BenQ's excellent new projector inspired us to build a full home cinema that dazzles with movies and games

We have been getting a lot of projectors through the What Hi-Fi? home cinema test facilities in the past few months.

It seems the ever-increasing screen-acreage of the average television is not having the effect the truly big-screen doom-mongers, predicting the demise of the projector, were anticipating. There’s big and there’s big after all.

It’s true that you can pick up a (truly excellent) 65-inch TV for less than £2000 / $2500 / AU$3300 – and, for most people, that is a fantastic screen size per pound option.

Even larger sets than that, though, start to cost amounts that are way more eyewatering even than the not inconsiderable amount we reference above.

Which is why the projector remains a fantastic option for a “proper” home cinema, which is what we've built here, with BenQ's new W2720i taking pride of place.

The system

• Projector: BenQ W2720i (£1999 / $2499 / AU$3299)
• Blu-ray player: Sony UBP-X700 (£239 / $250 / AU$349)
• Console: Sony PlayStation 5 (£430 / $450 / AU$749)
• AV amplifier: Sony TA-AN1000 (£799 / around $1240 / around AU$1850)
• Speaker package: Wharfedale Diamond 12.1 HCP (£999 / $1227 / AU$2423)
• Total system price: £4466 / $5666 / AU$8670

The projector

Over the past year or two, we have been getting plenty of ultra short throw projectors to test.

These can take the place of a television, without getting in the way as much as an old-school unit – which has to be both placed a considerable distance from the screen, and carefully set up, and so really needs to remain a pretty permanent fixture in the room.

As well as the UST models, there are also a good number of “coffee table” projectors coming onto the market. These can be put out for special occasions – the big match, or a movie night – and kept in the cupboard when not in use.

While each of those is a splendid option for big-screen fun, they aren’t particularly intended as really “serious” home cinema. For that, traditionally, you need to be looking at investing considerably more.

But then the BenQ W2720i found its way to the What Hi-Fi? review team. And, once we had put it through its paces, we realised we had something of a prodigy on our hands.

For this BenQ manages to be that rarest of things: a hybrid that performs well for both its intended targets.

This, then, is a projector that can hold its head high as a serious movie performer, while being adaptable enough, and easy enough to set up, to spend much of its time hidden away in a cupboard, waiting to perform. If, that is, you can bear to put it away.

Our review’s conclusion says it all really: “The W2720i does an outstanding job of straddling the usually incompatible worlds of serious and casual home cinema/home entertainment projection. Indeed, this is a remarkable all-rounder that is more than good enough to make its asking price look like a steal.”

The Blu-ray player

Such a top-value projector deserves terrific partnering kit, of course. And while the BenQ would manage to hold its own in a system costing around double what we have here, that’s not really what this unit should be about, in our opinion.

This projector opens the way for excellent home cinema entertainment without spending truly silly money.

To that end we have turned to some stalwarts of the home cinema world in our search for appropriate allies in our quest for AV brilliance on a reasonable budget.

The fact that you see the name Sony adorning three of the remaining four parts of this set-up shows that synergy is an important factor in marrying kit together.

The Blu-ray player, the AV amplifier and the games console are in this system for different reasons – but the fact that they work beautifully together is certainly one that is important not to overlook.

The Sony UBP-X700 is an Award-winning Blu-ray player that does a sterling job with 4K movies.

Video streaming capabilities are undoubtedly improving all the time, but the BenQ projector already has a surprisingly well-appointed and optimised smart platform, and it is still the case that physical discs provide the optimum quality when watching top resolution movies.

And the X700 delivers impressively subtle, lifelike pictures – an aspect of its image delivery where it bested even its more expensive forebear, the X800.

The fact that you would need to spend half as much again on our current Award winner, the Panasonic DP-UB820EB, means that it suits this set-up very nicely.

The games console

As the BenQ projector supports the 4K/120Hz images that today’s best games consoles can take advantage of, it makes a lot of sense to include a Sony Playstation 5 in this all-rounder home cinema set-up.

You will need to do some minor fettling in the projector’s set-up menus to get things just right for gaming; but when you do (and it’s not terribly complicated), an input lag time of just 17.8ms is a great result by projector standards.

You could go for the disc drive-toting version of the PS5 and use that for playing 4K Blu-rays, but the dedicated Sony Blu-ray player performs much better with movie discs, so we recommend sticking with that.

You can then, if you wish, save a bit of money on the console by going for the Digital Edition – though do bear in mind that the saving can be quickly wiped out through the purchasing of digital editions of games rather than discs.

The AV amplifier

It bears repeating that the sound performance of a home cinema set-up is just as important as the picture.

You can have the greatest image ever seen, but if the sound in the movie you are watching isn’t compelling, and able to draw you into the action, then your overall experience simply won’t be as satisfying as it should be.

The two final pieces of this home cinema puzzle, then, combine to produce a remarkable soundscape for the money – and will let you immerse yourself fully in the on-screen action.

The Sony TA-AN1000 had a tough act to follow in theWhat Hi-Fi? Hall of Famer STR-DN 1080. But it has carried the torch for Sony’s AV excellence with impressive ease.

It can be configured in up to a 7.1 channel set up, or – if you wanted to upgrade at a later date – a 5.1.2 Dolby Atmos configuration.

Importantly, for this set-up, it will also pass through the all-important 4K/120Hz signal from the PS5 to the projector, via its HDMI 2.1 ports.

And, as we say in our review: “There are no two ways about it, this amp is seriously talented in all the key areas we look for when testing a home cinema amplifier.

“Its crisp, precise and punchy sound strikes a nearly perfect balance, and it elevates every movie and song we throw at it. This amplifier ticks all our boxes.”

The speaker package

To take advantage of this excellent amplifier, we have turned to an old favourite as far as loudspeakers go.

Wharfedale’s Diamond 12.1 HCP has taken home our Best Buy Award in its category for the past four years, which should tell you most of what you need to know here.

Just to confirm what you will in all likelihood be suspecting, though, let’s take a look at the verdict of our review:

“With poise, effortlessness, cut glass diction and charisma, the Wharfedale Diamond 12.1 HCP is essentially the Audrey Hepburn of home theatre speaker packages. It offers rich bass without sacrificing or overpowering the mid and treble, presenting a mature sound that’s rich in impact, agility, detail and sensitivity.

"Large enough to provide cinematic scale with a wide soundfield, but discreet and affordable enough to be accessible to a variety of audiences, the 12.1s prove to be an excellent choice for both music and film.”

That description is for the “vanilla” 5.1 package. It is worth pointing out that if you wanted to take advantage of the Dolby Atmos abilities of the Sony amplification, you can seal the full enveloping-sound deal by adding Wharfedale’s Diamond 12 3D Atmos toppers to your package – allowing the speaker set-up to fire Atmos channels up into the ceiling.

Now that would be a stunning package, taking full advantage of everything the modern home cinema has to offer. Start with the more basic surround set-up, though, and you won’t be in any way disappointed.

The verdict

This home cinema is an astonishing achievement for the money, taking advantage as it does of components that punch well above their weight in most areas.

And while, on the face of it, a home cinema – almost by definition – means you won’t be going out quite as much as you used to, your social life might actually improve: you will want to share (dare we say show off) your own private big screen with your friends as soon as you install it.

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