Our five-star home cinema reference system is on sale for Black Friday – save over £4800 in total

We always maintain a reference system for our home cinema reviews. It combines a selection of Award-winning products that act as benchmarks, allowing us to accurately assess the performance of whatever we may be reviewing.

It’s a collection of premium home cinema devices, with equally premium price tags to match, but if you want a reference system in your home that matches ours, then Black Friday is the best time to buy the components.

Every part of our reference setup has been discounted for this savings event, meaning you can save a hefty chunk of change if you do want to replicate our system.

Now, ours is admittedly over the top (would you expect anything less?) as we always have multiple TVs and a projector set up at all times, as well as both a surround sound speaker package and a soundbar.

You may not need both a TV/soundbar and a projector/speaker system, so feel free to pick and choose what suits you best. Either way, you’re guaranteed to experience the ultimate cinematic performance from these products and save a boatload of cash too.

Sony‘s entry-level native 4K laser projector is on a What Hi-Fi? Award-winning streak, scoring its fourth Product of the Year title earlier this month.

It’s still a pricey piece of kit, but this deal at Richer Sounds knocks £2000 off a supremely talented beamer that delivers seriously impressive contrast and black depths, sharp details, and rich yet balanced colours for an overall showstopping cinematic experience.

Our only gripe is the lack of motorised lens controls, but once you have the VPL-XW5000ES in place, you’ll quickly forgive this minor shortcoming on account of its stellar picture.

Read our full Sony VPL-XW5000ES review

Panasonic Z95B and Samsung S95F, beating both TVs in terms of sheer picture performance thanks to its deeply engaging and three-dimensional picture.

Sony’s masterful picture processing paired with the QD-OLED panel technology makes this TV a sight to behold, and it’s backed up by impressive built-in sound, a solid set of gaming features (HDMI 2.1, VRR and ALLM) and a sleek design.

Read our full Sony Bravia 8 II review

TCL C7K.

This surprise hit of 2025 delivers a bright and punchy image when required, but it also has a trick up its sleeve to ensure it impresses during dark scenes too.

TCL’s new Halo Control technology hugely mitigates blooming, and black depths are seriously impressive by backlit TV standards.

If you’re not interested in OLED or want a TV that offers a stunning picture without a ludicrous price tag, then the C7K is for you.

Read our full TCL C7K review

We’ve swooned over this AVR plenty of times, but we’re here to do it once again.

The Marantz Cinema 30 is a handsome piece of home cinema kit, with a premium sculpted metal design, tasteful ambient accent lights, and even a gorgeous remote control; but in the grand scheme of things, none of that really matters, as we care most about sound quality.

The good news is that the Marantz Cinema 30 is a showstopper when it comes to delivering cinematic sound, with a rich, weighty and smooth performance that is guaranteed to immerse even the toughest audiophiles.

It’s dynamic, can deliver huge scale sound, and features excellent connectivity; it really is the full package.

Marantz Cinema 30 review

KEF Q Concerto Meta 5.1 was the sleeper hit from this year’s Awards testing process.

It won us over almost instantly with its rich, powerful and engaging sound, complete with a subwoofer that handles bass like a champion. It’s accurate and agile, yet warm and inviting, which is a surprisingly difficult balance to strike.

We’re also huge fans of its dashing good looks, and the fact that it’s comprised entirely of standmounting speakers means it should take up slightly less room than an equivalent floorstanding setup.

It’s become our new reference system for a reason, and we’re already looking forward to the next time we can watch a movie using it.

Read our full KEF Q Concerto Meta 5.1 review

Sonos Arc Ultra had massive shoes to fill, but it did so with ease, delivering the punchy, big-scale sound of its predecessor with added richness and height, as well as a whole lot more bass.

This all-in-one cinematic sound solution is a perfect accompaniment to the Sony Bravia 8 II, and it’s primed to be made into a full system with the Sonos Sub 4 and a pair of Sonos Era 300 speakers.

We tend to use the Oppo UDP 203 for a majority of our 4K disc spinning duties, but that player has been sadly discontinued.

Fret not, as the Panasonic DP-UB820 also has a permanent spot in our reference lineup, and considering it just took home yet another Product of the Year win, we don’t see it leaving any time soon.

This easy-to-use 4K Blu-ray player delivers a vibrant, rich, and crisp 4K HDR image alongside powerful and spacious sound.

We’ve sung the praises of 4K Blu-rays over streaming countless times, and this player is one of the best ways to experience the benefits of physical media.

Panasonic DP-UB820 review