Part 1: Planning and Designing Your Home Theatre Room
So you are thinking of investing in a home theatre. How do you get started? What factors you should consider? How to plan it out? Is your room large enough? How many speakers do you need? Do you need a subwoofer? — Thousands of such questions are probably crowding in your mind. Don’t worry, that’s perfectly normal and many buyers like you go through the same dilemmas and confusions. To make things easier, we’re starting a series of four blog posts that will answer many of the questions you may have in mind regarding building your home theater.
In this first post of the series, we’ll talk about setting up your room or an ideal space for home theater.
Before you start purchasing the theatre components, you should realize that it needs a lot of creative and technical expertise to set a top-notch home theatre room. Even if you are a novice DIYer, here are some tips to help you plan and design your home theatre room.
Don’t put the egg before the chicken
Jokes apart, this is not about the theory of evolution. It’s just the basic form when setting a home theatre. A majority of people buy the gears beforehand and then start with designing the room. This is not the way how it is supposed to be. Buying gears is fine. But, the performance of those gears considerably depends on the ambiance of the room where you’re going to install them. So, start with addressing the fundamental issues like room dimensions, seating arrangements, etc.
Once you know the specifications of the room and the number of seats you want, their distance from each other and the screen, your job is half done. Most importantly, knowing your room before wish listing the equipment also allows you to decide on – the type of speakers, projectors, receivers and other devices you need.
A square-cut might not work here
It’s better to avoid a square shaped room for a home theatre. This shape is not acoustically sound. However, if you already have a room and it’s square, you cannot help it. But then, acoustic panels are there at your rescue. These panels hide the imperfections to improve the quality of sound.
The components of your home theatre system
Understand what goes into making a home theatre complete. It’s the projector or screen, receivers, media servers, media streamers, Blu-Ray player, and that’s it. Of course, these devices are of extreme importance, but you should not overlook the color on the walls, the presence of reflective surfaces, placement of lights, noise, and soundproofing.
- Lights – Some people might think that the lights inside a home theatre will be ultimately switched off. True! You don’t watch movies in a theatre with the lights on. However, what about the control lights and their placement?
- Wall and ceiling color – A dark color is a good idea for theatres. Although you want your home theatre to be a replica of the real one, you don’t want the commercial feel of the multiplexes either. What you want is some coziness around. So, it’s better to go for flat sheen and earthy tones. And what about the ceilings? Usually, people paint their ceilings white. But, in this case, a flat black or ash-colored ceiling will be a good idea. Additionally, you can also install acoustic panels.
- Reflective surfaces – Until and unless you switch off the lights, you cannot find out the reflective surface resting right there inside the room. And, to be very true, these reflective surfaces can create a significant amount of interference with the quality of your home theatre.
- Soundproofing – Remember, your relaxation should not become someone else’s apprehension. Therefore, make sure to get your home theatre room soundproofed.
The layout
- Too many cooks spoil the broth. Probably, you have heard this before and know what it means. Similarly, too many seats spoil the experience. To make sure you get the most out of it, keep a distance of minimum 4 inches between the seats and speakers and the walls. For a 12-inch room, 3-seat rows make the best fit.
- According to the Custom Electronics Design and Installation Association (CEDIA), a viewing angle of 43 degrees from the main seats in order to experience a CinemaScope image.
Now that you know the fundamentals of planning and designing a home theatre room, you can get started with the same. However, it is always advisable to seek professional assistance for getting the best experience out of your home theater.
Create the best cinematic experience with Cinebels
At Cinebels, we have an exceptional assortment of high-end home theatre system for providing you with the finest home entertainment experience. We have been offering a cutting-edge audio-visual experience for more than 60 years. Choose the best, choose Cinebels.
