Top five tips to consider for your home entertainment plans by Warren Husband, Solutions Architect & Client Liaison, Homemation
2022 has been a very demanding year, and why not end it off with an exquisite spoil that will benefit the whole family and possibly even the neighbours? Do you like the sound of a home entertainment installation/ renovation? Great! So, you are thinking about setting up an entertainment system at home, but with so many choices and considerations, it can be quite a daunting exercise to get this right.
Whether you are looking to build a purpose-built performance room like a dedicated home cinema or something simpler to improve the audio-visual experience in your living room, our Homemation team, together with industry professionals have consolidated a few tips on what you should consider when you decide to upgrade your home entertainment with the best performance and value for money.
Room Acoustics: before you even get to putting a speaker in the entertainment room, consider the acoustics of the space. The trend of ultra-modern minimalistic interiors looks great but most often don’t lend themselves to desirable audio performance, and no matter how much money you throw at amps and speakers, if the room sounds hollow, so will your sound. In high performance rooms like a dedicated home cinema its often easier to incorporate professional acoustic treatment however in a TV lounge or living room, we often need to treat the room acoustics by means soft furnishing such as couches, curtains, and carpets. A simple subjective test to see if you need to add some level of acoustic treatment would be to have someone talking to you from the TV/Projector screen position, and while sitting at the main viewing point if the persons voice is clearly intelligible without sounding like the person is in a cave (so to speak) you should be ok from an acoustics point of view.
How to allocate the budget: To ensure that the experience is well rounded and balanced it’s important to allocate the budget for your entertainment system accordingly. Typically, its suggested that you spend 30% of the budget on your visual system, be it TV or projector with screen. 30% of the budget should be allocated to the speaker system. 30% of the budget should be for the amplifiers and processors used to drive the speaker system, and the final 10% spent on the cables connecting everything together, such as HDMI and speaker cables. We have just the right equipment and all industry leading brands from all over the world and you will always be able to find the best brand for your home and budget from the Homemation’s expansive ranges.
Bigger is better? …even if budget wasn’t a concern, the short answer would still be no. while we would all agree that a big screen helps to immerse you in the experience, whether movie, gaming or your favourite music concert, there are still practical guidelines to consider for how big the screen should be. Going with a screen that is too big, could lead to viewer fatigue, headaches and neck strain which will only take away from the experience. This is typically not a problem for TVs (based on the size of TVs currently available and the asking price) however, once a projector system is an option many clients want to have oversized images because of how impressive it looks. But realistically, not many of us would want to be sitting in the front row of a commercial cinema! In a similar vein, many clients looking to purchase a surround sound speaker system might be tempted to go with the biggest speakers in their budget, but then don’t take into consideration that big speakers typically need big amplifiers to get the best performance, and big amplifiers mean big budget. In a multi-channel speaker system where subwoofers are used, because of the bass management features of most AV receivers it’s possible to get big sound even from a modestly sized speaker. Another benefit of going for a smaller (referring to something like a bookshelf speaker versus a big floor stander) is that often you can move up from a lower range to a more premium range which will often mean better sound and build quality.
Speaker placement: The term “immersive” seems to be the buzz word in audio these days with its rooting in the latest immersive surround sound formats found in the box office movies we love. The thing is, to get the best immersive audio experience it’s very important to get the speakers in the correct placement. Surround speakers should surround you while Atmos speakers need to be above you. While there are lots of systems on the market that advertise immersive surround sound experiences by means of clever DSP and geometric trickery the reality is that there are so many considerations and requirements to make it seem like the sound is coming from places where there are no speakers that in practice, very few people will ever get the true immersion experience unless all these specific requirements are met. Which brings us to our next point, make sure you find a pro-installer who truly know the game to get the best results!
Seek help: Unless you are technically inclined and handy with tools, or installing a simple soundbar, you might want to get a professional involved. As you can see from the few points listed above there are a lot of things to consider in selecting the right products, installed, and set up correctly. Using a professional service can help narrow down the myriad choices and ensure that your hard-earned money is not wasted on products that are not suited to your specific needs. Homemation can also guide you to vetted and approved installers to assist you.
About Homemation
Homemation is a dynamic distribution company that supplies premium audio visual, automation, and other lifestyle products to the South African and Sub-Saharan markets. We carry the best brands that the world has to offer, ensuring quality and performance. www.homemation.co.za
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