Design Your Dream Home Theater
Have you been contemplating adding a home theater, but unsure where to start? It is easy to be overwhelmed by confusing and possibly misleading information on what creates a great home theater experience. With over 30 years of experience, Modern Home Systems is an expert in building a cinema-quality experience in your home. Let us walk you through what to consider, what is possible, and what is essential to obtain the results you desire.
First, let’s define what we mean by the term “home theater.” A home theater is a dedicated room in your home that has been optimized for movies, TV, and video gaming. In your research, you may have seen other terms like “home cinema” or “screening room.” Home technology professionals often use these terms interchangeably. A home theater is not a dual-purpose room that can double as a living room. These more casual dual-purpose rooms are called “media rooms.” A home theater is meant to bring the big screen to your home.
Designing a great home theater goes beyond deciding what equipment is needed or how many theater chairs can fit in your room. Ask yourself what a private home theater can offer you and your family. A home theater is a place to bring friends and family together – where memories are created. Our lives are often busy, and it’s easy to feel pulled in different directions. A private home theater, when designed correctly, can be a special place to bring the family together.
Any movie director will tell you that the key to a good movie is your willingness to suspend your disbelief. The film must be so good that you fully believe what you are watching and may even forget where you are. A home theater is no different. It should create an atmosphere that encourages you to be thoroughly captivated by your chosen film.
Acoustically Correct Audio
Having the right audio is key to your overall home theater experience. While some may think high-quality audio is something only audiophiles can appreciate this isn’t the case. Sound is one of the senses we are all more sensitive to. Sound can affect us physically, emotionally, and mentally. Your theater should be designed to give you the full experience of the film, television show, game, or music you are listening to. Modern Home Systems takes into account the layout of your room and how the sound will bounce off the walls to create an acoustically correct audio for an enjoyable theater experience.
A Distraction Free Zone
Building a distraction free environment takes planning, expertise, and skill. There are some home theater consultants that will advise you this step isn’t necessary. This misguided advice is meant to save you time and money, but in fact, takes away from the home theater experience. Making your theater distraction free enables you to enjoy the details of the soundtracks, visuals, and nuances that make for great cinematography. The last thing you want while watching a movie is an interruption coming from the sound of running water coming from your home’s pipes or hearing your AC turn on. Poor lighting management can also affect your movie watching experience. You don’t want to miss the subtle change in color of the sky, a key element the director included to tell the story. Don’t let anyone tell you sound isolation or lighting isolation isn’t necessary. After all, this is your home theater and you deserve nothing but the best!
Image Quality Matters
One myth we often hear is that video technology will always be cheaper and better soon. While this is somewhat true when it comes to basic consumer displays, this is not the case for home theater imaging systems. The precise balance of viewing positions, sight lines, video projector positioning, picture resolution, screen material and more make the correct engineering and specification essential. A performance oriented projector cannot be compared to a consumer projection system when it comes to producing a high-resolution image. These consumer projections systems are designed for convenience instead of performance. The manufacturer’s goal is to sell as many of these systems as possible, which means that they do not want to limit them in any way. Consumer projection systems can fit into many different rooms, but often at the cost of performance. On the other hand, there are performance based projector systems that are designed to deliver a high quality picture. When using a high performance projector, your home theater design needs to be fully optimized to give you an all around high quality experience.
There was a time when you couldn’t experience the depth of color, purity of image, and clarity of sound anywhere other than in a movie theater. Technology has come a long way. Your home theater, with the right technology, can rival that of movie theaters. Hire a professional, like Modern Home Systems, to help you build your dream home theater. Modern Home Systems keeps form and function top of mind. Schedule your design consultation today.
Our team will go over what your theater will look like, what your theater will be used for, what type of seating, what equipment will be used in the room, and any other details of the room that are important to you and your family. This can all be done via conference call, a trip to our showroom or a visit to the jobsite, whichever your preference we are here to accommodate you!