Home theatres add a whole new dimension to watching movies at home. And the great thing is that you don’t need to live in a palace to benefit – even the smallest of rooms can be set up with an awesome sound and vision experience.

How to improve your experience

From blockbuster to box set binge, the following top tips ensure the best viewing experience from the comfort of your own home.

• Consider your device: TVs come in a variety of sizes – and up to 75 inches – which is plenty big enough for most homes. However, if you’re lucky enough to have a bigger watching area then projectors can provide cinematic scale of up to 300 inches. If this is a consideration then the purchase of a quality projector screen will improve the image quality, as opposed to simply screening it to a flat wall.
• Tweak the sound: The best surround sound comes from a combination of subwoofer, surround sound speakers and centre channel – all plugged into a receiver unit. Set the speakers to ‘small’ to ensure that the base sounds are directed to the subwoofer.  And while we’re on the subject of the subwoofer…
• Play with the subwoofer location: When it comes to movies, the true cinema experience is enhanced when you ‘feel’ the action on-screen. With a correctly located subwoofer every explosion, bang, wallop and crash will be enhanced – so put it in a corner or next to a wall for the ultimate in sound. Only by experimenting will you discover the ultimate placement within the room.
• Where is your furniture? Ideally there should be a gap behind the seating element (usually your sofa) and the wall behind. This means you can place surround sound speakers behind you. Try not to have anything blocking the route from speakers to seats – this obstructs soundwaves and therefore the quality of the audio.
• Close the doors: To shout out any ambient noise and light sources.
• Draw the curtains: Or, ideally, get blackout blinds so you can control the amount of light in the room.
• Change the image settings: In general, most factory settings on a TV are too bright – they even call it ‘bright’ mode. But this doesn’t provide the best viewing experience, giving the screen a green hue thanks to the excessive light. Even if you’re not that confident about adjusting the individual levels to find the best settings, do put the TV into the ‘Standard’ or ‘Theatre’ setting (or it might be labelled something like ‘Movie’ or ‘Cinema’, but you get the picture….)

Other crucial aspects include the correct calibration of speaker levels, centre channel, and the direction that the speakers point.

The ultimate path to the best home theatre experience is to speak to the experts. In addition to tweaking every aspect to suit your circumstances, they can advise on any necessary upgrades (or what to purchase in the first place, if you’re setting up a new system). When buying any kit it always pays to consider your upgrade path – this will ensure the longevity of your home theatre should you wish to improve it in the future.

We provide a dedicated home theatre installation service, with expert engineers advising on all and any elements of a system. No matter where you might want to experience cinematic sound (even setting up an alfresco movie area), our experienced AV technicians can advise on the perfect formulation for the ultimate audio and visual experience.

Contact us today or call our friendly team direct on 08 9400 6000.