Shop For Home Theater 5.1: October 2011

!: Home Theater Design Suggestions

Planning a home theater design is both exciting and challenging, especially to people who are not so inclined to technical and/or aesthetic matters. Nevertheless, anyone with the budget who wishes to set up a home theater can do so either on his own, with the help of knowledgeable relatives or friends or with the help of a professional. The latter is the easiest way out of home theater design worries but it would cost more.

The first consideration in home theater design is the actual room. Will you be converting your basement or a spare room in the house to a home theater? Will you be using your living room instead? In any case, the size of the room will determine the flexibility and the limitations of your home theater design. Naturally, the bigger the room the more you can do with it. For instance, you can place more seats and even put reclining movie theater seats with arm rests or set up a concession stand at the back. However, if the home theater is small or if the room is used for some other purpose, then the home theater design should take these factors into consideration.

The home theater room design should identify where each component of the home theater system would be placed. Usually, almost all of the equipment will be placed against the main wall. Try to arrange the seating so that people can stand up go to the rest room, for instance, without being much of an obstruction to the screen.

Furniture placement is also very important to your home theater room design. Where you place your entertainment stand, cabinets, and seats will affect the viewing experience in your home theater. Comfort is important in choosing furniture but so is the right size and shape. The pieces should fit the room and the overall home theater room design accordingly.

Lighting is also important to your home theater design because how you place the lights in addition to the type of light you use will either add to the look that you want to achieve or work against it. Additionally, if you will be setting up the living room as a home theater, you need to plan the layout of the home theater carefully so that light coming from outside through the windows will not reflect on the TV screen. Glare will ruin your viewing experience so you want to reduce or completely avoid this as much as possible in your home theater design.

Whether you opt for a do-it-yourself or professional home theater design, the best way to start your project is to do some research and find out all the design options you have that will work with your space and budget. From there, you can decide which design matches your dream home theater.