.

As for the speakers, the 4 front and rear speakers are the same size with a 2.75″ cone. So you can easily fit them on the shelves. The subwoofer with an 8” cone is very powerful, offering 50W RMS (5 Ohms and 28-200Hz). The overall frequency range of the system is 28Hz-25kHz, with 6 Ohm impedance and a maximum power of 100W.

Home Theater System with Sony STRDH590

The next home sound system option that comes with it is the 5-channel Sony STR-DH590. First of all, I want to tell you that it is more expensive than the previous Yamaha, but it has both advantages and disadvantages compared to it.

Let’s start with the receiver, which is a bit simpler than the Yamaha. For example, with HDMI HDCP 2.2, you’ll only get 4K/60Hz (4:4:4) content, though you’ll also be able to view content in HDR10 and Dolby Vision. The surround sound formats are also quite a bit inferior to the previous set, offering DTS-HD Master Audio decoding but not Dolby Master HD. However, the slightly simpler Dolby Digital will be available to you. Among the connections, you’ll find an additional subwoofer output, Audio In for use with an external preamp player (also no phono input), and a wireless Bluetooth connection. But you won’t find Wi-Fi! The advantages are high power of 145W (6 Ohms, 1kHz, 1ch THD 0.9%) and a wide range of speakers from 6 to 16 Ohms.

But the speakers in the Sony system are just full-featured, with floor-standing front components. The total power of the system (which is not surprising, considering the receiver’s capabilities) makes 145W (6 Ohm, 1kHz, THD 0.9%, 1 ch) and reproduces sound in the frequency range 53 Hz-50kHz, which exceeds Yamaha’s capabilities. Sony also equipped its speakers with Wide Dispersion Super Tweeter technology, unique, foamed (dual-layer) mica woofer diaphragms, and High-quality crossover networks for wonderfully nuanced sound. The subwoofer has a frequency response of 28Hz-20kHz, offers 115W power output, and features a 9.84” dynamic.

Home theater speaker kits

Klipsch 5.1 Home Theater Pack – best home theater speaker kit

And here we come to home theater speaker kits, the first of which is the full-size Klipsch 5.1 Home Theater Pack. This set looks stunning in the brand’s traditional black MDF with copper-colored speakers and low-profile magnetic grilles and perfectly complements your interior.

The system consists of Klipsch Reference Series speakers with a 45Hz – 21kHz frequency response +/- 3 dB. In addition, all speakers are equipped with special technologies, which are the company’s business cards. And these are the 6.5″ IMG polymer woofer (for high-rise 5.25″ IMG woofers) in spun copper with excellent low-frequency response and a 1″ polymer aluminum LTS tweeters, and a Tractrix hybrid horn. They are unaffected by vibration and operate at high power without loss of quality. You’ll find an LED power indicator on the 12″ subwoofer, and it’s rated at 200W (up to 400W at peak).

And while the 5.1 system doesn’t offer Dolby Atmos surround sound, the 625FA front floor speakers have a Built-in Elevation Channel for it. Also, you can always expand this system with more additional overhead speakers if you want. Also, the Klipsch 5.1 Home Theater Pack is compatible with many types of equipment.

Definitive Technology ProCinema 6D

The second representative of the home theater speaker kits category is slightly more expensive than Klipsch, but compact size 5.1 Definitive Technology ProCinema 6D for those who appreciate minimalism and style.

The surround sound system kit includes 4 satellites and a center speaker made of sealed MDF in a glossy finish. All satellites are the same shape and size, operate with up to 150W of power in the 22 Hz – 30kHz frequency range, and have a nominal impedance range of 4 – 8 Ohms. All speakers are also equipped with a 1″ aluminum dome tweeter, two 3.25″ bass/midrange drivers with patented BDSS (Balanced Double Surround System) technology, and two 3.25″ bass radiators. According to the manufacturer, this configuration provides a more detailed and immersive sound by increasing the bass-generating surface area without increasing the cabinet size to enjoy the sound fully. The subwoofer with anti-resonance design has a round 8″ driver with 250W power and 22 Hz to 150Hz. Sure, it’s inferior in power to the previous Klipsch, but these are pretty good numbers for a system of this size.

Home theater systems with soundbars

Nakamichi Shockwafe Elite 7.2 SSE – best home theater soundbar

As you can see, all of the above kits are 5.1 channels. But if you dream of owning a surround sound system under $1000 with Dolby Atmos surround sound capability – you should consider home theater systems with soundbars. And a great option for you can be Nakamichi Shockwafe Elite 7.2 SSE, which we will now consider in more detail.

So, what we have here is a soundbar acting as a center and front speakers, rear surround speakers, and two (!) wireless subwoofers with 8″ speakers, which will travel with you no matter how often you move around. The main feature of the Shockwafe Elite is Spatial Surround Elevation (SSE), with which the sound fills the entire room and the ability to expand it, which is not available to all systems of its kind. The peak power of the parts is 330W for the soundbar, 100W for the rear speakers, and 370W for the subwoofers, and the frequency range ranges from 35 Hz to 20kHz.

The soundbar lets us connect your equipment via optical, coaxial, and HDMI (2.0, HDCP 2.2) inputs (HDMI ARC is also available). You can watch high-quality content in Dolby Vision formats or use the function and 4K UHD HDR pass-through with Dolby Atmos sound, DTS:X, and other variations. The Nakamichi Elite 7.2 SSE also has built-in Bluetooth (BT) with Qualcomm aptX technology for listening to lossless audio content from compression.

Polk Magnifi Max AX SR

And the last and the most budget home theater system on my list is the minimalistic and simple Polk Magnifi Max AX SR with 7.1.2 configuration, which includes a soundbar with 11 built-in speakers, a wireless subwoofer with 10″ speakers and is equipped with very interesting features.

The soundbar’s connections include HDMI connectors for 4K/60Hz video viewing (as well as HDMI eARC output), Toslink Optical, and USB (for firmware updates). And Wi-Fi wireless connectivity allows you to listen to content streaming services Chromecast, AirPlay 2, Spotify Connect, including working with the Alexa voice assistant. You can also connect your devices using Bluetooth, but not only that. Wireless lets you connect multiple MagniFi AX Series soundbars to listen to music in multiple rooms. This system optimizes listening content with Dolby Atmos and DTS:X surround sound for SDA.

With Polk Magnifi Max AX SR, you can optimize the sound of TV, Movie, Music, and Night modes, and Polk’s patented VoiceAdjust technology lets you hear dialog more clearly. In addition to placing your wireless subwoofer wherever you want, you can also fine-tune the bass sound thanks to BassAdjust. You won’t be able to adjust the other frequencies, though.

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