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Home theater is one of those dream home renovation projects that allow you to take your living situation to the next level. However, dedicating a separate room and installing a big screen won’t be enough to ensure a comfortable and enjoyable home theater experience for your family and yourself.
If you want to design a home theater that will be functional enough for movie marathons or watching sporting events, you need to approach it carefully. Below, we will shed some light on the most common home theater design mistakes, such as placing speakers in poor locations, neglecting seating design, and choosing the wrong screen, along with the ways to avoid them. Continue reading to ensure that your movie nights will be as comfortable as possible!
Placing Speakers in Wrong Locations
For home theater enthusiasts, nothing is worse than spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on a surround sound system that doesn’t sound great. However, in many cases, it’s about how you place the speakers. Even the best Dolby Atmos, Sony, or Wharfedale speakers won’t do much if you don’t think it through.
A lot of people just put their speakers around the place without really thinking about the room’s acoustics and how sound bounces off the walls. This can lead to problems with clarity and volume control. If you want to avoid this common mistake, here are some things to keep in mind:
- Placing the subwoofer in the corner of the room will give you more bass, but it will also make it harder to control the volume. Subwoofers need to be placed against walls but not in corners. Ideally, you want to place your speakers about 10 inches away from the wall. This will make it much easier to control the bass and ensure that everything is balanced.
- If you plan to buy a soundbar system, make sure you place it on top of the TV. Soundbars are designed to work with TVs rather than sit underneath them. Their placement determines how they will sound and what kind of effect they will have on your room. Placing them on top of your TV can ensure that they are at the right height for your ears and don’t block anything on TV.
- Make sure that your seating arrangement gives you an even distribution of sound across the room. If you want to achieve balance, you need to place your speakers equally on both sides of the room. For example, if you have two front speakers, put one on the right and one on the left side of the screen.
Choosing the Wrong Screen Size
Whether you plan to arrange a home theater in an existing space or dedicate a separate room for this purpose, you will most likely want to install a big screen. However, when it comes to screen size, bigger is not necessarily better. Actually, most people choose a screen size that is too large for their space.
The most popular screen size is 120 inches. It’s big enough for everyone in the family to enjoy the movie experience but too big than TVs usually chosen for regular living rooms.
If you are considering a big screen, here are some things to keep in mind:
- Choose your screen size based on your viewing distance. The ideal distance between your eyes and the screen is 1.5-2 times its width. If your viewing distance is shorter or longer, adjust it accordingly or choose a screen size that is slightly larger or smaller.
- When it comes to projectors, bigger is not better. A projector can completely ruin your viewing experience if it’s not set up properly. Make sure it’s not too close to the seating area and that there is no glare on the screen or other visual distractions before you start watching movies.
Neglecting Seating Design
The most common mistake that homeowners make when it comes to home theater seating is placing their chairs and sofas incorrectly in relation to the screen. If you do this, you will find yourself sitting too far away or too close to the screen, which will make it difficult to focus on what’s happening. You also won’t be able to get a good look at the details in the picture.
If you want to avoid making this common mistake, here are a few things that you can do:
- If you have a family room, it’s best to choose a seating area that is at least 1.5-2 times the screen’s width. If possible, add a few extra feet to this length so that everyone can have enough space to get comfortable.
- Make sure the area between your screen and the seating area is free of clutter. This will ensure that you can easily move around and won’t be distracted by the stuff on the floor.
- You should also consider the shape of your screen. A rectangular screen is the most popular option, but if you have a round or oval room, it can make more sense to go with a curved screen. This will give your home theater a more sophisticated look and make it easier for you to enjoy movies from any angle without feeling cramped.
Conclusion
Designing a home theater can be fun, but it’s also easy to make mistakes. You want to create an enjoyable and functional space for your family that will be appreciated for years to come. However, you don’t want to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on equipment or seating only to realize that your design does not work the way you have planned.
To avoid this, take your time and think about every detail before building or designing your home theater. This will help you create a comfortable and entertaining living space.
