Home Theater Rooms: Upgrading To One

With the introduction of relatively cheap varieties of home theater equipment into the market, it isn't surprising to hear of households converting old TV rooms into home theater rooms, where widescreen television sets and surround sound stereo components strike as superstars.

The process of converting old TV rooms, or any room for that matter, into home theater rooms basically involves a two stage process, the first stage dealing with the purchasing and/or upgrading of the necessary home theater equipment. The second stage revolves around setting up the actual room for conversion, adjusting the room to compliment the purchased/upgraded home theater equipment.

When it comes to purchasing/upgrading the necessary equipment for home theater rooms, two main devices have to be primarily considered. First the main viewing screen, followed by a surround sound system. As a home theater system's basic difference from a simple TV lies on a surround sound system, "tailor cutting" a room to maximize a surround system's performance is quite essential.

Once the necessary home theater equipment is purchased, the second stage in converting old TV rooms to home theater rooms come into play.

Enclosed space would be more ideal for home theater rooms, as open rooms don't have good acoustic quality. Most top-of-the-line home theater rooms are lined with curtains and have carpeted floors, improving the overall acoustic quality of the room, taking this layout from actual movie theaters. It isn't necessary for home theater rooms to be rigged with curtains and carpeted floors, but it would greatly enhance sound and lighting conditions. As with most enclosed rooms, curtained or not, a good ventilation system which doesn't compromise the acoustic quality of the room would be a good idea to put in. Home theater rooms should be comfortable, aside from simply being functional.

When it comes to positioning speakers, a basic understanding on how a surround stereo system successfully operates would greatly aid in positioning the system's components in a home theater room.

On a basic level, a surround stereo system involves speakers to be positioned around the main viewing screen, making it an anchor point. Two front speakers are positioned near the main screen, with two more on the sides, next to where the viewers are, and two more behind the viewer's area.

Most surround speaker packages include a subwoofer, ideal for bass boosting, which could be positioned behind the viewer's area in the layout, and a/v mixing systems which handles the distribution of sounds to the various speakers.

Successfully positioning surround speaker systems greatly enhances the sound output quality of home theater rooms.

Lighting adjustments, chair types and layout, overall room color, as well as wall décor, come as personal preference dictated factors for home theater rooms.

Once this stage of converting old rooms to home theater rooms is completed, all that's left to do is enjoy.