Taking Your Custom Home Theater to the Next Level
So you’ve built (or are building) your custom home theater. Congratulations! Now what? If you’re looking for ideas to take your custom home theater to the next level, you’ve come to the right place. Argenta can help you plan and build the custom home theater you’ve been dreaming of. All you need is an idea and our team can take care of the rest.
Argenta has been in the business of designing custom home theaters and installing home automation systems for a long time. We’re committed to bringing the best custom home theaters to Utah and want to help you take your home theater to the next level.
Speaker Placement
Understanding how to get the most out of your home theater speakers will really elevate your home theater experience. Proper speaker placement is critical to any home theater, and can make your movie viewing experience much more enjoyable.
Once you’ve got all the speakers you want for your home theater, it’s important to understand how to place them. Traditional surround sound speaker systems use at least five speakers with a subwoofer (5.1 surround sound). Three speakers are placed up front and two are placed in the back to add surround sound while the subwoofer provides the critical “Low Frequency Effect” (LFE).
When using “free-standing speakers,” your center channel speaker should be placed directly above or below your TV or projection screen, while being as close to the screen as possible without obstructing the sound. The front left and right speakers should be placed equidistant away from the center channel and if possible at a 20-30 degree angle from where you’ll be sitting. If the speakers are not “floor-standing” units, they should also be placed about 40 inches off the ground. When using “in-wall speakers”, do your best to follow the guidelines established above.
If you’ve still got questions about how to best place your speakers, Argenta uses a high-end VR design tool that uses an algorithm to determine the best place in your room for all of your speakers.
Lighting
Lighting is another important aspect of your home theater that, if done correctly can help you take your home theater to the next level. When you’re designing the lighting in your home theater, there are a lot of things to consider.
Do you want a star ceiling, recessed lighting, or cove lighting? Do you want to have programmable lighting? Do you want color effect lighting? Argenta can help you plan all these things into your home theater.
However you plan the lighting in your custom home theater, you want to make sure you’re able to dim the lights and have your room disappear, drawing all the focus to your theater screen.
Room Size
Did you know that there are recommended sizes to build home theater rooms? There’s a formula that builders use to determine the best size to acoustic ratio. Typically the width should be 1.6 times the height and the length of the room should be 2.6 times the height. This is the “perfect” acoustic ratio and will give your custom home theater great acoustics.
If you’re still building your home and don’t have an existing room to work with, we work with production and custom builders and can help you figure out the best size for your custom home theater.
Acoustic Treatments and Calibrations
Another big thing that takes your custom home theater to the next level is having all your equipment tested and calibrated by professionals. We want your equipment to bring you the best audio and video quality possible. Most people don’t realize that equipment right out of the box can be displaying poor images or delivering subpar sound quality. This could be from brightness, contrast, or color settings that are boosted or setup improperly. Argenta is able to calibrate all of your equipment to fit your specific needs.
We’re also able to provide you an acoustic treatment for your custom home theater. Acoustic treatments help improve the acoustic performance of your room. This means that you can make your speakers sound better. While it is very difficult to “soundproof” your home theater you can also use acoustic treatments to reduce the amount of sound that gets out. With the right acoustic treatments you can minimize the noise of the theater that gets out while also preventing other noises from getting in. Since you’ve had your sound system professionally installed and calibrated, it only makes sense to give the room an acoustic treatment that will allow you to crank the sound on your movies.
Bottom Line
These are just a few of the ways Argenta is able to help you take your custom home theater to the next level. If you’ve got questions about how we can help you get the most out of your home theater, contact us. We look forward to working with you on your home theater project and helping you take your home movie viewing experience to the next level.
