Home Theater Design
Home theater design when is it time to call in the professionals?
By Joe Boyle
Being able to own your own home entertainment system may once have been seen as a luxury item of the very rich.This is because until only a few years ago very few households in the US and across the world could afford to have a home theater system of their own.
They were once a luxury strictly reserved for the rich and famous and those with very deep pockets, but now with the huge advances in audio and video technology and the ever increasing affordability of home theater equipment to suit most pockets, they have become the latest must have item for almost all households in addition to a personal computer (PC or Mac ) , games console (PS2 , X Box…).
After all home theater design has now become easier and available to many more people than ever before.
The basic home theater design requires only three basic components and these three components generally are available for most peoples budgets and widely available in many stores both on and offline.
However, before you start building even a basic home theater design for your home theater system, you will want to know the size and dimensions of where you intend your home theater to be.
Generally speaking the larger the room the more advanced the home theater system will need to be to create the movie sound playback experience as authentically as possible.
Home theater design experts recommend that if the room is quite small, which might be the case for many people where the movie viewing is taking place in the main living space in the living room or bedroom, all you need for your base home theater design is a television set, three speakers and a DVD player.
As a rule the better the quality of these components the better the whole movie theater experience will be.
Whilst the home theater design may be dependent primarily on the size of the room , the positioning of the speakers will pay a crucial part in the effectiveness of the system’s speakers and will consist of a left, a right and center speaker which are placed relative to the seating position when you view the TV screen.
Even starter home theater design ideally requires a television set bigger than 27 inches. A smaller screen for your home theater design may not be adequate for the authentic movie theater-like experience.
To avoid being disappointed by your home theater design, you will need to consider carefully the picture and sound production of a normal movie theater and why this entices you to go out in all weathers to see the latest blockbuster in your local city?
The main reasons usually are the quality and size of the movie screen but equally important is the surround sound and special effects which go towards the complete movie night out.
With this in mind in a smaller room you may create a similar ambiance to a movie theater with the basic three speaker setup.
However If the room is bigger, the home theater design needs to be more involved often requiring additional amplification, additional speakers and the addition of a subwoofer to boost base sounds which is almost essential for most special effects soundtracks in movies.
Some systems feature as many as seven speakers including a subwoofer but this maybe in some circumstances dependent on the size of the room overkill, and more than a little annoying to the neighbours.
For smaller rooms you should look to buy the highest quality speakers you can afford.
There are now speakers available for all budgets which are capable of incredible sound quality even for use in the smallest of rooms which are not only discrete but also highly effective.
If you have a tight budget especially, ensure that the store where you buy your speakers will allow you to test them in your room.
If it does not provide you with a good surround sound, they should allow you to return or replace the unit.
If your choosen store does not offer this option I suggest you look elsewhere.This is because some speakers sound good in the store where they have been set up for optimum sound quailty but when you finally set them up in your smaller room which may be less acoustically forgiving, the effect may be nowhere near as good.
Find a good deal on home theater speakers where they will allow you to return or replace the speakers or you risk never being happy with your home theater system.
However, if your budget is much bigger, you may even consider hiring the services of a home theater designer.
Your home theater designer will be able to design the home theater better than you could yourself as their experience will enable them to choose the best combination for your requirements complete accessories.
They may require checking the power rating, and the need for amplifiers or sound proofing and the like.
In some cases where appropriate they may also recommend using home theater projectors and makes recommendations as to the type and how the speakers need to be positioned.
You will get a much better home theater design if you are able to afford the services to hire home theater designers.
The need for home theater seating and television cabinet may also be necessary for the complete package of your home theater if you are really pulling out all the stops and have a large budget.
With some effort based on your requirements and budget you will be able to enjoy your movie entertainment without having to deal with any more traffic jams, in the comfort of your own home on your own home theater system.
Joe Boyle is a home movie theater fanatic and has been using and designing home theaters for a number of years he is also the editor of the movie web site www.adsoundtrack.com to get a copy of Joe’s FREE REPORT - setting up you own home theater system Click Here
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