The Best Gear for a Home Theater System in 2025

Best universal remote

Why we like it: The remotes that come with your AV devices do a good to fair job of operating the device they were each designed to operate, but if you’ve ever done the remote shuffle just to watch a movie, you can understand the appeal of having one remote to control everything in your home theater. The Sofabaton U2 Universal Remote Control is a well-designed universal remote that offers a lot more features than you might expect for around $50. It can control up to 15 devices (including both infrared- and Bluetooth-based AV devices), it has most of the desired physical buttons you’ll need, and those buttons can all be customized.

Flaws but not dealbreakers: The U2 lacks backlighting, has no dedicated activity buttons, and will require patience and effort to program.

Read more in our guide to the best universal remote.

Best TV antennas

Why we like it: If you’ve cut the cord but still want the live-TV experience — be it for sports, news, special events, or local foreign-language broadcasts — an inexpensive TV antenna could be the best way to go. We recommend starting with the Channel Master FLATenna because, no matter where we hung this antenna, it was always one of the best in pulling in the most TV channels. The antenna has a 12-foot, detachable cable; its flat design makes it easy to hang on a wall, and it’s reversible, with black and white sides. This antenna is passive, so it doesn’t need to connect to an AC outlet — all you have to do is plug it into your TV.

However, if you live in a remote area where pulling over-the-air (OTA) TV channels is difficult, the amplified Channel Master FLATenna+ may be a better option. Its built-in amplifier can improve long-range reception. That said, in our tests, using the amplifier at a shorter range substantially reduced the number of channels we received. The amplifier is also available separately, so you can buy the passive version and add the amp later if you move, but buying it separately is more expensive.

Flaws but not dealbreakers: The supplied cable is very stiff. Getting the cable to lie flat on a floor or snug up against the back of a TV cabinet can be a challenge.

Read more in our guide to the best indoor HDTV antenna.

Best HDMI cables

You’ll need a few HDMI cables for your home theater, but you don’t need to pay a lot for them. HDMI cables send data digitally, so despite what some manufacturers claim, you’ll get no video- or audio-quality improvement from a high-end HDMI cable. Basically, all you need is for the picture and sound to make it reliably from the source to the display.

Some older HDMI cables lack the bandwidth to send 4K HDR, so you want to look for high-speed or ultra-high-speed cables. We’ve tested our recommendations below to ensure that they work with the latest AV formats.

Why we like it: The Monoprice 4K Certified Premium High Speed HDMI Cable is a great choice for most people because it can transmit any current video standard up to 4K video at 60 Hz, it has Ethernet data and Audio Return Channel capabilities, and it comes with a lifetime warranty.

If you’re a gamer who needs to pass higher-bandwidth 4K 120 Hz signals, consider the Monoprice 8K Ultra High Speed HDMI Cable instead. It’s capable of transmitting higher resolutions and frame rates at a bandwidth up to 48 Gbps. You don’t need that much bandwidth just to pass 4K HDR movies and TV shows between a TV and source device. But the Sony PlayStation 5, the Microsoft Xbox Series X, and high-end gaming PCs are capable of outputting 4K video at 120 frames per second (or 4K 120 Hz), which requires more bandwidth. If you have one of these devices — as well as one of the few TVs that can accept this higher-bandwidth signal — you need an Ultra High Speed HDMI cable.

Likewise, if you’ve purchased (or plan to purchase) an 8K TV and want to make sure your cables are ready for future 8K sources, you might want to go ahead and upgrade your cables.

Best speaker cable

Why we like it: Our past research and testing showed that there really is no best speaker cable. The Monoprice 2747 12 gauge is the speaker wire we’d buy because it offers excellent value and sturdy construction. In our testing, it sounded fuller and richer than many competitors, especially those with thinner gauges.

While other speaker wire may sound slightly better with certain audio systems, that’s a needle-in-a-haystack search that’s simply not worth it for most people. A speaker cable’s impact is negligible, so save your time and money by going with the Monoprice 2747.

Best projector mount

Why we like it: The Peerless-AV PRGS-UNV universal projector mount is one of our favorites due to how flexible it is and how easy it is to set up correctly. The mounting arms are highly adjustable and removable, so it can accommodate anything from a tiny DLP projector to a gigantic 4K laser projector. The dials let you make small adjustments to the projector to get it level with the screen and produce the best image without much work.

Best TV wall mounts

Why we like it: After all of our research and testing, we concluded that the best tilting TV mount is the Sanus VLT7. This UL-approved mount is designed for TVs ranging in size from 42 to 90 inches and can hold up to 150 pounds. It is compatible with 17 VESA patterns, and we were able to install this mount on our own in around half an hour. It includes all the components you need to install into a wooden stud, dry wall, or concrete, and it comes with an easy-to-use mounting template. This tilt mount offers some of the advantages of a full-motion model, as it can extend out almost 7 inches from the wall, which allows for a four-way tilt (up, down, left, and right).

Flaws but not dealbreakers: The VLT7’s MSRP is quite a bit higher than that of our previous top pick, the Sanus VMPL50A-B1. It’s also easy to accidentally pull, swivel, or tilt the mount, and the VLT7’s extending brackets can shift out of alignment while you’re trying to hang the TV on the mounting plate.

Why we like it: If you prefer a full-motion mount that lets you point the TV at different parts of the room, the UL-approved Sanus VLF728-B2 (also sold as the Sanus BLF328-B1) works with TVs ranging from 42 to 90 inches. It can extend a TV up to 28 inches off the wall, which also gives it a wide range of side-to-side pivot. To stabilize the weight of the TV, the arms are large, but when you press the mount back against the wall, it has a thin profile of just over 2 inches. The mount’s smooth extension and pivoting motion give it a high-quality feel, and the adjustments are easy to make. This Sanus mount is large, but its 32-inch-wide mounting bars allow for greater flexibility with placement. It is compatible with 16 VESA patterns.

Flaws but not dealbreakers: Setup is a little more fiddly than with the other full-motion mounts, and it isn’t the best-looking mount we’ve tested. Compared with our other picks, the VLF728-B2 is quite pricey — but the degree of flexibility and the quality of the materials justify the price.

Read more in our guide to the best TV wall mounts.

This article was edited by Adrienne Maxwell and Grant Clauser.