What Do You Need To Know Before Installing A Home Theater System?

An in-house theater system is a worthwhile investment that benefits your entertainment demands for years to come. What can be more exciting than popcorn movies with friends or family at weekends?

Even if watching films is not what you often do at leisure, seamless music with nice sound quality is hugely compelling. That said, a home theater is where you can have some kickback and relax to the fullest.

What do you need to know before installing a home theater system?

If you’re planning to build one in your house, here are the most important pointers to primarily consider:

• Space and Budget

• Speakers and Surround Sound

• TV or Video Projector

• Amplifiers

• Sources

• Soothing Lighting

• Control

• Comfortable Furniture

TheAudioCritic will guide you through the essential options and details for a home sound system. Let’s find out more in the next sections!

What Is A Home Theater System?

A home theater system is an approach to entertainment at home.

It’s an approach to entertainment at home. Generally, a home theater system involves different electronic components, which recreate the cinematic experience of enjoying a movie in the cinema.

You’ll find it more appealing to immerse in a film with a theater system rather than with ordinary television. With your home theater system, you will feel the unique attraction as when watching a movie with vivid sound.

Do you wonder how a home theater brings this experience? 

A mini-cinema provides fantastic sound and pictures, offering a fancy experience that our TV just can’t give us. That’s why people are usually willing to pay to see a film at the cinema, though renting one is more affordable.

And the difference is due to the electronic components we’ve mentioned, like speakers or screens. All of that equipment creates the basic shape of the original cinema version.

We’ll dig deep into what you need to know before beginning a home theater system set up in the following section.

What Do You Know Before Installing A Home Theater System?

A fancy home theater includes a bunch of equipment and gadgets.

Space and Budget

Regarding significant investments, the top concern should always be your allotted budget and needs. Confirming those factors will help narrow down on theater options.

Many homeowners spend a lot of money on room setup, TV set, and interiors while neglecting the amplifiers and speakers. Instead, focusing on your needs and the chief components first will help you avoid unnecessary wastes.

Also, the room’s size, speaker placement, and free space are other major factors to initially weigh up.

If your room is small, it’s better to go for packages using bookshelf-sized subwoofers or speakers. If you plan to make it big, the 7.1 setup with either floor-standing speakers or a bookshelf is an ideal choice.

Speakers and Surround Sound

You can use speakers from different brands for your theater.

Speakers are usually the first thing to pop in mind when talking about a home audio system. Indeed, they’re the equipment that brings us sound. How can a theater be without sounds, right?

Speakers come in a wide variety of models and prices. It’s not hard to find ones fitting your needs and budget on the market, from wireless speakers, in-wall and in-ceiling speakers, floor standing speakers, to outdoor speakers and bookshelf speakers.

If you’re going to build a whole-house system or simply think about audio placed in the middle rooms, you don’t have to make all the speakers the same.

For example, you can set up media in the central area with speakers of Martin Logan but choose the Origin Acoustic resounding bass thump, architectural speakers, and subwoofer in your fitness room.

TV or Video Projector

The second major component of an amazing theater experience is the video projector or movie screen. The projector takes up all of your attention and view, making it easy to indulge yourself in a movie.

When the darkness surrounds you in a cinema, you only see the bright screen. A good-quality projector will ensure nice videos and field of view for movie watching, so be thoughtful when buying one.

A large-sized screen with a projector or a high-grade TV is all reasonable. Which option to go for is up to your budget and individual preference.

If you desire an authentic atmosphere of a theater, we suggest buying a ceiling projector. If you have a generous budget, it’s a good idea to opt for a pro-quality HD TV screen. Please remember that the screen’s size should be as per the size of your theater.

Another tip to bear in mind is to place your screen at a level suitable for eyes using standard stands.

Those stands can stand at a width of 48 inches and weighs 130 pounds, and most of them come with heights suiting couch-level seating.

Amplifiers

Amplifiers are part of fresh sound output.

Unless your speakers are powered wireless, adequate amplification is critical to help the speakers adjust the sound outputs. Your theater system could do with a powerful stereo or multichannel receiver or amplifier.

No matter how excellent your speakers are, you will have to set up distribution amplifiers to provide them with enough power and make them sound their best at any volume you want to listen to.

Depending on the number of speakers throughout your house, you’ll need to install the equivalent number of amplifiers. Many high-end home theater builds utilize separate components to provide a receiver’s functions.

An amplifier combination offers greater flexibility and assists in isolating any interference. The interference might be due to having many functions sharing one power supply and box.

However, most standard theaters will do fine with a regular receiver.

Sources

If you like to stream music from Spotify, Tidal, Pandora, or your own music library with high resolution and superior quality, a music server coming with simplified control and various audio sources are all you want.

You can consider purchasing one of the latest whole-house audio systems, which usually support high-resolution audio formats and multiroom music systems.

If your budget is favorable enough, invest in a condensed music format that allows easy music streaming from Deezer or Tidal with high-resolution. This type of HDMI source will offer a significant improvement in sound quality.

Soothing Lighting

Proper lighting in the room is exceedingly crucial to promote the actual experience of a cinema. Some decent light not only makes you feel like you’re watching movies in an arthouse cinema but also makes it easier for your eyes to adapt to the screen’s brightness.

If the room is too dark, your screen's brightness level will stress your eyes, affecting your focus and watching experience. Set up dim lights on your ceiling and walls for the most soothing lighting.

Control

Your remote’s buttons control all the functions in the receiver.

Most audio-visual systems are typically difficult to use. Before installing a whole-home theater system, you need to make sure it’s effortless to operate daily and access it anytime.

Whether you’re into a remote with a touchscreen, real buttons, a smartphone, or wall-mounted keypads, we advise you to opt for one that provides control in your way. You can play a playlist, an album, a song and queue up various options from multiple sources for all-day listening.

The remote with stand-out refinements are a great choice for large budgets. It helps manage a houseful of sound much more straightforward.

While most home sound system packages include remote controls, the controlling features are critical. Ideally, your remote should have all the buttons required to control the features and functions available in the A/V receiver.

Besides, consider build quality, the kind of batteries, and the operating range of the remote as well.

Comfortable Furniture

A cozy seating arrangement surely will add to the movie enjoyment.

Comfortable recliners and sofas with pleasant armrests are a brilliant choice for fat budgets. Don’t worry if your budget is limited. A regular couch is also a reasonable pick.

You can install your sound system in a soundproof room that is a little secluded.

This way, your movie experience won’t be bothered by any noise or interference outside. It also safeguards you from neighbors’ complaints about the high-volume sounds from your speakers.

If you don’t have such a silent room for your installation, then you should soundproof wherever you place your theater with thick-padded carpets and heavy curtains.

Final Note

One of the most common solutions to achieve a fantastic cinematic experience these days is to build a theater system right in your home.

Not only does it add a sense of luxury and extra convenience but also the whole cinema in the comfort of your house.

What do you need to know before installing a home theater system? Aside from many things to notice, like speakers, screens, amplifiers, or lighting, installing an in-house theater requires effort, research, and expenses.

Make sure to prepare well, and it’s sure to be a worthwhile investment!