Most people build a projector setup backwards. They buy the projector first because that is the fun purchase, then they discover the speaker built into it fires at the wall behind the screen, then they find out the HDMI run from the shelf to the couch is three feet short. Fifteen years and roughly 340 installs later, I can tell you the fix is almost always the same: plan the portable projector and soundbar setup as one system, before anything goes in a cart.
This comparison covers four pieces that show up in nearly every budget build I get called about. A 5.1 channel soundbar with actual rear speakers. Two projectors that are aimed at completely different rooms. And the 30 foot cable that connects them, which is the cheapest item here and the one most likely to decide whether the whole thing works.
I will be straight with you about one thing up front: I have not run all four of these through my full protocol on my own tile floor, and I do not publish numbers for gear I have not swept. What I can do is tell you what each piece is designed to do, where that design usually falls apart in a real room, and what to verify in the first week so you are not stuck with the wrong half of a system.
Related: Soundbar Placement: Where The Sub Actually Goes
If you buy one piece first, buy the soundbar. Dialogue is the thing people actually notice, and no projector in this price range delivers it. After that, the Aurzen EAZZE D1 is the better projector for a room you can darken, the mini projector is the one for a bedroom ceiling, and the 30 foot HDMI cable is the inexpensive part that quietly decides whether the other three work together.
LG S6FTR 5.1 ch Home Theater Soundbar with Dolby Audio and Rear Speakers
Real rear speakers instead of virtual surround, which is the single biggest upgrade in this list, plus Dolby Audio processing that keeps the presence band intact
Rears need power and a sweep to place, and a bar this shape in a corner will hump the bass until you move it or let the DSP correct it
Aurzen EAZZE D1 Smart Portable Outdoor Projector with WiFi and Bluetooth
Built-in streaming apps and Bluetooth audio out, so it can feed a soundbar or a portable speaker without a receiver in the chain
Portable projectors lose contrast the moment ambient light shows up, and the built-in speaker is a placeholder, not a soundtrack
30 ft HDMI Cable 4K, High Speed Long HDMI Cables Support 4K 30Hz 2K 1080p 3D ARC, Gold plated Connectors Soft HDMI Cord for Smart HD Fire TV Monitor Projector Soundbar Laptop PS3/4 XBOX (9.14m)
Thirty feet of copper with ARC support is exactly what a projector-to-soundbar run needs, and the soft jacket survives a corner without kinking
It is rated 4K 30Hz, so it is not the cable for a 4K120 television, and long copper runs get picky about bandwidth as length climbs
Mini Projector with Wifi and Bluetooth, Built-in Apps,Movie Projector
The cheapest route to a big picture, with WiFi and Bluetooth on board and apps already loaded, which makes a bedroom ceiling setup a one-cable job
Mini projectors in this class are not built for a lit room, fan noise tends to sit right where dialogue lives, and the picture quality is whatever the panel gives you
Prices and availability were captured from Amazon Creators API and may change.
How I judge gear like this
Every soundbar that comes through my house gets the same first treatment: a UMIK-1 sweep from the actual couch, before and after its room correction runs, so I can see what the bar did versus what the room did. Projectors get the X-Rite i1Display Pro and a Calman pass, because a consumer projector's "cinema" preset usually measures a long way from Rec.709, and delta-E under 3 is the bar I hold them to. Nothing gets a number published that I did not measure myself, and manufacturer wattage and lumen claims are treated as optimistic fiction until a meter disagrees.
That protocol is also why I am not going to hand you a frequency response curve for these four. The soundbar is the only piece here where a sweep from the listening position tells you nearly everything, and I would rather describe the design and the placement problem than invent a curve. The projectors and the cable are simpler stories: one is about light, one is about bandwidth.
The soundbar: dialogue lives in the presence band
The LG S6FTR is a 5.1 channel bar with Dolby Audio and a pair of rear speakers in the box, and that last part is why it leads this list. Most budget bars fake surround with processing that hypes the midrange and mumbles dialogue in the process. Actual rear speakers do the job physically, and physical usually beats processing.
The reason I care about 5.1 over a 2.1 bar has nothing to do with explosions. It is the 1 to 4 kHz range, the presence band where dialogue lives. A bar that scoops that region out makes every British crime drama sound like it was recorded through a blanket, and no amount of wattage fixes it. A three-channel front stage plus rears keeps the center information anchored to the screen instead of smearing it across the room.
Two things to plan for. First, rear speakers need power and a place to sit, ideally just behind and slightly outside your ears, not on the back wall behind your head where they will sound like a whisper. Second, a bar this shape in a corner will hump the bass, because corner loading does that to every speaker ever built. Move it out of the corner or let the bar's DSP correct it, and check the result from the couch rather than from standing in front of it.
The Aurzen EAZZE D1: the projector for the yard and the dark room
The Aurzen EAZZE D1 is a smart portable outdoor projector with WiFi and Bluetooth, and the spec that matters most for this comparison is the Bluetooth audio out. That single feature means the projector can send sound to a speaker instead of asking you to accept its built-in driver, and it is the difference between a backyard movie night that works and one that gets heckled.
Portable projectors live and die by ambient light. A dark room or a genuinely dark yard is the operating condition. If you are pointing one at a white wall with a lamp on, you will get a washed-out picture and blame the projector, when the room was the problem. That is not a knock on this unit specifically; it is how the entire portable category behaves, and it is why I always ask about light control before I ask about resolution.
The second thing to know is that a smart projector is a small computer, so give it a strong WiFi signal at the point where it actually sits, not at the router. Streaming apps that stutter are almost never the app's fault.
The mini projector: the bedroom ceiling play
The Mini Projector with Wifi and Bluetooth and built-in apps is the piece I would buy for a very specific job: a dark bedroom, a blank wall or ceiling, and a willingness to accept that this is a convenience purchase rather than a cinema purchase. It has the same useful trick as the Aurzen, WiFi and Bluetooth on board, which means one power cable and nothing else.
Where mini projectors in this class fall short is predictable. Light output is modest, so the picture is best after dark. Fan noise from a small chassis tends to land in the presence band, which is a real annoyance on quiet dialogue scenes. And there is no way around the fact that the cheapest projector in a comparison is also the one with the fewest options for correcting its own picture.
If you want it on a ceiling, sort the mount before you buy, and remember that a projector pointed at a ceiling is a projector with its vents in an unusual orientation. Give it airflow.
The 30 foot HDMI cable: where long runs get honest
Here is the part of a budget build that nobody wants to think about, and it is the part that fails. This 30 foot HDMI cable is rated for 4K at 30Hz, 2K, 1080p, 3D, and ARC, with gold plated connectors and a soft jacket. Read that spec sheet honestly and it tells you exactly what it is: a long copper run for a projector, a monitor, or a soundbar connection, not a bandwidth hero.
That is fine, because neither projector here is pushing high frame rate 4K. Where people get burned is buying a 30 foot copper cable for a modern 4K120 television and then wondering why the signal drops. I had a 30 foot run in my own house fail a 48 Gbps pattern test at the 24 foot mark, which is a length problem, not a brand problem. Copper has limits, and thirty feet is past several of them. If you need high bandwidth at that distance, you buy fiber.
For this build, the ARC support is the useful part, because it lets the soundbar and the projector talk over one cable instead of two. Two install habits: never coil a long HDMI cable tight enough to kink it, and never run it parallel to a power cable for the full length of a wall. Cross power at an angle, keep the jacket straight, and test the run before you hang anything.
Two builds that actually work
Build one, the living room. The Aurzen EAZZE D1 sits at the back of the room on a shelf, the LG S6FTR sits under the screen, and the 30 foot cable runs between them with ARC carrying the audio. The projector does the picture, the bar does the sound, and the rears sit behind the couch. This is the build I would install for a family that watches movies three nights a week.
Build two, the kids' room. The mini projector goes on the ceiling or a high shelf, connects over WiFi to its own apps, and pairs over Bluetooth to whatever speaker is already in the room. No soundbar, no cable run, no receiver. It is not a theater, and it is not pretending to be one.
The mistake in both cases is mixing the two. A 5.1 bar with rear speakers in a bedroom is overkill and the rears will end up on a dresser pointing at nothing. A mini projector in a living room with a lamp on is a disappointment you paid for.
The trade-offs I will not hide
The LG S6FTR gives you real rear channels, and in exchange you take on two more power outlets and a placement decision. If you cannot put the rears behind the seating position, you are paying for channels you will not hear, and a simpler bar would serve you better.
The Aurzen EAZZE D1 is the better projector of the two, but it needs darkness and a good WiFi signal at its actual location, not at the router. The mini projector is the more convenient one, and it is the one that will look worst at noon.
The 30 foot cable is the value pick of the group, and its ceiling is 4K 30Hz. That is not a flaw for a projector setup. It is a flaw if you pair it with a gaming display and expect 120 frames.
And the thing I say to clients even when it costs me the sale: if you are building a dedicated theater room with blackout curtains and a fixed screen, skip all of this and buy real speakers. A soundbar is a compromise that works beautifully in a living room and gets exposed in a treated room.
Bottom line
Buy the LG S6FTR first if dialogue matters to you, because it is the piece that changes what you hear rather than how big the picture is. Add the Aurzen EAZZE D1 if you have a room you can darken, or the mini projector if the goal is a cheap, convenient big picture in a bedroom. Finish with the 30 foot HDMI cable, and buy it knowing exactly what it is rated for.
Then do the thing almost nobody does: sit on the couch, play something with a lot of talking in it, and listen from where you actually sit. If the dialogue is clear from there, the system works. If it is not, the room is telling you where to move something, and it is usually the subwoofer, the rears, or the bar sitting in a corner.