Design and Consultation
We start every project with a detailed in-home consultation — assessing your space, listening to your goals, and crafting a bespoke design that maximises your room's potential.
Cinema-quality entertainment in your own home
We build home theatres in Canberra — from a dedicated cinema room with a projector and tiered seating, through to a tidy 5.1 surround setup in the lounge. The brief is always the same: pick gear that suits the room, treat the acoustics where it matters, and finish the install so the cables disappear.
45+
Years of Experience
Decades of trusted service in Canberra
50,000+
Projects Delivered
Satisfied homeowners across Canberra
Family
Owned & Local
Canberra-based team with local knowledge
Quality
Workmanship
Licensed professionals serving Canberra
Our home theatre services
Every great home theatre starts with a great plan. We handle every stage from concept through to ongoing support.
Audio and Visual Installation
From 4K projectors and large-format screens to Dolby Atmos surround sound, we install and calibrate each component for strong performance in your specific room.
Acoustic Treatment
We optimise your room's acoustics with professional-grade acoustic panels, bass traps, and diffusers — ensuring sound is rich, clear, and free from unwanted echo or reverberation.
Lighting Control
Automated lighting scenes that set the perfect mood — dim to cinema mode when the film starts, brighten for intermission, all from a single button or voice command.
Built to Integrate
We connect your home theatre with your broader smart home ecosystem — streaming services, voice assistants, whole-home audio, and security systems all working in harmony.
Professional installation and aftercare you can rely on
A home theatre is one of the most significant investments you can make in your home's entertainment capability — and it deserves to be done properly. At Palmers, our technicians bring decades of combined experience to every project, ensuring your system is installed to the highest standard from the very first visit.
We take pride in delivering clean, discreet installations. Cables are concealed, equipment is neatly housed, and the entire system is calibrated by ear and measurement tools before we hand it over to you. We won't leave until every element is performing exactly as it should.
Beyond installation day, Palmers provides thorough handover training so you feel completely confident operating your new home theatre. We're also available for follow-up support, software updates, and system expansions as your needs evolve. Our long-standing relationship with Canberra homeowners is built on trust, reliability, and a genuine commitment to getting things right.
Whether you're starting with a dedicated cinema room or retrofitting your existing living space, Palmers has the expertise to realise your vision within your budget — without compromise on quality.
Design my systemWhy choose Palmers for home theatre?
- Bespoke design tailored to your room, budget, and entertainment preferences
- Expert calibration of audio and visual systems for optimal performance
- Acoustic treatment knowledge to ensure your room sounds as good as it looks
- Integrates with lighting, climate and voice control
- Comprehensive aftercare and ongoing support for your peace of mind
Our Process
A clean install, properly designed, backed up by the team that fitted it.
01
Free consultation
We come to your Canberra home, listen to how you live, and identify what's possible — no obligation.
02
Custom design
A written plan and quote for your home — every item and every price spelled out before any work begins.
03
Clean installation
Licensed technicians, protective coverings, hidden cables — and a tidy clean-up before we go.
04
Lifelong support
We train your family, set up the apps, and answer the phone — for years, not days.
Matching Palmers package
Prefer a fixed-scope package? These are the bundles our Canberra customers pick most.
Related Services
Room types we design for
The right approach depends on how you're using the space. Here's how we think about each room type.
Dedicated cinema room
A light-controlled room built entirely around the film-watching experience. Typically a spare bedroom, rumpus room, or purpose-built space in a new build. A dedicated room lets us go further with acoustic treatment, tiered seating, a full Dolby Atmos speaker layout (7.2.4 or 9.2.4), and a 4K laser projector on a motorised screen. Because the room is used for one purpose, every design decision is optimised for cinema performance rather than compromise. These are the installs we enjoy most — they're the closest thing to a commercial cinema you can get in a private home.
Media room
A media room sits between a dedicated cinema and a family living room. It has a strong AV focus — often a large wall-mounted TV or short-throw projector, a proper surround sound setup, and dimming lighting — but it's also used for everyday TV viewing, gaming, and family time. Most Canberra media rooms we fit out use a 5.1 or 5.1.2 Atmos layout, a 75–85" TV or short-throw projector, and Sonos or Onkyo audio. The room needs to look and sound great across a range of uses, not just 10-out-of-10 cinema performance.
Family lounge integration
Many Canberra homes don't have a separate media room — the living room has to do everything. Open-plan kitchens and living areas present specific acoustic challenges: sound disperses, there's ambient noise from the kitchen, and a visible rack of AV equipment doesn't suit the aesthetic. We design for these constraints with in-ceiling or in-wall speakers (Sonance or Onkyo), a clean TV wall with concealed cabling, and an AV receiver or Sonos system rack-mounted in a nearby cupboard. The result is performance that exceeds what most people think is possible in an open-plan space.
Outdoor cinema
Canberra summers are made for outdoor entertainment. A covered alfresco area, a pergola, or even a flat lawn can become a proper outdoor cinema with the right approach. We use weatherproof screens, outdoor-rated projectors or large-format TVs, and either weatherproof outdoor speakers or a Sonos system that bridges indoors and out. The main considerations are ambient light at dusk (which affects projector brightness requirements), audio containment (avoiding neighbour issues), and weatherproofing of all components. We've fitted out outdoor cinemas in Murrumbateman, Bungendore, and across Canberra's south.
Speaker systems — Sonance, Onkyo, Sonos
We work with three primary speaker platforms for home theatre. Each suits a different room type and use case.
1
Sonance — architectural invisibility
Sonance architectural speakers (in-wall and in-ceiling) are our choice when the goal is performance without visible hardware. Paintable grilles, flush-fit designs, and a broad range from basic background music to cinema-grade LCR channels. Sonance pairs natively with the Sonos Amp for multi-room, or with an Onkyo, Denon or Anthem receiver for a full surround system. Best suited to: family lounges, open-plan rooms, outdoor areas, master bedrooms, and new builds where cabling can be run before plaster.
2
Onkyo — full-range surround
For a dedicated media room or cinema room where performance is the priority and visible speakers are acceptable, Onkyo and Denon in-ceiling speaker ranges give us the full-range surround capability a real Atmos layout requires. Paired with a Onkyo, Denon or Anthem receiver, the system handles Dolby Atmos and DTS:X decoding, supports HDMI 2.1 for 8K passthrough, and connects to all modern streaming devices. Where a client wants a traditional bookshelf + floorstanding front speaker setup, Onkyo gives us a proven, well-calibrated platform to work with.
3
Sonos — wireless convenience
For clients who want simplicity, whole-home audio integration, and a system the whole family can operate without any instruction, Sonos is the right choice. The Arc Ultra is a capable Atmos soundbar that suits most media rooms and family lounges. Adding a Sub 4 and twin Era 300 rears creates a 5.1.4 configuration that performs well above its price category. The trade-off vs a traditional AV receiver setup is ultimate surround performance in a dedicated room — Sonos is excellent, but a Anthem receiver with discrete speakers goes further in a purpose-built cinema. We'll advise which suits your room and expectations.
Display options — TV vs projector
The right display depends on your room, your budget, and how you watch.
Large-screen TV
A premium 75–86" OLED or QLED TV is the right choice for most media rooms and family lounges in Canberra. It performs well in a lit room, requires no warm-up time, and the image quality on modern Sony BRAVIA XR and Samsung S95 OLED panels is exceptional. For rooms where you watch TV during the day, in a bright room, or where the room is never fully darkened, a TV consistently outperforms a projector at this size range. We wall-mount, conceal cabling, and calibrate the picture settings to the room's ambient light.
4K Laser Projector
If you want a screen size above 100 inches — the true cinema-scale experience — a 4K laser projector is the answer. Modern laser projectors from Sony, Epson, and BenQ deliver excellent 4K HDR images with long lamp life (no bulb replacement), low maintenance, and brightness levels suitable for controlled-light rooms. In a dedicated cinema room with a motorised acoustic screen, the effect is genuinely cinematic. For a room that can be darkened, projectors at the 120–150 inch range deliver an immersive experience no TV can match. We size the projector throw distance and screen gain to your specific room dimensions.
Short-throw projector
Ultra-short-throw projectors (UST) sit within 20–30cm of the wall and project large images without a long throw path across the room. They're well-suited to media rooms where you don't want a projector on the ceiling or where the room layout doesn't allow a conventional throw distance. LG, Samsung, and Epson make good UST models we recommend. The trade-off is that image quality at the top end isn't quite at the level of a long-throw laser projector, but for a 100–120 inch screen in a living-oriented space, they're an elegant solution.
Acoustics, lighting and seating
The best speakers in the world won't perform in a badly treated room. These three elements complete the experience.
Acoustic treatment
Canberra homes are often built with hard surfaces — tiled floors, plaster walls, and high ceilings — that cause sound to reflect in ways that reduce dialogue clarity and muddy the bass. For a dedicated cinema room, we design an acoustic treatment plan using bass traps in corners, absorptive panels at first-reflection points on walls and ceiling, and diffusers at the rear to maintain liveliness without flutter echo. For a family lounge or media room, treatment is more subtle — a rug, soft furnishings, and a bookshelf or two go a long way. We advise on what's practical for each room.
Lighting control
A cinema room without lighting control is a missed opportunity. We integrate dimmer circuits, motorised blinds, and scene control so that pressing "watch film" dims the room to 5%, closes the blinds, and powers the projector on — all in one step. For a family lounge, we typically add a single dimmer on a smart switch at minimum. For a dedicated cinema room, a full Control4 or KNX lighting scene with automation is worth every cent. Lighting also affects picture quality: even a small amount of light spill on a projector screen reduces perceived contrast significantly.
Seating
We don't supply seating, but we do advise on it because seat position relative to the speakers and screen is important. For a dedicated cinema room, the ideal listening position is at one-third to one-half of the room depth, centred on the screen. For tiered seating (two rows), the riser height affects rear-row sight lines and the height of surround and Atmos ceiling speakers relative to the listening position. If you're planning tiered seating, tell us before we finalise the speaker layout — it affects the design. We're happy to recommend seating suppliers in Canberra we've worked with.
Recent Canberra home theatre projects
Three recent projects across different room types and budgets.
Griffith — dedicated cinema room
A two-storey Inner South home with a spare upstairs room the owners wanted to convert into a proper cinema. The room was 4.5 x 6m with a carpeted floor and one window. We designed a 7.2.4 Atmos layout with Sonance in-wall LCR front channels, Sonance in-ceiling Atmos height speakers, a Anthem MRX receiver, and a Sony VPL-XW5000 4K laser projector on a motorised 130" screen. Bass traps were fitted in all four corners, and first-reflection panels were installed in a fabric wrap that matched the owner's colour brief. A Control4 lighting system with three scenes was integrated. The window was blocked with an acoustic-rated blind that drops as part of the "cinema" scene. The owners describe it as the best room in the house by a margin.
Woden — open-plan media room
A contemporary home in Curtin with an open-plan kitchen, dining, and living area. The brief was to make the lounge area a proper media space without it looking like an electronics store. We installed Sonance in-ceiling speakers above the seating zone, a Sonos Amp to drive them from a rack in the nearby study, a Sonos Arc Ultra as the front soundbar below the TV, and a 85" Sony wall-mounted with in-wall HDMI and power. The kitchen and dining areas have their own Sonance in-ceiling zones driven by separate Sonos Amps, all controlled from one app. The room looks like any other well-furnished Canberra living space — the technology is invisible until you use it.
Murrumbateman — outdoor cinema
A rural property with a large covered entertaining area that the owners wanted to use for outdoor cinema in summer. We installed a 120" motorised outdoor screen in the pergola roof space, an Epson laser projector in a weatherproof enclosure at the rear, and a pair of Sonance outdoor speakers on the pergola posts. The projector and screen are controlled via a simple smart switch panel at the outdoor kitchen. When it rains, the screen retracts and the projector lid closes automatically. The owners run movies from an Apple TV 4K connected via an outdoor-rated HDMI run. It seats 16 people comfortably and gets used from October through March.
Home Theatre FAQs
Common questions about home cinema installation in Canberra.
Home theatres range widely depending on your vision. A quality setup with a large screen, surround sound, and smart control can start from around $5,000, while a fully dedicated cinema room with acoustic treatment, 4K projection, and tiered seating can exceed $30,000. We design to your budget.
Not at all. While a dedicated room delivers the best cinematic experience, we regularly build outstanding theatre setups in open-plan living rooms, rumpus rooms, and media spaces. We adapt the design to your room's size, shape, and lighting.
Both have advantages. Projectors deliver a true cinema-scale experience (100 inches and beyond) at a lower cost per inch, while premium OLED and QLED TVs offer brighter images in rooms with ambient light. We'll recommend the best option for your room during the consultation.
Dolby Atmos adds overhead speakers or upward-firing modules to create a three-dimensional sound field — you hear rain above you, helicopters moving overhead. It's a significant upgrade over traditional surround sound and something we highly recommend for any serious home theatre.
Yes — we specialise in this. Using Control4 or KNX, we can integrate your theatre so a single button press dims the lights, closes the blinds, powers on the projector, and starts your favourite streaming app. Sonos systems also integrate with Apple Home, Amazon Alexa, and Google Home natively.
Lead time varies depending on scope and scheduling. For a straightforward media room setup, we can typically schedule within 2–4 weeks of a confirmed quote. For a dedicated cinema room with acoustic treatment, custom joinery, or a new build, we recommend engaging us 6–8 weeks before your target date. We'll give you a realistic timeline during the consultation — we'd rather set an honest expectation than tell you what you want to hear.
We handle all AV and electrical scopes — cabling, speaker installation, projector mounting, rack installation, acoustic panel fitting, and lighting control. For building works such as a riser platform, wall framing, or joinery, we work alongside your builder or can refer trusted trades we've worked with. We coordinate the sequence so cabling is done before walls are closed.
Yes — we configure every system to work with your preferred streaming devices. Apple TV 4K, Google TV, and similar devices connect via HDMI to the AV receiver or TV, and all streaming services (Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV+, Stan) run natively. We set up the HDMI routing, audio return channel, and any automation triggers during the install.
Our Technology Partners
We partner with the world's leading technology brands to deliver reliable, future-proof solutions.
Verkada
Control4
Sonos
Anthem
Samsung
Ubiquiti
KNX
Sony
Hikvision
Dahua
Milesight
Hanwha
Origin Acoustics
Amina
Stealth Acoustics
Media room & home theatre builds across Canberra
Local installation examples and what we typically deliver in your area.