There’s No Place Like Home With Your Own Home Theater
The lights dim and you furtively glance around the room. Everyone is comfortably settled into his or her seats with a lingering sense of anticipation. You smile, grab a handful of popcorn and look toward the screen as the room is flooded with the swelling overture. You love the movies! Wasn’t including a home theater in your luxury custom home plan a great idea?
When you create your home theater, there are many components to consider. Each piece requires individual thought and in the end they all need to be compatible. Much like a huge puzzle, the best place to begin is the frame. Where will you put your home theater? The room you select will dictate how many people can comfortably use the space and the type of equipment and furniture to fill it.
Once you choose an adequate space, you can gather the necessary equipment to outfit your home theater. There are three basic furnishings that all home theater or media rooms need - a big television, a media player and surround sound.
Television
You have so many options when it comes to selecting a television and you need to find the one that best suits your individual needs. For a home theater, the television needs to be a minimum of 27 inches when measured diagonally but can be up to 200 inches depending on how much space your custom luxury home plan provides.
Standard direct view televisions deliver an excellent picture but the size is limited because of the technology used. The maximum of 40 inches diagonally will suffice for a home theater, so pay attention to screen curvature and image contract when shopping for a direct view television. Flatter screens ward off glare and distortion and darker screens give a good black level so black images are not a stormy gray.
Rear and front projection televisions are ideal if you want a really big screen. Most rear and front projection televisions only work well in a totally darkened room. They are most suitable for dedicated home theater rooms rather than dens or family rooms. When shopping for a rear projection television, compare screen quality, size and resolution. Screen materials should be made from a glare-resistant material because rear projection televisions have a smaller viewing angle than direct view televisions which can result in poor contract and glare from even ambient light. Front projection televisions use a projection screen like rear projection televisions but look more like a film projector because the screen and projector are separate entities. The further the projector is pulled away from the screen, the larger the image appears. If this is the effect you want, be sure the power capacity is strong enough to support the image across the room because capacities vary.
Flat panel televisions are thin and lightweight so they are perfect for smaller rooms with limited space. The primary flat panel televisions are LCD and plasma and both have great picture quality with poor black levels. LCDs are limited in size but plasmas can experience burn in, which leaves a permanent image and permanent damage to your television. These televisions are convenient but quite pricey. If you need a smaller television for the home theater in your affordable or ranch style home plan, the plasma is worth the additional expense.
Surround Sound
The surround sound sets your home theater system apart from a regular television setup. For proper surround sound, you need three speakers in the front for left, center and right with two or three speakers to the sides and rear of the viewers. To get the highest quality sound, you need to know what to look for when you buy the necessary components.
All surround sound systems require an audio/video (a/v) receiver. There are many types of a/v receivers on the market and many are sold with speakers as a complete home theater sound system. This is more affordable than buying separate components but does not always offer the best quality, so choose carefully. When buying your a/v receiver, decide the speaker setup you want in your home theater. The number of speakers determines which a/v receivers are compatible with the system and how the sound is directed. Some common options include:
5.1 (5 speakers with 1 subwoofer) - This setup includes three front speakers at left, center and right and left and right surround sound speakers.
6.1 (6-7 speakers with 1 subwoofer) - This includes the same speakers as 5.1 and adds a rear speaker.
7.1 (7 speakers with 1 subwoofer) – This setup directs the sound more specifically than the 5.1 or 6.1 systems.
Speakers are a critical element of the sound system incorporated into your luxury home plans and designs. You will want identical speakers because various models handle sound differently. When you mix various brands, the effect is low quality and unbalanced. Speakers may be floor-standing, in-wall, bookshelf or in-ceiling units. Floor-standing units are high performing but can be expensive. Book and wall/ceiling mounts are compact and perform very well. The lack of bass range in comparison to floor-standing speakers can be compensated by using a good subwoofer so you get all the sound excitement during that action-packed movie.
Media Players
Regardless of the television or sound system you choose for your luxury house plans, you can’t have home theater without something to play the movies on. Most surround sound systems prefer one kind of DVD formatting over another, so when installing your home theater system you should check the compatibility of your favorite DVDs, DVD player and VCR with your surround sound system. Surround sound systems should play all DVD formats but the quality may not be as intended.
Avoid the mistake of eliminating a VCR in your home theater system. Although VCRs don’t have the high quality of a top of the line DVD player, they are a necessary part of the movie watching experience. Most people have a lot of great movies from before digital distribution that should be appreciated regardless of whether they have been digitally formatted yet. Upgrade to a hi-fi stereo VCR to increase the playback quality.
Okay, now that your home theater is basically functional it’s time to personalize the movie watching experience. Do you want squishy chairs and couches for lounging or movie theater seats for authenticity? Would you like dimming ambient lights like the movies? Are you getting your own popcorn machine? After all, the major reason you have a home theater is to enjoy the cinema experience your way and in total comfort. Once you find the necessary equipment and figure out the installation, you might want to bring in a home theater expert contractor. Make sure to convey your decorating intentions along with amenities to the contractor so the expert can equip your home theater to your highest standards.
October 15th, 2007 at 2:55 pm
It’s important to match the sound with the size of the screen too. If you have a big screen, you need big sound and vice versa.
The best way to get that true cinema feeling in your home is a projection screen. And with the advent of HD, the quality is better than ever. If you have the space, create a dedicated room, for which there’s no better projection screen than a fixed frame screen with a velvet surround.
October 18th, 2007 at 9:30 am
Wow, great article. I am currently thinking about building up my own cinema system at home. But the market is so big, I don’t know where to start looking and there are so many things that you have to pay attention to.