Let's Go to the Home Theatre

There are a number of choices available in the marketplace to cater to your seating, lighting, sound and video needs in the styles and comfort appropriate for you, your family, and your budget. First consider the seating type, arrangement and requirements. What are the room dimensions? Where are the lights and electrical outlets? Where will the screen be placed? Depending upon the space, anything is possible and even if confined, anything is still possible! You could go all out and create tiered rows of theatre seats with leg rests, high backs and well, cup holders, in cushy leather for spilled coffee or martini clean-up. The screen could be surrounded by a stage with strong classical and architectural elements or designed into built-ins. In any case, a basic floor plan is a good starting point after the screen location is determined. Try to make every seat count and optimize screen viewing from every perspective. The screen should naturally be centered on a wall with surrounding seating in appropriate distance from the picture. This will also be an important factor in balanced acoustics.

Next, consider lighting. Ultimately, smart technology will allow multiple options to include dimming to appropriate levels with the touch of a pre-programmed button. Some systems integrate it into a remote so lighting would dim as the movie begins. My recommendation is to provide down-lights with dimmers in areas surrounding the space, but not over seating. Lighting on tables next to seating provides options, and the more lighting options the better.

Also relevant for the design is the type of fabrics used to pull it all together. In most rooms a window is a building requirement and applying appropriate window treatments will be necessary to block out light to create the right cinematic experience. The best technologies in this department will automatically draw the curtains for you with a mere push of a button, while you are comfortably waiting for the movie to start. The fabric serves the additional purpose as an acoustical barrier for your sound system in order to ultimately create an immersed cinematic experience. Keep in mind, however, that overdoing the windows and carpeting may prevent you from receiving the full benefits of your audio child.

The screen has taken center stage and is no longer hidden behind armoire doors. Afterall, we are a screen-centric world and spend a great portion of our daily lives viewing cells, palm pilots, laptops, pcs and tvs. The concept of the largest possible screen would be attractive after a day of squinting to input and retrieve information in 8 point font, so the market has hit us like a welcomed storm. Owners are now also proudly displaying these expensive and attractive sets like a piece of art and feel perfectly comfortable making them the focal point of the room.

o start, the three types of screens popular in today's market are plasma, LCD, and "micro display" rear-projection sets. The Plasma television is large, thin, and very sleek with additional advantages of either high-definition (HDTV) or enhanced-definition (EDTV) available for certain products. Many of these screen create an impact with whatever you decide to watch. The LCD screens are smaller and even thinner than plasma. Here the key advantage is better picture quality, which, of course, comes with a price. Eventually this will change and size and price will become more attractive for more people. New technologies always come with a higher price, but this is changing as we read. Finally, rear-projection televisions offer a lot of advantages to the two above in that the newer sets have LCD or digital light processing for greater quality and have better and lower price points. They are also still thin and light.

When choosing speakers consider the rules for optimizing your surround-sound experience. First, mount a 5-piece speaker set to the walls, three of which will surround the screen. One to the left, right, and either hanging above or below the screen and two mounted on the wall. Another alternative is to provide free-standing units near seating. The chairs or sofas should be placed off the wall, if possible, for better all around sound quality. This is what the salesperson would recommend in the audio department at least. As an Interior Designer the ceiling mounted options for smaller, high-quality speakers is appealing in certain cases and I would enjoy seeing more alternative options to mounting three speakers around that precious monster screen of digitized art on display at home.

By Sharon Hess