1. The Room
Before you start with anything else, you need to decide where you want your home theater to be. This also means deciding how big you want it to be. While home theaters of all sizes can work, you at the very least want to have room for a TV, seating, and speakers.
Of course, there’s nothing like coming home to a cinema-scale home theater, so if you have the room to go bigger, that’s always going to give you more options for your equipment and setup. And it’s going to be cooler.
2. The TV
The star. The centerpiece. The main focal point of your home theater -- the TV is what you are going to spend most of your time looking at, so you want to make sure to get one that you are going to enjoy, and that will last.
One of the biggest questions is if you want to go with a TV set or a projector/projector screen combo. There are benefits and disadvantages of both, depending on what you are looking to do.
For starters, if you are buying a TV in 2019 for a home theater, there’s zero reason to get something below a 4K set, and you may even want to consider going up to an 8K set. Give us a call and we can help you find the best set or projector for your space and budget options!
3. The Speakers
Most people realize how important quality picture is to bringing that true cinema feeling home, but it’s just as important to have great sounding speakers. Right off the bat, you want to make sure your speakers can work with advanced sound technology, such as Dolby Atmos. Atmos adds overhead speakers to cinema sound, and it can add that same dimension to your home theater, as well.
It also helps if you pick your home theater to be in a room that can be closed off so the sound doesn’t impact the rest of the house -- or the other way around and you aren’t dealing with obnoxious ambient noise during the tense moments of the latest blockbuster.
4. The Seating
Last, but certainly not least -- we assume you are going to spend a lot of time in your theater, and comfort is of utmost importance. You don’t want to be struggling to get comfortable through all 14 hours of your “The Lord of the Rings” marathon, do you? Yeah, we didn’t think so.
So, when you are pricing out and planning out your perfect home theater, don’t forget about your seating.
5. The Other Details
Those are the basic components of a home theater, but there are a lot of other factors to consider and include, as well. Do you want your theater to integrate with your smart home system? What about a home media server so you can watch stuff on any screen in the house without messing with physical media? And don’t even get us started on the mounting TV versus a TV stand debate, how important acoustic panels can be, processors and amplifiers, or home theater lighting, because then we’d be here all night.
Yeah, it can be a lot to keep track of. That’s why you always want to have a professional on your side when you are making a custom home theater -- and we’re here to help you make your theater dreams a reality!
It is going to take time, money, and work, but it will be worth it: There’s nothing like the feeling of stepping into your new home theater and enjoying movies whenever you want, right from the comfort of your home. As your local custom integrator, we’re here to help you through every step of the process, so reach out today and get ready to bring Hollywood home.