Once the base work has been done to a room that is intended for a home cinema, the fun part begins! Kitting out the room so that it has everything you will ever need is an exciting endeavor and one that needs to be careful though and implemented meticulously. If you miss one essential thing, the whole experience may not be as good as it can be.
To help you out, we have included some information for you below, on things to be aware of.
Location of the Room
Before you do anything else, make sure the location of the room is in the most ideal space in the home. The recommended area should ideally be in the basement, but any part of the home can work too. Make sure you have ample space to work with, and it is an open-floor planned room.
The space required for something like a projector and screen should be enough to cater for the 14-foot throw distance onto a 150-inch diagonal picture. Also, because this will be the dedicated space for watching movies, playing console games and even doing your most essential online sports betting, try to refrain from mixing it with other unrelated activities such as adding entertaining friends and dining. Otherwise, you may damper the cinematic experience.
Control the Lighting
Lighting is one of the main things to get right. Ambient lighting which is the light that will be emitted from anywhere but the screen, such as other rooms or windows, should be considered. In your home cinema, you will want to minimize this as much as possible. Make sure there is no light bleeding through any windows or blinds, otherwise it will hinder the image quality. The best way to do this is to install light-blocking shades or curtains.
Ambient Sounds
Another thing to look out for is unwanted noise or sounds coming from outside the room. This will undoubtedly ruin the experience. Anything from children making noise in the room next door, or a dishwasher going off in the middle of the movie, is not the kind of thing you want interfering with your entertainment, whether you are playing games or watching a movie.
The best solution for this is soundproofing. There are a variety of different materials you can use to soundproof your home cinema, including acoustic pro fabric wrapped panels, or fiberglassinsulation, or acoustic foam which is popular for home theatres and studio foam which is used in the majority of music recording studios to muffle different types of sounds.
You can even replace your hollow-core doors with a more solid material such as a solid wood barn door or composite interior door, which can also help keep sound out.
An A/V Component Rack
The A/V or audio-visual component rack is the central point or “brain” that controls the entertainment activities in the room. Any type of source such as BluRay, network media streaming box, for example, Roku. Apple TV or Amazon Fire TV will operate from there so it should be placed near an electrical outlet. With it, you should also have an internet source wire.
Besides the above, other considerations to keep in mind include:
- Limiting reflective objects
- Proper seating arrangements and viewing options
- The drop-down movie screens
And all in all, try and keep it simple…much like a conventional movie theatre. Afterall, you want to make the most of the full experience with your friends and family!
