Testing every resistor before soldering is smart, but I'd also meter caps since they lie too.

Did you actually need it or just want peace of mind?

Kept the sound bar off for 3 years? That's the real problem here, not the 32 inch screen. Half the stuff you're missing in those movies is in the sound, the low rumble before the beacons light up, the horns, the horses. A bigger TV helps but a decent sound setup changes way more than people expect, and you can do it for way less than $400 if you shop used. Honestly though, a crowd does add something a couch can't, that shared gasp is real, so maybe do both, upgrade the room and still hit the theater for the big ones. Movies like that were built for a dark room with other people, but they were also built to shake your floor at home, and you've been skipping that part entirely.