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A home theater system (HTS) is a type of home entertainment equipment that includes a set-top box, DVD player, television, and Blu-ray player. It can also include audio and visual equipment such as speakers, cables, and specialized lighting designs. 

The ideal HTS should fall into the “high-end” and “luxury” categories. It should be located where you or anyone can use it in both private and professional settings. The system should be controllable via touch screens or voice recognition. When listening to recorded content, you should also use different music sources, such as internet radio stations or MP3 players.

So how can anyone set up a home theater without any hassles and feel like they were listening to live performances while in the living room?

Let’s find out below.

What Would You Need to Get Started?

Some options, such as an Amazon Echo or Alexa, exist, but what other options are there? What is the most effective home theater system and what features should you look for when selecting one over the others? 

These questions come to mind while setting up your home theater properly, and hopefully, you can pinpoint what you need to make the most suitable choice. Also, you need to ensure you have all of the cables required for the system’s installation. 

Off-the-shelf cables are usually all the cables you’ll need, so double-check and ensure you have all the proper wires and connectors. There are no tools required for a basic setup. You’ll also need a location for the receiver close to a power source and an audio-input source.

The Living Room and Space 

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The room where you want to set up your home theatre system should be big enough to accommodate all the components needed for producing high-quality content. The rooms should be well ventilated to avoid overheating and humid conditions, making it difficult to operate equipment efficiently. The room should also be sufficiently lighted so that you can set up your speakers without spending hours on the ceiling fan manually moving them around.

You most likely know where you’ll put your setup. It could be the main living room, a spare bedroom, or even a basement movie theater complete with a popcorn machine. There are various factors to consider while choosing a space for your setup, but overall they should have some features in common. Here are some primary factors you should consider. 

Your Room’s Shape: Harmonic distortions are more likely to occur in square rooms than more rounder rooms. The best option is a rectangular-shaped room. Here you can place your set up near a short wall to get high-quality sound projection. 

Windows: The less there are, the better. Windows are a double blunder: they are hard surfaces that reflect sound, causing audio distortion, and they concede light, causing reflections on your viewing surface. 

Heavy curtains and shades help, but closing blinds or drapes every time you turn on your home theater system is inconvenient. If you must, choose blackout-style window coverings that track tightly against the window jambs to keep light out.

Walls: Regular drywall is a suitable surface for home theater walls. However, use furniture or drapes to break up large flat surfaces. It would be best to avoid framed art with glass because it is too reflective of sound and light. Concrete or masonry blocks are not permitted. Consider installing studs and drywall if you’re setting up in a basement with concrete walls.

The Floor: Wall-to-wall carpeting with a new comfy pad underneath absorbs sound and adds to the coziness. Kids enjoy sprawling on the floor to watch movies, so a comfortable surface would mean minor injury. 

The Color of The Room Walls: It would be best to paint your walls as dark as you can stand: Bright colors reflect light, which can be particularly distracting when viewing a brightly lit scene on the screen. Avoid sheens with a gloss or semi-gloss sheen, instead opting for a non-reflective eggshell or flat paint.

Choose neutral browns, tans, and olive. Stronger colors, such as red and blue, will cast an unusual cast on any light source and may influence the colors you see on your display.

The TV and Streaming Service 

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People have been using their TV as a home entertainment system for movies and shows for a long time. But as technology evolves, we now have the chance to experience 4K HDR TVs. With the ever-increasing demand for 4K Ultra HD with better picture quality and audio, you can easily buy one from a good brand at a considerable rate. Some brands also offer installment payments. 

The primary purpose of a home theater is to enjoy the content in high quality. Buying a TV for home theater means getting a TV that supports 4K HDR video and has the latest technology in smart features. It also means that you can watch your favorite shows in HD without any trouble at all. The most popular set-top boxes today are the models from Samsung, LG, and Sony, and they can be used for all kinds of content, from sports shows to movies and music videos.

These are excellent choices because these sets fit into your budget quite easily while offering excellent picture quality and fast connection speeds. If you intend to watch movies or play music, you would also need a reliable streaming service. There are a variety of options available to you with different plans according to your location. 

How to Position Your Home Theatre System

Home theaters use either 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound speaker configurations. There are two front speakers (left and right), two back speakers (left and right), a centrally located speaker (overhead), and one subwoofer in 5.1. The 7.1 structure is similar to the 5.1 system, except for two central speakers instead of one.

These speakers are usually labeled to indicate their location in a room. In general, abbreviations such as FL – to mean Front Left. To achieve a good surround experience and sound fidelity, it is critical to position the speakers as indicated. After you’ve figured out where you want the speakers to go, connect them to the receiver.

Optimal distance: Ideally, one’s ears would be equally spaced from each speaker. Given that the ears are on opposing sides of the head, you could conclude that you might never be able to achieve this level of perfection. Nonetheless, try to get as close to the goal as possible. 

Some speakers, especially your woofer, will have individual volume controls that you can adjust. More advanced and powerful speakers offer millisecond adjustments, known as delays, that time sound projection from the individual speaker so that everything comes together in your ears simultaneously, a helpful feature for large rooms with speakers at different distances.

Center Field: Your center front speaker is possibly the most influential of all your speakers. This is particularly necessary for dialogue — you wouldn’t want to see the actors speaking in front of you while hearing their voices from the side. 

The Center speaker: The center speaker, often overrun by a pair of towering speakers flanking in on both sides, should not be overlooked when planning a home theater budget. Rearrange the center speaker in such a way that the sound and video would be in coordination. 

The Woofer: Your woofer goes in front, but there is only one, so you must choose which side to use. A woofer’s low bass ranges will permeate the room, so the angle is less significant than other speakers. A corner position aids in the even distribution of your woofer’s sound, but as with all components, experiment with various positions before deciding on the perfect setting. You would realize that, to have the perfect cinematic-like sound, you need to have specifics in place ideally. 

How Long Does It Take to Set Up a Home Theatre System?

Typically it takes a little under 45 minutes to set up a 5.1 home theatre system. Upon the arrival of the Home theatre system, the time between the setup and first use is under 45 minutes. You may get a preferred model you like and then follow the manual usually placed within the package. It’s usually advised that you get the systems that you can service from time to time.

Would There Be a Need to Use a Technician?

Maybe not, but if you aren’t sure or don’t want to miss a step in your setup, then you may as well get an experienced technician to help you out with it. The effect that a well-organized home theatre can give when correctly done can be the difference between how you love a movie, a song, and a drama series or not.

Conclusion

The setup for a home theatre isn’t a difficult task, provided you know what you are going for in the market. The room and space needed have to be taken into prime consideration before purchasing your home theatre system.

It’s pretty much down to you to look for criteria you want in any model; look out for the sound radius. You probably will host an outdoor party, homecoming, or even a yard sale. You need the right sound.

There are many new advancements with the advent of updates now and then on any sound system, and you can be sure to expect more stunning qualities and features as the years go by. To get the best option you can contract the service of professional technician to access your home and choose the best home theater gadgets for you.