- Large screen TV. The size depends on the room. There is a tendency to use projection systems, but I personally do not like the quality. Plus, using a projection system significantly reduces your lighting options for the media room. Besides, there is additional maintenance involved - you have to replace those bulbs from time to time! Plasma TVs generally are considered a better choice for home theaters, because they tend to provide better blacks, but modern LCDs are catching up very successfully. Also, try to get a 1080p model. You will not regret it later.
- Comfortable media room furniture. Armchairs, love seats - what have you. I implore you not to use the seats that emulate as closely as possible the seats you encounter at the movie theaters. Why? Unless you can obtain the seats from a demolished theater which somehow have a great sentimental value, stick with what's most confortable!
- A refrigerator. Yep. No matter how close the kitchen is you can always have a little fridge to keep your drinks cool. Just make sure you don't get a noisy one. You can even turn it off for the duration of the movie, if you wish.
- A surround sound system. A home media room simply would not make sense without one. The have come down in price a lot!
- A Blu Ray player capable of streaming Netflux, Hulu Plus etc. Getting cheaper all the time!
That's all folks! What I mean to say is that you don't have to overspend to have a nice home theater experience. You can certainly have a basic setup for under 5 thousand dollars. You can even go lower than that. All it takes is finding a spare room.