Don’t make the same mistake I made and upgrade your home theatre setup without first reading the spec sheet for your prospective 4K laser projector; you might be in for an unpleasant surprise.

In my opinion, everyone should seriously consider replacing their TV with a projector. Of course, the most high-quality 4K projectors will set you back more than the most high-quality 4K televisions, and you’ll need to make sure your home theatre is built in the ideal location: a room with a large white surface and no windows (or black-out curtains installed) to get the best picture quality. However, in my opinion, it is well worth the trouble to set up a projector and display visuals that fill the screen.

Therefore, in my mission to persuade people that projectors are the future, I visited my parents’ house with the Epson EH-LS11000W I’ve been testing for TechRadar to demonstrate its capabilities. As I mentioned in my review, the laser projector’s 4K image (which can be blown up to a size of 300 inches) and its picture’s splendid colours really impressed me; however, the contrast in dark scenes wasn’t as good as I’d have liked (especially for its price), and the lack of a TV operating system is a major drawback because you’ll have to waste a port on a streaming stick.

In addition, after spending a few hours at my parent’s place getting it hyped up and set up, I discovered that it had no built-in speakers. When I realised my family wouldn’t stand for my borrowing their soundbar and messing up their TV setup, the movie night came to an abrupt conclusion. After much soul searching, I reluctantly put the EH-LS11000W back in its packaging. There is one television and no projector.

The projector was correct, however the home theatre setup was not

The Epson EH-LS11000W, which retails for $3,999, £4,199, or around AU$5,750, is just one example of a rather high-end projector that prioritises picture quality above audio.

But my arrogance caused me to overlook that. However, I failed to consider that the machine’s speakers may really be cooling vents for its 2,5,000,000-lumen laser system.

This projector is being provided to me free of charge by Epson in exchange for an honest evaluation. If I had spent the whole $4,199 (or its equivalent in other currencies) on a subpar home entertainment system, I would have been completely out of pocket.

However, this incident serves as a useful reminder that even we techies are prone to making assumptions about an appealing product that turn out to be inaccurate. This is why you should never buy a new electronic device without first learning everything you can about it (instead of just looking at the rating and moving on).

Even though speakerless projectors like the Epson EH-LS11000W aren’t horrible, they aren’t ideal for every home theatre system. And that’s the same with a lot of other kinds of technology; it’s not about how fantastic the appliance is, but rather if it’s wonderful for you and your need.