Home cinema is a great place to spend quality time with friends or family. You can enjoy surround sound and high-definition images even in a small city apartment, and modern streaming services allow you to watch the same premieres at home as in cinema halls. We tell you how to set up an ideal home theater with minimal investment.
Decide on a place
The first thing to do is choose the right room. It is better to think about a home theater at the stage of planning an apartment. This allows you to pre-design a room that meets all requirements. Ideally, a cinema hall requires a long rectangular room without windows with an area of 20-30 square meters. If you do not have much space, you can set up a home theater in the living room or bedroom.
Prepare the room
It is important to properly prepare the cinema room. First of all, you should take care of additional sound insulation. In order not to disturb neighbors and family members during movie screenings, equip the walls with special sound-absorbing plates. In addition, it is necessary to darken the room as much as possible. Consider using thick blackout (and even better – soundproof) curtains. Modern manufacturers offer entire collections of fabrics designed for home theater rooms.
Select Screen
The big screen is the heart of any home theater. Today, the stores offer a huge range of equipment for cinema lovers. You can purchase a large-diameter plasma panel or a ready-made home theater kit that you just need to connect to your TV. If the space allows, we advise you to give preference to the projector and screen. They will give you a cinema-like experience from the comfort of your home. A projector with a resolution of 1280 × 800 pixels is suitable for a home cinema.
Sound
No matter how powerful the speakers of a TV or laptop are, they will not provide the same deep and spacious sound as a surround sound system. The larger the space of the room, the more speakers should be included. The two most common audio system formats are 5:1 and 7:1. That is, one subwoofer has five or seven speakers. If the room is small, limit yourself to a smart TV and a compact soundbar.
Consider lighting
Don’t forget to use soft lighting – when watching movies in complete darkness, your eyes get tired quickly due to the high contrast and brightness of the screen. Use recessed light panels, string lights, sconces, or spotlights that provide diffused light. To make the lighting even more functional, you can highlight key interior details: chairs, steps, switches, or using a themed neon sign.
The central place of the room is occupied by the screen and the rest of the furniture and decor line up around it. At the same time, the seats should not be placed close to the wall – the sound should evenly reach the viewer from all sides. If there is enough free space in the room, move the home theater away from the window. This way you minimize street noises. When choosing furniture, focus on your needs.
We hope these tips will help to equip a cozy corner for watching movies, even in a small apartment.
