So you finally decided to look at purchasing a Home theatre system… but where do you start? Is it going to be a dedicated home theatre room that will be used for special screenings (Friday night at the movies popcorn all round) or is it going to be existing living space that will be part of your everyday use and viewing pleasure.
When deciding on what type of home theatre you are about to purchase. You’ll want to get the most out of it. As George Lucas creator and director of StarWars once said “The sound and music are 50% of the entertainment in a movie”.
What are you thinking?
There are many things to consider before you purchase a Home Theatre System. Do I want a component system? Or do I want a home Theatre in a box (all in one)? Will I want tall speakers? Will I want satellite or bookshelf speakers? 5.1 or 7.1? Do I want DVD or Blu-ray? Do I want to wall mount the speakers? The list goes on. So instead of defining each option, this article will give you a basic understanding on the most purchased product; The Home Theatre in a box. Firstly let’s define what this is. A Home Theatre in a box (HTiB) basically is the total requirements needed to run home theatre. This includes the receiver/amplifier that has the player (Blu-ray or DVD), FM tuner, auxiliary inputs and outputs as well as the speakers, (including the Subwoofer) and of course the speaker cabling to connect it all together.
Don’t forget to ask whether your home theatre comes with a HDMI cable otherwise you will need to purchase this separately and we recommend Zonart Cabling.
If you are like most people, you will want to set up a Home Theatre in your living room, which ever you decide there are a few basics to think about; first the player, do you want DVD or Blu-ray? Now if you have recently purchased a Flat panel TV that is Full High Definition (full HD) then I would not even consider DVD/ Blu-ray. Take advantage of High Definition by offering the best picture and audio quality that has been designed for larger flat panels giving you the clearest picture available. And they now also offer 3D (but that’s another article).
What you should also think about is the layout and cabling. The layout is how you want your Home Theatre to be set up and the type of speakers you want. Do you want floor standing or bookshelf? If bookshelf, do you have a place to sit them in a surround sound configuration on stands or shelving? Or will you mount them on the wall? What about the HDMI cables? And this is the second and probably most important thing to think about. If you don’t mind having cables lying around (then that’s fine) but if you want them to be neat or hidden you will need to consider whether you have the capability of getting the cable from the front receiver unit (normally referred to as the head unit) to the rear surround speakers. This can be done in a few ways. By installing the cabling through the walls (which I recommend being done by an installation specialist company, like AV Installation Specialists who have vast experience in the corporate and residential sectors) or looking for products that offer rear wireless speakers. Nothing is worse than seeing cables running from the front (where the head unit is), across the floor (in front of doorways) to the rear speakers sitting behind the lounge.
So what are rear wireless speakers systems? These units normally have a transmitter card that plugs into the home theatre and a receiver that plugs into a PowerPoint at the back of the room. The rear speakers are then connected to this receiver via cables. These are normally hidden behind the lounge.
Connecting the system up
The beauty of Home theatre in a box is most of these units have colour coded connectors so it makes it simple to work out which is front left and right, which is rear left which is rear right.
The easiest way to set up a home theatre is to work out the position where you want the speakers, then run the cables. There is also a product on the market called Tag me identity system; this is a great way to label your HDMI cables, Optical cables, RCA cables. The benefit of this system is if you ever want to move your TV installation set up, you can do this without going through the guessing game of which cable goes where.
The basic configuration for a rear wireless home theatre looks like this:
Right Sound Right Place
Once you’ve connected the unit up including the HDMI cables to the TV, and you’ve powered it on. One of the first things you will need to do is balance the sound. Now as not all rooms are typically square you will need to calibrate the audio. This may sound difficult but is quite easy. Some home theatres come with an automatic sound calibration (ASC) device which is a microphone that gets plugged into the home theatre and sends a selection of audio tones from each speaker.
The microphone picks this up and works out the distance and audio level required for each speaker; then adjusts the speaker settings for the preferred setup. All you need to do is normally plug the ASC device in and situate it at the “sweet spot” (this is normally the main seating position)
If it doesn’t have an ASC device, then it will need to be done manually. To do this you need to work out the distance from each speaker to your “sweet spot” then adjust the “distance” within the setup audio menu. These normally have presets in both feet and metres. You can also adjust your audio levels of each speaker if needed. An AV installer does have the benefit of a “trained ear”. Meaning they know what to listen for and do great work in balancing the audio for you.
From here it’s just a case of sitting back with your latest movie and grabbing the popcorn…
So in summary, setting up a “home theatre installation in a box” may seem a little tricky, if you feel you are not comfortable in doing this then look at getting it all installed by a qualified installer. This way, its less time and worry for you. The installer can also give you an overview in how your new system works. Saves you from reading the manual!
Call AV Installation Specialists if you need help and they will provide you with a professional installation and explain how to maximise the best out of your new audio visual purchases.
Article written by-John Frag
