You Can Build The Ultimate Home Theater With These 14 Costco Items

If you love getting wrapped up in the story of a movie, TV show, live event, or sporting match, a simple TV won't do the experience justice. If you want a little more, it's worth investing money into crafting the ultimate home theater. You don't even need to know what to buy — we'll help you pick the right products.

One of the best retailers to help you create a home theater is Costco, the members-only store available nationwide. There are several reasons to buy your electronics from Costco, like members' cashback and extended return windows, and it has everything you need to transform your living room into a private cinema.

From Costco, you can pick up a massive screen, room-encompassing surround-sound system, furniture, and even snack-makers to facilitate the perfect movie night. The following 14 items have been picked as they'll help you create the ultimate audio-visual experience.

Unfortunately, creating a home theater set-up can be pretty expensive. We've made sure to flag items that are extra treats, rather than important purchases, and when possible, we'll present budget alternatives so that price isn't an issue.

The focal point of any home theater is the screen, and this can be the hardest buying decision. You need to decide on a lot: What screen size you want, what display tech you prefer, which operating system best suits you, and whether you need a high refresh rate or other features. There are plenty of things to consider when buying TVs, and also lots of common mistakes people make when buying a new set.

Costco sells a wide range of TVs, and you can choose by size via its TV landing page. We'd recommend you use this to pick up a set that isn't too large (or small) for your living room.

If you want a suggestion to bounce off from, a popular pick could be the TCL 75-inch Q77K, which goes for $500 and has a 4.1-star review rating. It's a 4K option using Quantum Dot technology to offer high brightness and vivid colors. It has a 144Hz refresh rate for gaming, and supports HDR10+ and Dolby Vision, so it'll look good. The size is a popular one, as 75-inch TVs are in the middle of TCL's range, and it comes with plenty of ports for game consoles or audio devices. Don't rush buying a TV; an informed decision will ensure you pick up the perfect set and start your home theater on a solid foundation.

If you want your home theater to resemble a traditional theater as much as possible, you'll want a projector. This is the kind of tech an actual movie theater would use, projecting a large image onto a blank wall or screen, and they've become incredibly popular for home theater enthusiasts. It's a common refrain: If you want a huge TV, smart money goes towards a projector.

It's easy to go wrong when buying a projector, but Costco makes things simple by only selling one. The Hisense C2 Pro 4K is a premium $1,700 option with a 4.5-star rating. The Hisense is designed to be used indoors or outdoors, so it's portable. 

Like many high-end projectors, it uses laser technology, allowing for improved brightness to make it easily-viewable when watching in the day. The model also has multiple ports for HDMI, USB, and Ethernet, and some extra features to make setting it up really easy. It even has a built-in 2-channel speaker, tuned by JBL. As a little bonus, buying the Hisense C2 Pro from Costco gives you a year of Xbox Game Pass, as well as a carry case and a 120-inch screen.

Almost any TV you buy nowadays is a smart TV, with streaming apps pre-installed or easily downloadable. But some people might own an older, non-smart TV, or want a different operating system than their TV's default one. A dedicated streaming device can do just that.

There are a few streaming sticks on the market, from companies like Roku, Amazon, and Apple. Costco only sells ones made by Apple. There's the Apple TV 4K 64GB, which supports Wi-Fi and costs $125. Alternatively, there's the larger Apple TV 4K 128GB model for $140, which has more storage space and also lets you connect to the internet via Ethernet. Both have thousands of reviews for a 4.7-star average. As the name suggests, they let you stream 4K content and have lots of built-in storage for games and downloads.

With either of these small devices, you can easily access tvOS, Apple's custom-built TV operating system. This offers all of the movie and TV apps you want, as well as a handful of Apple's ones like Fitness+ and Apple Arcade. They support the Siri smart assistant and tie into the Apple ecosystem, so it will be even easier to use if you own an iPhone or iPad.

When you're turning your living room into the ultimate home theater, one of the most important upgrades is to improve your audio setup. Some even say audio is just as important as visuals. Your TV speakers simply won't do, and one possibility for better listening is bookshelf speakers. Unlike soundbars listed later, these are designed to be good for music as well as viewing videos, and fit on cabinets or bookshelves, hence the name.

At Costco, you can buy the Klipsch R-60M bookshelf speakers, which are sold in a pair for $400 and have a glowing 4.8-star rating. This classy-looking option offers room-filling sound with both a 6.5-inch woofer and a 1-inch tweeter, so it can handle low and high frequencies.

Looking to spend a lot on your audio setup? Costco sells one of the best home theater systems for cinephiles, but it'll cost you $2,000. This is the Klipsch Reference surround system, offering 5.0.2 and Dolby Atmos listening and consisting of four parts: The bookshelf speakers above, alongside two floor-standing speakers, and a central channel speaker. While expensive, movie nights would never be the same, and its 4.8-star rating speaks for itself.

If you want to elevate the audio coming from your TV, you should buy a soundbar. Some of the best TV soundbars for audiophiles can make your movie sound fantastic, and since they're designed for TVs, they're easy to connect to and operate with other gadgets — wired or wirelessly.

Costco sells options at a range of prices. The $180 Bose Solo Soundbar 2 is a compact and affordable 2.0-channel option that fits in many spaces and elevates your audio with Dolby Decoding, and Costco buyers give it a 4.2 average score. Then there are options like the 5.0-channel Sonos Beam (Gen 2), which sells for $500 and has a 4.5-star average score. Kit like this allows for surround sound Dolby Atmos effects, incredibly high-definition sound, and functions that let them work as loudspeakers, not just TV augmentations.

Already own a piece of kit like this? Don't get complacent, as we've got soundbar tips and tricks to help you create that ultimate home theater with your existing tech.

If you've already started building your audio setup and want to improve your system without spending too much money, a subwoofer is an excellent choice. These are speakers designed to output bass. 

Lower frequencies are often lacking in most consumer audio products, as the 'average' gadget comes with speakers that work as jacks of all trades rather than masters of any — just look at the soundbars listed above as proof. People often choose to buy a subwoofer to sit alongside their soundbar or speaker, for some extra 'oomph'.

Costco sells a small selection of subwoofers. One option is the Klipsch R-120SWi, a 12-inch subwoofer that outputs at 230W, costing $125 and enjoying a 4.7 rating. Another option is the Sonos Sub (Gen 4), designed to be used alongside other Sonos audio equipment. It costs $900, so it's a bit pricier, and again has a 4.7-star rating.

Movie fans particularly like subwoofers, as the extra bassy rumble helps emulate the feel of being in a theater. But bear in mind, these speakers often take up space that owners of smaller home theaters may not have to spare.

Buying an advanced surround-sound audio set-up is lovely, but sometimes you can't listen to your movies out loud. Perhaps it's late at night and you don't want to disturb people, or it's busy around you and you're surrounded by distractions. Enter TV headphones.

Some headphones have features that make them easy to use alongside a TV, and Costco sells multiple. It has a wide range of headphones in general, but two picks stand out for being particularly handy when brought into a home theater set-up.

The Bose QuietComfort SC is known for having fantastic noise cancellation. These will let you enjoy your TV if noisy children, vacuums, or neighbors are distracting you. They cost $330 and have a 4.6 rating. Another top option is the AKG N9, which focuses on ease of use. It comes with a USB-C dongle, and when you connect this to a gadget, it automatically pairs the headphones. You could plug this into your game controller or into your TV itself without having to fiddle with the Bluetooth settings. The N9 is cheaper at $240, with 4.8 stars (but only has 5 reviews).

Both pairs of headphones sound good too — and, most importantly, offer a wide sound stage. This makes it feel as close as possible to emulating different sounds from left and right speakers.

Of all the tech you'll see on this list, an AV receiver is by no means the most important. It's a tool you'd buy if you already have plenty of other audio and visual gadgets and need something to centralize them.

Receivers like the Denon AVR-S270, Costco's only option, are a great way to say goodbye to annoying TV cables, working as a home theater hub. You connect all your screens and speakers to them, either with wires or wirelessly, and control them all with one single remote. This model costs $300, with a rating of 3.8.

The AVR-S270 can allow for features like Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Pro Logic II, and DTS Neo:6, has five HDMI inputs, lets you stream over the airwaves with Bluetooth, and outputs 5.1-channel sound. That means it works as a hub for your TV or projector, any audio kit you have, like a soundbar or bookshelf speakers, and even extras like a streaming puck or games console. It simplifies managing your gadgets, especially the cables that run around the back of them.

One easy way to improve your home theater is by moving your TV. There's nothing wrong with mounting your TV on a stand, and it may be the best option in some households. But investing in a TV mount brings some palpable benefits.

TV mounts, like the Sanus Home mount, which Costco sells, let you elevate your TV set by attaching it to your wall. They can support large TVs and even hold them at different angles and rotations, and Costco has multiple options on its wall mount page. The Sanus sells for $250, with a 4.4-star rating, 

Mounting your TV on a wall frees up space in your living room, saving cabinet surface area for your AV set-up, games console, or Blu-Ray player. Their versatility also lets you move your TV's angle, avoiding glare from the sun or light sources, and keeps your set elevated out of the danger zone of pets and young children. If you're not confident about setting up a TV mount, Costco's Angi Premier service lets you arrange experts to attach the frame and TV for you, ensuring you don't accidentally break your set or damage your wall.

The ultimate home theater system isn't just comprised of audio and visual gadgets. A popular purchase by people looking to create an immersive viewing room is smart lighting, to create an ambient environment for your living room.

One of the most popular options Costco sells is the Enbrighten Vibe Wi-Fi Color-changing lights, which come in two options: 12-foot ($50) or 24-foot ($70), both with a 4.8 rating. Either one is a string of lights, which you can put behind your TV, around your baseboard, or on your ceiling. These lights can change color, either using a remote or an app, and you can even use presets to display various patterns or color combinations.

For a more premium alternative, options like the $140 Philips Hue can be placed in light sockets and controlled through smart assistants. These are popular household smart lights, beyond home theater enthusiasts, with a 4.9 rating at Costco.

Whichever you pick, smart lights are an easy way to turn a living room into a home theater. You can put on lighting that fits the movie, TV show, or sport you're watching, to fully immerse you in the world of your story or event.

Perhaps the epitome of luxury is a recliner, and if you're assembling the ultimate personal home theater, you're going to need to buy one. They're not suitable for shared spaces, because they only seat one, but it'll be a special treat for a solo theater experience.

Costco sells a few kinds of seating furniture, but only one is part of its home theater range: the Zayne leather recliner, which costs $1,000 and has a 4-star rating. When you look into the beast, you'll understand why.

The Zayne does what you'd expect from a recliner; a smooth reclining mechanism can be activated by pressing a button, with an adjustable headrest and footrest. Beyond that, it has a USB charging port to keep your phone powered up, multiple drinks holsters, and hidden compartments in the armrests. Plus, according to the listing, the cushions and frame were designed for comfort and stability, so they're designed to last for a long time.

One of our most important pieces of advice when guiding people on turning their TV space into a home cinema is to think about connectors and cables. In-box wires and plugs will only take you so far.

Costco sells the Sanus Ultra HDMI cables at two for $30, with a 4.7-star rating. These are HDMI 2.1 cables which support 8K video transmission at 60Hz or 4K at 120Hz, so they're just as useful for games consoles as Blu-ray players. Plus, they're 3 meters long and are made of a heavy weave, so they should be heavy-duty.

The benefit of buying HDMI cables like these is twofold. The transmission quality means you can enjoy enhanced audio and video features that your standard cables might not facilitate. Plus, the length means you could hook up gadgets without them needing to be too near, ideal for if you've bought an AV receiver or want a spread-out audio set-up. New cables aren't a mandatory purchase if you're starting your home theater journey, but they're a useful addition for people with lots of kit that needs organizing, or powerful external devices.

If you want to go the full mile to deliver on the 'theater' part of 'home theater', you'll need to acquire the classic snack you buy when you see movies on the big screen. You need some popcorn.

Costco's kitchen section includes the Whirley Pop popcorn popper, a stainless steel kettle selling for $50 (4.1-star rating) that makes personal-sized batches of popcorn. This stovetop gadget will take a can and make 6 quarts of the good stuff, and has steam vents and a stirring mechanism to stop the corn from burning or becoming too soggy.

The set comes with three sachets of popcorn with sauce, though you can buy more kernels anywhere. Costco itself sells the 4.8-rated Orville Redenbacher Popping Corn for $15, which can be used with the Whirley Pop. The retailer sells standard packets of popcorn too, but there's something special about freshly-popped corn which makes a kettle like this a needed treat.

Not a popcorn fan? Plenty of kitchen appliances and gadgets that make other kinds of sweet treats, loads of which are made by the Ninja Creami Deluxe. This device makes 11 different frozen treats, including ice cream, froyo, sorbet, frozen drinks, and milkshakes. It costs $190, and Costco shoppers rate it at 4.6 stars.

It's easy to use, and the most labor you put in will be deciding on the flavors and mix-ins you use and experimenting to create odd concoctions. The entire process takes 24 hours, but most of that is the time you spend freezing the ingredients you want to use.

The Creami is one of the more versatile options on the market, but Ninja makes other picks if you'd like something more bespoke. Costco also sells the $250, 4.5-rated Ninja Creami Scoop and Swirl, designed to offer a wider range of frozen treats, and the $350, 4.7-rated Ninja Slushi for frozen drinks.

The list of items above was chosen based on years of testing audio-visual gadgets. It's not intended as an exhaustive list, as your personal preference for a certain snack machine or streaming stick takes precedence over these suggestions. It's also not a checklist you need to complete; many categories achieve similar functions, and plenty are optional.

Exact picks from Costco were chosen based on rating, with the highest-scoring products given priority due to proven popularity. Alternatives were picked based on their relative cost to the top product, but any with low user ratings were excluded.

In many categories, Costco only had one available item, and when that's the case, it's mentioned in the section. These picks generally also have positive reviews, and it's likely that Costco only stocks the one item as it knows it's a popular one — but for alternatives, you may need to look to another retailer.