Home Theater Practicalities

Today’s shoppers are much more savvy than they have been in days past. Perhaps this sophistication when it comes to learning about the products we spend our hard earned money on is the result of instant information at our fingertips through the Internet or a deep desire to know more about where our money is going. Whatever the reason, we are taking the time to learn as much as possible about our investments and carefully planning how we spend our money before it leaves our wallets.

In many ways this is wonderful news. You really can’t go wrong as a consumer my educating yourself about the products you are considering purchasing and this holds doubly true when it comes to electronics. More and more consumers are opening up to the idea of home theaters. In fact, this is becoming a selling point in many homes across the country. It is a great idea to research the products you will purchase and the individual components of your home theater system but how much time have you invested towards the planning and design of your home theater?

You may have the room in mind, but do you have the wiring you need? Are outlets in the correct location in order to provide the extra outlets you will need for your components? Do you have the wiring for speakers in place or is this something additional you will need to consider? Will you go with wireless speakers in order to avoid the hassle? There are so many questions you will need to ask yourself when planning for your home theater.

What, of your existing home entertainment equipment will you be keeping and which pieces of equipment, if any, will you be replacing? I always recommend buying one component at a time and building a home theater system rather than simply going in and purchasing a box off the shelf that has everything in one place. While you can get a very nice system by doing this, I think you will ultimately get more bang for your buck if you build your own system one piece at a time and select each piece for the individual qualities your prefer. That being said, once you get the components home you need to be able to install them and incorporate them into your existing home theater.

Will you be adding special home theater seating or going with a big comfy couch? This matters when planning the layout for the room in which you will be watching your movies and television favorites. You want the seating to be comfortable or no one will want to spend too terribly much time in the room, no matter how large the television screen is. We like to be comfortable as we watch 24 hours of non-stop action or the nearest planet in a far off solar system explode. Do you have a plan for providing that comfort in your home theater?

Do you have all of the connecting wires? How about a reliable method for disguising the wires so that they do not provide a distraction during your movie and television viewing time? Are you going to add gaming equipment to your home theater system? If so, this opens up an entire new ball game when it comes to wires, as you will be bringing even more cords and wires and controllers into the mix.

The next question is how do you plan to hide all the equipment? While built in entertainment centers may seem like a great idea, they are killers to your bottom line should you need to some day sell your home as they eat up floor space and not everyone will appreciate your home theater. For this reason, I recommend a floor-to-ceiling entertainment center with doors that can be closed around the features you aren’t using at any given moment.

While there is no right or wrong when it comes to designing a home theater for your family, there are practical matters that are well worth considering. I hope this has brought to mind a few of those and that you are brimming with wonderful ideas for your current or future home theater.

Create your Personal Home Theater

We often spend a great deal of time contemplating the various components of our home theater systems but rarely give much thought to how the decor of the room affects our ability to enjoy our home theaters and movies without the added distraction of the walls in the room or other decorating features. In order to get some great ideas, go to the experts when it comes to designing the best possible viewing experiences.

Take a night out at the movies and check out the way the room is decorated before the movie begins and pay attention during the movie to the things that distract you most.

Theaters make a lot of money by creating an experience more than for the simple showing of movies. The first thing you will probably notice is that most theaters do not allow outside light into the room. As a matter of fact, most theaters have very little in the way of artificial light either.

You may spot some wall sconces and some running lights (that can be brightened or dimmed) along the sides but rarely will you notice any overhead lighting turned on even before the movies play. For this reason, basements or interior rooms with no windows are the best choices when it comes to selecting the location for your home theater. If that isn’t available be sure to try to find blackout curtains or drapes for your windows in order to keep the most possible sunlight out.

The colors they chose for the walls and the types of lighting they are using are carefully selected in order to enhance that experience. I’m sure you will find that most theaters use darker colors for their walls. Many use fabric to line the walls so that shiny paint doesn’t reflect the light from the screen. In your home you can opt for textured paints or mattes in order to avoid potential reflections. You should also make sure that you aren’t using shiny floor surfaces that might also reflect the light back onto the screen. For this reason carpet makes a good flooring choice for your home theater.

Another thing you will want to make sure that your home theater includes is nice comfy seating. By having appropriate seating where you and your family can spread out and enjoy watching television or movies you will find that you are spending much more time together enjoying your investment than you would if you found the seating stiff and uncomfortable. I also suggest special seating options for smaller children that allows them a special place to sit and no room for doubt over which seat belongs to whom. Not only do you want a nice comfy spot for your little ones but also a nice area for the grownups to enjoy and feel comfortable as well.

I highly recommend that you also keep a nice supply of snack trays available for those times when the situation merits and many people include mini fridges and microwaves (for popcorn of course) in their home theater so that they do not have to travel very far in order to enjoy some great refreshments during commercials or breaks in action on the big screen.

While there is no one size fits all home theater, there are many touches you can add that will enhance the theater experience in your home and make it that much more enjoyable for all involved. Take the time to decide what features you can add that will make the space work better for your needs and that of your families movie and television watching preferences and go with those touches rather than trying to conform to a ‘norm’ that doesn’t really exist when it comes to home theaters. The most important thing you can do is create a space in which you feel comfortable watching movies and television as a family. If you achieve this particular goal you will have a home theater that is likely to be the envy of others around you.

Common Television Types for Home Theaters

television typesWhen selecting components for your home theater you will come to a point in time when you must decide on which television types and size of television you will need for the best possible viewing experience. There are many types of televisions on the market today and technology is constantly evolving and emerging in order to bring newer, bigger, and better televisions to a market that one would think is already saturated.

The good news is that the very nature of this market makes yesterdays cutting edge technology today’s bargain of the day. The very brevity of new technology in the electronics industry works in favor of consumers by driving prices down rather quickly. Nothing is entirely out of reach for the average consumer for too terribly long. For this reason you can afford to be fairly selective when choosing components for your home theater. These options just so happens to extend to television types as well.

Television Types Available

There are basically three types of television sets burning up the home theater market today. Those television types include the following: plasma, rear project, or front projection television. Each of these have distinct advantages and disadvantages when it comes to home theater. [Read more…]

Home Theater for Small Spaces

small home theaterOne reason that many people who would love the benefits of a home theater avoid making the investment or even considering their options is because they live in situations that allow only a small home theater with which to place the necessary components of a home theater system.

The good news is that compact systems or small home theater are growing in quality and availability as space around the world becomes more and more limited. As the population grows, the problem of space grows as well. Gone are the days filled with huge plantation style homes around the world as communities are more and more often filled to capacity with apartment buildings, condos, and homes built on compact lots in housing communities.

Small Home Theater for Small Spaces

The average family around the world has experience the limitations of space when it comes to things such as floor speakers and bulky home theater systems. The good news is that they days of huge projectors and massive televisions stands have fallen by the wayside to make way for ceiling mounted projectors and rear projector televisions that fit tightly into corners when necessary. This makes a small home theater the best option. We also have the added convenience of wireless speakers that can be mounted on walls or in the ceiling as well as LCD and plasma televisions that can be mounted on the wall rather than taking up precious real estate on our floors. [Read more…]

Home Theater for Kids

home theater for kidsYour home theater can be one room in which everyone loves to watch television, it may even be a home theater for kids. In fact, in many homes it is the one room that is most often used by the family. However, it is obvious that everyone within a family doesn’t always agree on what is an appropriate movie or television choice at any given time.

I know in my family dad and baby girl often disagree on whether Sunday football or yet another viewing of Cars, or whichever Disney flick has her unending attention at the moment, has a higher viewing priority.

Home theater for kids?

In most instances dad wins out as baby girl has almost unlimited access to the television while daddy is working during the week. However a simple solution to this particular dilemma would be to create a pint sized home theater. Of course then there will be fights among the little ones about who’s turn it is, but that’s better than having them fight over seating position while you’re trying to watch a movie or favorite television show (I think). [Read more…]

Comparing Home Theater Prices Can Get Bargains

compare home theater pricesCompare home theater prices is critical when  you are in the market for a new home theater. One of the most difficult things for many people to do when walking into an electronics store is more often than not to stay on budget.

There are so many bells, whistles, and simply delightful gadgets on the market today that it is hard to go into the store with the intention of spending a certain amount of money and sticking with that intention. This being said it is possible to compare home theater prices and get the best possible bargain for your money when it comes to purchasing a wonderful home theater system if you are willing to do the required legwork.

Seriously there are several steps involved and it often requires multiple trips to multiple stores to compare home theater prices or multiple phone calls at the very least over the course of about a week in time. The reason for all of this is that it could literally save you hundreds of dollars when it comes to building your home theater or even when buying a prepackaged system and will at the very least have you armed with the necessary knowledge to secure a good price on the system you choose. [Read more…]

Harman Kardon Signature Series 2.0 Surround-Sound Processor/Tuner

Harman Kardon Signature Series 2.0 Surround-Sound Processor/Tuner

Amazon.com Review

For those seeking home theater performance a cut above the ordinary, the team of Harman Kardon’s Signature Series 2.0 surround processor/tuner and Signature Series 2.1 multichannel amplifier (sold separately) offers superior sound, sophisticated ergonomics, and outstanding build quality. For its own part, the Signature Series 2.0 processor/tuner–which requires an outboard amplifier for you to listen to it–offers great sound, terrific setup flexibility, and ease of use, though its performance is slanted more to audiophiles than videophiles. It handles decoding for all the major surround formats–Dolby Pro Logic, Dolby Digital, and DTS. In addition, the Signature Series 2.0 offers 5.1-channel analog inputs for newer surround formats, such as DVD-audio, where the decoding can take place in your source component. This processor even includes an RS-232 serial port for interfacing with home automation systems. Most receivers present a fascia loaded with kn (more…)

Yamaha RX-V565BL 630 Watt 7-Channel Home Theater Receiver

Yamaha RX-V565BL 630 Watt 7-Channel Home Theater Receiver

From the Manufacturer

From the Manufacturer Yamaha’s New Home Theater Hub Yamaha’s new 630-Watt 7-Channel RX-V565 Home Theater Receiver offers many advanced features to ensure maximum enjoyment of your home entertainment sources. These include 1080p-compatible HDMI (4-input, 1-output), XM and SIRIUS Satellite Radio capability, iPod and Bluetooth compatibility, Yamaha CINEMA DSP, improved YPAO sound optimization, multi-zone custom installation options, and four SCENE buttons. Multiple inputs make the RX-V565 your home theater hub View Larger High Dynamic Power Capability for Great Sound The Yamaha RX-V565 is capable of delivering large amounts of reserve power for accurate reproduction of the high energy peaks that are especially prevalent in digital audio sources. This prevents clipping and emphasizes the music’s dynamic qualities. This receiver also uses high-quality Burr-Brown 192kHz/24-bit DACs for all channels. The DACs provide accurate sound field reproductio (more…)

Marantz SR6003 Audio Video Receiver

Marantz SR6003 Audio Video Receiver

From the Manufacturer

From the Manufacturer The Marantz SR6003 Audio Video Receiver – Beautiful Chassis, Stunning Sound From its sleek compound-curve front panel to the multiple control terminals, the SR6003 surround sound receiver contains a stunning array of technologies to increase your A/V enjoyment. Seven amplifier channels, each capable of delivering 100 continuous watts. Full HDMI 1.3 capability. A complete array of new processing technologies. The SR6003 demonstrates once again that Marantz leads the way to home entertainment. 100 watts x 7 channels all discrete amplifier stage(View larger)Marantz Quality and Design With most endeavors, it is the devilish details that distinguish the great from the also-rans. And the Marantz SR6003 surround sound A/V receiver definitely ranks as one of the greats. You’ll see this immediately in the elegantly simple front panel where aluminum extrusions and glass-reinforced resin meld their respective qualities to shield inte (more…)