A Home Theater Is Made Up Of Several Items

It takes many different pieces of equipment to put together a good home theater setup. It can be intimidating at first, but if you look through this equipment piece by piece you’ll find that it isn’t too complicated to create a plan for an excellent home theater. There are lots of choices for every budget and space requirement, so no matter your situation there is a way to piece together a home theater system that is right for you. The easiest way to start building your home theater is to decide which features are the most important to you (video quality, surround sound, etc.) and flesh out the rest of the design from there. This will give you a good way to judge whether or not any individual item in your setup is a good fit for you. Here is a guide to choosing between the many items that make up a home theater system.

1 - Video Output Options

The first and arguably most important decision that you will make regarding your home theater setup is what type of video output to use. The most common choice is an LED television display, but many home theater enthusiasts also opt for a projector-based setup. It comes down to personal preference, but generally, televisions will be more versatile for a wide number of different media types while projectors are best for viewing movies shot with a wide frame that benefits from the additional screen space. One major benefit to modern televisions is that they often are “smart devices”, meaning that they come with streaming capabilities right out of the box. This means that you don’t need to purchase an additional streaming device to watch shows and movies from your favorite streaming services. While some projectors offer this functionality, they tend to be a little bit on the pricey side.

2 - Sound System Choices

Sound systems choices are even more varied than video systems. You can choose between multi-speaker surround sound, bluetooth soundbars, wireless headsets, or some combination of the three. A traditional home theater setup would include at least two speakers and a subwoofer, but many people these days opt to use a single sound bar instead. If you live in an apartment or are concerned about the level of noise from your home theater, you may consider using a wireless headset as a way to get great sound without disturbing or annoying anyone else. Whichever sound system you choose, make sure that your television or media source has enough compatible ports to connect the devices. If you choose to use a Bluetooth soundbar, make sure that your device has Bluetooth capabilities before making the purchase. If you find that your television or media device doesn’t have the appropriate outputs, you may be able to purchase cable adapters to add additional ports to the device.

3 - Seating Arrangements

Seating arrangements are an often overlooked part of home theater setups. The way that you choose to arrange the seats, the types and number of seats can all greatly impact the feel of your home theater. For many people, the most comfortable option is to place a couch in the center of the room with an additional loveseat or recliner to the side depending on how much space is available. There are also options available to mimic the seating arrangement of a commercial theater with chairs on tiered stages in multiple rows to allow for a large number of people to sit comfortably in your home theater.

4 - Streaming Devices

Most home theaters have several different streaming devices, which allow you to watch shows and movies from various streaming services. These are often built into televisions and media players, though it is also possible to purchase them as a standalone device that plugs into an HDMI input slot. Which streaming device you choose to use comes down mostly to which streaming services that device supports, as well as whether or not your media players come with streaming capabilities already installed. Generally, any device that is marketed as being “smart” will be able to stream video and movies, but you must check with the manufacturer before making a final decision.