Ideas on How to Transform Your Living Room into a Home Theater
With the amazing tech available today, anyone can turn their living room into a home theater. Creating a home theater is just pairing the right equipment that suits your decor taste with your audio and video needs. At Argenta, we enjoy educating people on all the technology available and helping people create their dream home theater room even in spaces they never thought possible.
Watching movies is more than just popping in your favorite 4k disc and plunking down for a couple of hours in your basement. It’s about making memories with family and friends and connecting to something that deepens your relationship. Watching movies is about the experience and becoming involved in the movies as much as you possibly can.
The Big Screen
When it comes to choosing the screen to watch your movies on, there are a lot of options. Having a good screen is important, and is one of the most obvious features of a quality home theater.
Nice TVs are a lot more affordable now than they were even a few years ago, and the features these TVs come equipped with is amazing. If you opt for a TV for your living room home theater, it’s important to pick a display that will provide you the best resolution and picture quality based on the environment. You’ll want a tv that has 4k resolution since a lot of streaming services are producing content in 4k.
While TVs are great for some people, other people choose to use a projector in their home theater or media room. This is also a great option and can bring high quality video into your home theater. The main factor that pushes people from a TV to a projector is screen size. As soon as you decide that you’d like a picture larger than 85”, then a projector will be by far the most cost effective solution.
Sound
There are a lot of different options when it comes to the sound you bring into your newly transformed living room theater. The sound that accompanies a movie can make or break the experience you and your movie viewers have. Even the best TVs lack the quality sound you need so that you can have an excellent movie viewing experience. Take time to research and invest in a quality sound system. You won’t regret it.
If your goal is to recreate the same audio experience of a movie theater, you’ll need at a minimum a 5.1 system (five speakers and a subwoofer). The speakers you choose can be freestanding (traditional style where you have a boxed speaker on a shelf or stand) or the more popular in-wall or in-ceiling styles that are flush mounted and concealed. All of these options can produce excellent sound. If you don’t have a lot of space, there are a lot of really good sound bar options that will provide you a nice quality sound as well.
Comfy Seating
Now that you’ve got your picture and your sound, it’s time to sit down and watch the movie. Oh wait, what are you sitting on? Any movie goer will tell you the quality of their viewing experience is greatly impacted by the seat they’re sitting in.
If you choose to buy theater seats, a big sectional, or just a couple of recliners, quality is important. Getting something that is comfortable, and functional (like built-in cup holders) can really add a lot to your movie viewing experience.
Knowing where to put your seating can be tricky too. Finding the optimal viewing angle for your screen size is important. You don’t want your viewers craning their necks looking up the whole time, or having to squint to see fine details on the screen. Check out this blog post about finding the best viewing angle and seat position compared to your screen size.
Room Ambience
Good lighting can also make or break a movie theater experience. If you have windows in your home theater room, try putting up blackout curtains. This will help reduce the extra light that gets in from outdoors and washes out your movie picture.
If you’re really interested in quality lighting, look for lights that can change based on the mood in the room, or what’s on the screen. Soft lights that are dimmable can add a lot to the ambience.
If you have a hardwood or other non-carpeted surface, put down a big area rug. This will help absorb the sound and reduce the sound reflections that will come from your awesome speakers.
Wrapping Up
If you choose to transform your living room into a home theater, these are just a few of the easy fixes that can bring an added benefit to your movie viewing experience. It’s important that you invest in quality equipment and if you have questions about if you’re doing it right, or want to consult with a professional, let us know. We’re ready to help you design your dream home theater.
