Nowadays, families and individuals prefer at-home entertainment activities and experience for convenience. For such reason, the demand for building a dedicated home theater room is also becoming more popular. By having your own in-house cinema, you don’t have to worry about getting movie tickets, finding a parking space, and waiting in line to buy overpriced popcorn.
In your home theater, you get to have a more immersive experience when playing video games and watching sporting events and movies. As a bonus, you also get to have fun with cool home entertainment and automation technology. Interested in building one? Listed below are a few steps to help you out.
1. Find a dedicated space
The first thing to do is to find a suitable room for your in-home cinema. Ideally, your home theater will share a room with other activities or distractions, or your climatic experience will be reduced. Choose a space that is perfect for screen-related actions such as video gaming, movies, or conventional cable TV. Avoid setting it up in an area with an open floor plan, such as the living room or near the kitchen, where light is hard to control. Unused basements or spare bedrooms are much more ideal.
2. Choose the movie screen
If you have no problem sticking to the traditional, a projector screen setup would be a good choice. On the other hand, if you prefer a more modern piece of tech, you can invest in a smart or 4K television. Both options have their own pros and cons, so be sure to consider your preference and needs carefully. For instance, a projector is ideal if you need a screen bigger than 100 inches and want a drop-down type that lets you use the space for other activities. The downside is that projects, usually high-end ones, produce unnecessary heat and noise and require more thought when it comes to the right light level.
Alternatively, if you require a not-so-big screen for your home theater, a television would make it work. Most modern TVs are also slim in size, which means they are easy to mount on walls. Be sure to choose the right one that suits your budget carefully. Most models drop prices within a year. If you can wait, you can save more money. Remember that setting up a television means you can’t necessarily create any more extra space as they needed to be permanently mounted into the spot, especially larger ones.
3. Build the surround sound system
The next part is choosing the suitable audio and video system for your home theater. Find reputable providers of smart home devices. Many of them out there can design and install a home media system that suits your preference and needs. Hiring experts are even more ideal if you’re planning to build a big theater room that typically requires high-end speakers for a more immersive surround system experience. On the other hand, if you’re planning to create a smaller cinema room, you can probably get by with the simplest models of speakers you can afford. Among the most important specs to consider are the speakers’ frequency range, sensitivity, and watts.
4. Pick the right AV receiver
Your quality equipment won’t be as high-performing as you want it to be if you’re using a weak receiver. Audio and video experts suggest to always go for the best receiver you can find. Buying a good AV receiver can drastically improve the performance of every piece of equipment in your home theater. Consider future-proofing when buying a receiver so that you won’t have difficulty performing future modifications. A few of the top things you should consider are the receivers’ broad range of connectivity, multi-room connectivity, the number of speaks that can be connected, and the HDR formats.
5. Arrange those seats
The importance of seating in your home theater goes beyond technology. It can surely make or break your cinematic experience and the viewers’ comfort during the activity. Avoid issues with blockage by installing raised rear seats. You can easily clear the sightlines with a fair boost of six inches. You’ll also need to consider the size of the room and your preferred distance to the screen when setting up the seats. As for the types of chairs or couches to install, you don’t necessarily need those specialty home theater seats that cost thousands of dollars. All you need is the type of seating that doesn’t have high backs that can obstruct the views from the back.
Having your own entertainment experience in the comfort of your home can surely save your family lots of time and effort. And the best thing is, this amazing addition can potentially increase the value of your home in case you’re planning to sell it in the future. Follow this guide to ensure a perfect home theater build.
