by Tenebris

Created on: May 28, 2008   Last Updated: June 24, 2008

Home theatre systems offer a near-cinematic quality movie experience, right in the comfort of your own home. However, to properly deliver the deep throb of jet engines or the spine-tingling intensity of the "Batman Begins" background music, it is crucial that the home theatre system be set up correctly.

The planning actually begins in the store. Even mid-end home theatre systems can have up to a dozen components, each of which has to be set up in a specific space within a room. A typical Dolby 5.1 system, the minimum recommended quality level, requires six speakers (including a dedicated bass speaker, or subwoofer), an LCD or plasma television, a home theatre receiver, an input device such as a multi-reader DVD (standard, Blu-ray, HD, CD); and may also include other input devices such as a VCR or even computer/Internet link.

Bigger is not always better. Home theatre systems are designed for specific sizes of room. Too small a room for the equipment, and you will run into echo effects, you won't get the full effect of your wide-screen television, and the rest of the equipment may overcrowd you besides. Too large a room, and the true potential of both sound and picture will be lost outside an unnecessarily limited 'sweet spot'. Be sure to allot sufficient space for the type of system you intend to purchase; or, alternately, to purchase a system that will work within your allotted space. As a general rule of thumb, you should plan for the seating to be set away from the screen approximately one and one-half times the width of the screen, with the back speakers equally far from the back of the seating: manufacturers' specifications will give more precise recommendations.

Your choice of television will be determined not only by the size and layout of the room but also by the intended seating distance and especially the ambient light while watching. This is because different kinds of televisions use different light-generating technologies.

LCD television screens use crystals suspended in liquid, sandwiched between transparent panels in front of a fluorescent light source. The signal instructs individual crystals how to pass and filtre the colour. For this reason, LCD screens can't display true black, but pictures with bright colours will be sharp and vibrant. Because of its rear-projection, filtre technology, an LCD screen also has no glare, important if you have windows to take into consideration in the viewing space.

Plasma televisions use RBG (red-blue-green) phosphor

• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next Page >>