Everybody talks about a home theater as if it only can be done if
you have a lot of room and a lot of money to spend. But a home theater isn’t
just about the picture and sound, it’s also about where you will be spending
your time watching. So what your home
theater needs is to be set up so that it will provide you with the
best experience possible. To do this, a few things need to be considered and
taken care of. None are necessarily hard — they just require some foresight and
planning.
WHERE THE TV IS
The television
may be going against a wall or it could be on a cabinet, but that doesn’t mean
where you sit can’t be adjusted to be the proper distance away. There are
calculators that will tell you how far back you should sit to the TV; these can
be found online and don’t require extensive math skills to understand or use. The idea is to be far
enough away to take advantage of seeing the whole picture without any
distractions. If the TV
is on a cabinet, obviously there will be more options for where it and the
viewing area will be (since it can be moved around) — but for many, putting the
TV on the wall means not using up any of the available space so that there’s
more room (for most a professional
installer like Just One Touch
will do the job efficiently and correctly and, most of all in a safe manner).
CHECKING THE LIGHTING
Glare can ruin the enjoyment of
watching so beware of having a TV too close to windows or where lighting can
reflect off it it. Having the blinds closed or the shades drawn will
immediately take care of the problem from outside, as well as muffling
extraneous noise. Additionally, curtains help to make the audio sound better
than if it is bouncing off of bare walls. The same goes for furniture like
couches and other padded objects in the room.
SPEAKER POSITION
Where the speakers go will make a
difference in the quality of the audio they put out. Soundbars
are designed to go beneath the TV (if wall mounted) or in front of
them (but not blocking the view in on a cabinet) — the various adjustments that
can be made should be made so as to make the sound particular to your
own environment. This means working through menus and perhaps even reading the
instruction manual so as to get the best sound possible. Default settings
should never be used.
If the speakers
are separate, tower models will have their own stands built in. For smaller
speakers, placing them on speaker stands will help them to sound better than if
put on the floor — not just because of vibrations but also because the audio
will be more muffled if on
the floor (plus don’t forget neighbors whose ceiling is your floor, apartment
dwellers). Making the speakers work together can be made easier by having the
same brand for all of them: the left and right speakers that provide stereo and
the center channel for dialogue and the left and right surrounds for sound. An
omnidirectional subwoofer
can pretty much go anywhere, even under a couch, and continue to do its job
without incident.
GETTING TO THE HOME THEATER
Nobody likes when someone walks in
front of them and blocks their view — watching at home shouldn’t mean having to
put up with something that happens all too often at movie theaters. See if it’s
possible to arrange the seating facing the TV so that someone coming into the
area doesn’t have to walk in front of the TV. It might take some time to get
this right, but once it is done you will be glad you took care of it.
Having a home theater doesn’t mean you
have to have a separate room or the latest and most expensive equipment. But it
does mean doing everything possible to enhance your viewing experience.