Home theatre systems have come a long way from the days of placing two huge speakers on either side of your television and listening to records while watching Saturday Night Fever on your VCR and television. These days there are as many ways to design a home theatre system as there are customers to buy them.
“The basics of the home entertainment system haven’t changed much in the last 15 years or so. What have changed are people’s tastes and priorities,” explains Adam Bowden of Bose Home Theatre. “Fifteen to 20 years ago a home entertainment system meant music. People would spend hours in stores and bring in a variety of music and listen to the various speakers before selecting a unit to buy. Today a home entertainment system is a visual experience focused on movies, and people make decisions based on aesthetics, under the assumption (and rightly so) that the sound will be exceptional. They will purchase a home theatre system that is visually appealing and assume that the sound will be appealing as well.”
“Prices are falling on flat panel televisions and the quality is going up so more people are incorporating bigger flat panels and surround sound into their home theatre system design,” says Joe Strang, President of Show Case Home Theatres in Alberta. “The other big thing is the all-in-one touch pad controls.”
The price of a home theatre system depends on how seriously you take your entertainment needs. According to Strang, you can buy a “big box” system for $5,000. But to really get the whole experience, he recommends having a custom system installed.
“You have to start with speakers, remote control, and flat panel all installed and you can do that for about $9, 000,” he says.
But if money’s no object then there’s no end of fun to be had. “We’ve done media rooms that are $500,000 for one room. For that you get projectors that have better than movie theatre quality, sound so good that when someone’s whispering on screen it feels like they’re whispering in your ear.”
Some homeowners go for the total theatre experience and have custom theatre seating installed in their media rooms, with one-touch remote controls in the arm of each chair, massage units and heated seats.
“We’ve even put motion in the seats so that when there’s motion in the movie you feel it in your seat,” he says. “And I don’t mean it just vibrates…it actually moves.”
Other options for your home theatre system include custom draperies, acoustic paint, and sound-proofing. This may seem like overkill but Strang says that most homes over $700,000 now come with a media room or dedicated home theatre room.
“I find that we usually install home theatre systems that are about 10 per cent of the value of the home, not just in the home theatre room but throughout the house, multi-room sound, lighting, automation and such. So for a $1.5 million home, you’re looking at $150,000 worth of home entertainment equipment.”
By: Amy Bostock
Posts Tagged ‘Visual Experience’
Lights, Camera, Action – Building the Perfect Home Theatre System
March 8th, 2010Planning A Front Projection Home Theater System?
August 23rd, 2009
Many people wonder what the notion of a home theater actually is. It can certainly mean different things to different people – ranging from your basic large screen TV and set of stereo speakers to your complete system including front projector and screen with integrated sound etc. It is the latter set-up which is obviously the more expensive but is becoming more and more popular as homeowners seek the complete theatre experience in their own home.
Most of us love a night out at the pictures but if you could grab all the best bits from that experience and leave all the annoying aspects (don’t you just hate those teenagers who seem to think they can holler and shout and not give a stuff!) you would surely have the dream ticket. That is exactly what more and more are turning to when it comes to spending their hard earned cash.
If you are going to have a front projection system, you have to plan it properly from the start. It is no good spending a sizeable amount of money on an elaborate system and a couple of months down the line realising that the room in which you have installed it just doesn’t lend itself to the equipment you have had installed.
It is recommended that you set aside a room specially for the installation of your front projection home theater. Ideally it should be around 20′ by 15′ and obviously with suitable vertical height for the projector installation – minimum of 7′ should suffice. You need to make sure the room is appropriate for considerable sound – so perhaps timber framed stud walls would not be the most suitable, and also you need to be aware of the ambient light factor. Blackout curtains would help to ensure no interference with your top-quality visual experience.
It is also highly recommended that you budget for professional installation. Having the entire system fitted out by an expert with all different components integrated and fully tested and everything concealed and tidy, is a great move to make. It will save you untold hours of frustration, unless that is you are already adept in this field. Set aside around $1000 for the completion of this vital task.
In terms of cost for the entire system, you obviously need to do your own research and decide on which individual components you want to include in your overall system. For a good system which should serve the needs of most customers perfectly well you would be looking at the 10-20K price range. If you think of that total, spread over a certain amount of time on credit, it should be within reach of most individuals who are serious about providing an excellent system for the entire family to benefit from for years to come.
In short, it is imperative that you do careful research and planning both in terms of the space available within your home, and of course the best system available for a budget you can afford. If proper planning has been carried out, it will be a very enriching experience from the start.
By: Jonny Strong
