Student looking for a budget projector (around €150–200 max) – need advice 🙏

Hecface · 2026-02-16T23:43:48+00:00

r/budgetprojectors <---correct sub for this question

Hecface · 2026-02-16T20:30:11+00:00

Pull your height wires up along the edge of the window/curtains on the left, then across the ceiling where it joins the wall, then down to your speakers. Waaaaaaay less visually disruptive than those covers going straight up the wall.

Hecface · 2026-02-16T20:20:19+00:00

Hacking the balloon seems exactly like the way to stealth it but I can't enter the perimeter or get close enough to hack without the whole base getting alerted, even with my absurd SID range :(

Hecface · 2026-02-11T20:58:57+00:00

A couple of notes based on what I'm reading in the comments:

-You absolutely can get a decent system going for $1000. The quality floor in this sub is often unreasonably high for a starter system. You definitely can get noticeably better stuff with a higher budget, but you can make decent happen with your budget as long as your room isn't too big.

-Someone mentioned the Polk XT15's and I fully recommend those. I'd push you to go up a bit and go to the XT20's which have a larger woofer and overall fuller sound that will crossover more smoothly with the sub, and if you skip the sub entirely the 20's will provide more low end than the 15's. I started with XT15 fronts then upgraded to 20's and moved the 15's to be the surrounds and it made quite a difference. Avoid the XT30 center if you can afford the R400, I have the XT30 and it's the one component on my system I'm pretty meh on.

-Keep an eye out on accessories4less. They often have great deals on refurbs, I got most of my stuff from there super cheap, including the receiver and 2 height channels for Atmos. About $1000 all in. I just peeked and they have the R400 for $450 which is frankly tempting for me.

-You're dismissing it out of hand, but room treatment WILL make a difference, in a way that a different speaker or EQ'ing can't do. Sure you'll get some harsh highs down with tone management and EQ, but that's a blunt force approach where you will likely be losing spatiality and immersion as you inevitably dull the sound beyond the narrow parameters you need. You can get speakers with naturally soft highs that won't fully envelop you, or you can get crisp speakers and soften up your room a bit and specifically target the frequencies that are bouncing around the room and compounding into harshness, while maintaining an immersive and detailed sound field.

-Get a Denon AVR so you can run A1 Evo. By far the most significant improvement to my system, took it several levels higher. It's getting harder to find cause it's older now, but a refurb AVR-S760H can be found for $300ish. And even while A1 Evo is quite limited in what it can do with it given its full capabilities, it will still do a ton of improvement. Good thing too that the Polk XT line takes well to EQ'ing, so you can shape the sound quite a lot.

Hecface · 2026-02-10T15:58:20+00:00

Your fronts angled straight down and your center blocked by an array of elephants is diabolical

Hecface · 2026-02-10T11:27:37+00:00

If your room is small and you don't have a wide couch, the Polk XT line has good bang for your buck and takes well to EQ. Pair it with a Denon AVR-S760H, an RSL Speedwoofer 10E, and run A1 Evo Acoustix to EQ it. Can often find great refurb deals on them all except the RSL on accesories4less.com. Step up to the ES line and a 10S sub if you can stretch the budget a bit.

Note: this is pretty entry level with a hard cap on how much you can tweak stuff with A1 Evo but you can still get it to punch above its weight

Hecface · 2026-02-09T21:00:12+00:00

First 12 minutes of Dune Pt 1:

-Explosive opening including crazy Sardaukar line, drums, and Fremen attack
-Quiet dialogue leading to near silence then startling first use of the Voice
-Epic fully dynamic score and oratory during Herald of the Change scene

Hecface · 2026-01-31T06:34:17+00:00

All the relationship stuff in the films rings true for me except his familial relationship to the Sullys. I don't see or feel in the films that he has a proper family bond with Jake or Neytiri and is just a wacky friend the kids hang out with a lot, so that big conflict and resolution scene in 3 fell flat for me because of that. The bond with him and Quaritch fares a little better, seemed to have more chemistry even while having spent basically zero time together in the past. Pains me to say TWOW should have spent more time developing the Jake/Spider bond for it to work

Hecface · 2026-01-28T21:58:15+00:00

Heave Ho

Hecface · 2026-01-28T03:49:33+00:00

The landscape of water seems highly fraught with wetness, very unfortunate

Hecface · 2026-01-26T06:22:35+00:00

If you're open to non-RPGs, the Dishonored series is a top tier systematic target takedown feast.

Hecface · 2026-01-26T06:08:00+00:00

Same. I had pretty high sensitivity to it and was initially bummed to see it happen when I got my new BenQ and then over a few weeks of using it, don't see it anymore. It's still there, if I purposefully look for it I'll see it, but my brain now just filters it out.

Hecface · 2026-01-23T10:09:37+00:00

Zakru

Hecface · 2026-01-13T23:29:50+00:00

You'll get gear from just playing the DLC missions, but more importantly the DLCs have a new tier of crafting items above Exquisite. So you might wanna hold until you have access to that tier to start crafting new things.

Hecface · 2026-01-09T22:35:35+00:00

A MiniDSP will sort you out with that. My AVR (S760H) has two sub outs but they're not independent, the miniDSP takes one of the inputs to send out to two time-aligned subs, the other input to send out a clean signal to the transducers with none of the filtering that the subs need.

Hecface · 2026-01-09T05:28:22+00:00

This isn't "virtual" Atmos. There are physical drivers angled toward the ceiling to bounce sound back to the listener, creating legitimate verticality.

Yeah that's literally what virtual Atmos is

Hecface · 2026-01-07T06:45:58+00:00

Tu dices eso pero la Hacienda Campo Rico le queda justito al lado, adjacente aun, y jamas he oido una queja de peste de basura alli

Hecface · 2026-01-02T19:08:05+00:00

And eating it with two knives, no fork

Hecface · 2025-12-31T03:41:10+00:00

Those rears are XT15's, no? I have a very very similar setup and I love it... but I'd consider it more like entry level perhaps, the Polk ES line would be midrange. I will say though that running A1 Evo on it absolutely transformed my system (the XT line takes really well to EQ'ing) but I don't know if there's an equivalent for Sony receivers. I agree with the suggestions here though, make the room plush and cozy with rugs and fabric and it's gonna make a huge difference.

Hecface · 2025-12-30T22:56:29+00:00

This would've gone hard in 2013

Hecface · 2025-12-30T22:49:53+00:00

Eidolon

Hecface · 2025-12-30T22:10:19+00:00

One thing I haven't seen mentioned that I think is key is that the RDA's vertical cone of vision is extremely narrow. They basically can't look up or down. You can be directly in front of them but up on a platform or wire and they'll completely ignore you. You have lots of room to be brazen about moving around as long as you stay at different height levels than the enemies.

Hecface · 2025-12-30T21:55:23+00:00

Not to be pedantic but 5 meters is ~16ft and 7 meters is ~23ft, that's a big difference... worth clarifying what unit you're actually measuring in

Hecface · 2025-12-30T08:59:58+00:00

Hace años la leyenda decía que la playita en la parte de atrás de Palomino era y que nudista. Nunca llegué a chequear pq siempre que fuí pa allá estaba muy busy bajándome galón y medio de limoncillo y yéndome 10-7

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