HOME THEATER DESIGN
How to design and build a home Theater

There are several elements that need to be carefully considered if your want that true cinema experience. Here are just a few:

• Screen
• Projector
• Audio
• Audio Treatments
• Seating
• Component interfacing
• Lighting and control
• Finish Treatments

SCREEN

Let's face it, without the screen you're just looking at a blank wall. However, the screen size and type is extremely important. Here are a few options.

1. Solid screens mount directly to the walls. The speakers are then placed around the screen. These will take up less of your room.
2. Pull down or automatic screens can hide up in the ceiling out of the way when not being used.
3. Perforated screens, the best. Speakers can be mounted behind the screen itself, allowing the sound to come from the portion of the screen for which it was intended (see pictures at top).

The size of the screen is important to give you the right "feel" for the room. Too small of a screen will make it seem just that, too small. Then the screen has to be the proper aspect ratio for the movies to fit.

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PROJECTOR

There are a plethora of projectors to choose from. Many people try to look at one factor, cost. However, this can be very deceiving. Here are a few considerations:

1. Size - Will the projector have enough light output for your room and where will it need to be located. Truth is, most everyone will tell you that their projector will do what you want. You might need to ask, "What's the best and what's the difference?"
2. 1080P - This is the best projection for High Definition video.
3. Contrast ratio - The better the ratio (ex. 10,000:1) the better the color. More importantly, how is that ratio achieved? If it's done using the iris of the projector, you will lose light output and picture quality. New technology offers better projectors using ILDA.
4. Lens - To get the right aspect ration for your screen you will need an anamorphic lens with a motor drive and/or a video processor. Otherwise, your images will not fill the entire screen all of the time (think about  the new TV screens and those black bars on the side of your picture).
   
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AUDIO

This is a place where many companies will make their biggest mistake to you. Many will try to WOW you with the idea that they can get a really loud sound system for very little. Truth is, they can. However, what you end up with is a loud system, but very poor sound quality.

Have you ever noticed when you're watching a movie on your TV and you constantly have to "ride" the volume control? Much of the reason for that is time alignment of the different frequencies. You loose what is know as "speech intelligibility".  What is happening is your are hearing the sound multiple times due to reflection off your floor, ceiling, back walls, etc. Even though it is only milliseconds, your brain can not handle all that "noise".

We use a system that allows us to time align each individual speaker so the full range of sound frequencies are hitting your ear at nearly the same time. This improves the clarity of the sound. We then equalize each frequency for your specific room using a computer system and multiple microphones throughout your room. When it's all said and done, you get a sound that is better than many theaters. The bassy low's will then make your room rumble due to sound pressure. This gives you a more realistic feel than the use of excessive volume or vibrators under your chairs.

Sound systems that don't allow you to time align the speakers should be avoided, if at all possible.

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AUDIO TREATMENTS

This is where the quality of your sound comes in, as well as the real appreciation for your home theater. Think about it; you can have the finest sound system for your home, but if you put that equipment in a gymnasium, it sounds terrible. Why? Because there are many factors that effect sound quality and the way we hear sound.  There are reflections that just keep the sound bouncing around in a room. Then there are nodes where sound basically cancels itself out. Then you have standing waves which makes it sound like it's coming out of a bucket. Then there's the issue of time alignment for the speakers, if you purchased a system that will allow you to accomplish this. Lower end systems do not.

Every room has it's own anomaly's which include the shape of the room, the height of the ceiling, how many hard surfaces in the room, etc. Then there's the actual placement of speakers in a room. If speakers are not aligned properly, this will create undesirable effects. They may look good to be balanced or centered aesthetically, but this could create an undesirable effect in their performance. Then, if by chance you cross just one wire, the speaker will work, but it will become out of phase, creating just another problem in your overall sound. True, anyone can install your speakers, but how many of them truly understand sound, how it works, and how it is perceived through the human ear. In fact, you can have the best sound system, but if these other factors are not carefully considered, your system may not offer you any more than a boom box in a gym. Your speech and other sound qualities will still remain garbled and indistinct.

When engineering our rooms we use cloud panels, diffusers, and absorbers. We use the same paradigm as in our showroom theater. Speakers and diffusers are properly placed in the room so as to prevent standing waves and nodes. All speakers are individually time aligned so that all the frequency ranges meet you, the listener, at the same time. This gives you a quality of sound that is unsurpassed by the majority of most home theater installers. It's a difference that is clearly discernable. In fact, our clients have told us that they no longer desire to see movies at theaters. They wait until the movie comes out on DVD of Blueray and watch them in their own theater. The sound is that much better.

If you really want to have a home cinema experience, you need a company that fully understands sound. If they don't know what time alignment is and how to explain it, or if they don't know how to accomplish it, this should be a good indication that maybe this is not the company you desire. Now, you can get by without all this, but there will be a marked difference. Visit our showroom to hear the difference yourself.

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SEATING

Sounds simple enough. Get some chairs and put into the room so you can watch a movie. However, if you want to have seating so that everyone not only sits comfortably, but they can also view the screen without distractions, learn from a professional theater.

Have you ever gone to the movies and then someone bigger comes and sites directly in front of you. Your first reaction is, "How am I going to see over their big head?" However, once the movie starts, you find that the "big head" really wasn't that big of an issue. Why.

Theaters build there seating so that the row behind is just a few inches higher than the row in front. Also, the screen is placed a little higher on the wall. This way, the subsequent rows can easily see over the lower rows.

When thinking about seating, consider your ceiling height. If at all possible you can raise your subsequent rows about 5" for each row. The lower rows can actually be built into each level so it doesn't appear like several decks.

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COMPONENT INTERFACING

This is probably the largest area where we find people have the biggest problems. The remote doesn't work correctly, the lights don't do what you want, the picture doesn't fill the screen correctly, you can't get the sound right, and the list goes on. The problem? Communication.

By communication, we don't mean with your builder or installer. Rather, the problem comes from having so many components in a room such as a home theater. Now, the problem is not the room, but rather the components that are being used.

Some equipment doesn't speak to others very well. It's like having a room full of people that all speak a different language. They may know just enough of one language to understand simple commands, but then they can't really be part of the conversation.

Many companies will use many different components. Each of these components have their own language. In order for them to communicate, you have to program them (teach them the language). Some components can't be taught the language of another. This is where it is extremely important to have and engineer (professor) that understands each component (or society). He can then put the ones that will get along together in a single group.

Next, you need a programmer (language teacher). They know the abilities of each component and no how to translate. Many people will call themselves programmers. However, they are an "end user" programmer. This is simply someone that understands the "simple" language, not someone that knows how to "write" the language which is in code, like html code used to design this web page. (For a sample of this code, just go to the right of this page with your cursor. Right click in a blank area. A pop up menu will show with various options. Click "View Source". The html code for this page will come up.)

Quite honestly, many people that work with home theaters and equipment don't understand how to write code, nor do they know the commands that will make machines talk to each another. This is why it is important to hire a company that has an engineer and a programmer. Technicians can connect the wires, which most any of us can do (red to red, blue to blue, etc), but unless they know how to connect a computer to the equipment and get into the files, it could all create a big headache and a waste of time and money for you.

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