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A home theater system is more than just hooking up your TV to your stereo! The goal is to
create an audio and visual environment that makes it possible for you to forget that you
are not at a regular movie theater. A lot of people think that this means simply having a
gigantic screen. This, however, couldn't be further from the truth. The reality of screen
size is that your 16:9 ratio wide screen should be no larger than 1/2 of the distance from your eyeballs
to the screen. For instance, if your favorite viewing sofa is twelve feet from the screen
your screen should be no larger than 72". A larger screen will simply provide you
with a big picture that seems grainy with a very high perception of pixelation (a fancy
way of saying that you can see lots of the dots that make up the picture!)
Then comes the audio part. In a regular movie theater many speakers are used to achieve
spatial orientation. (Another fancy way of saying that sounds come from where the picture
suggests they should be coming from!) When the jet takes off from the runway coming at you
the sound seems to go from the screen to the rear of the theater, hence "spatial
orientation". Achieving this effect in the home is typically accomplished by using a
combination of five, six, seven or eight speakers strategically placed in your viewing
environment (living room!) The typical five channel setup provides a front left, center
and right channel with left and right rear channels. Add to this a subwoofer channel for
the six channel setup. Seven channel systems add front or side effects speakers. The right
collection of gear can turn the trailer into the grand palace theater. The wrong collection of
even expensive gear can produce much less than spectacular results.
If you need some assistance in determining what is right for you, drop us an e-mail or a
call and an engineer will be glad to talk with you about your project. You never know, we
might even sell you something in the process!
If you would like to see some slow loading pictures of a cool home theater system click
HERE!
