Top end true Home Theatre installation is a sure way to increase the value of your property whilst ensuring definite interest when the property is placed back on the market. Otherwise, it’s just an awesome way to escape to your own world... Yes we can install a cell-signal blocker if necessary.
When valuating or considering resale what differentiates you from your neighbour or the market place in general?
- Your Pool?
- Your Jacuzzi?
- Location?
- 4 car Garage?
- Fitted kitchen?
Think about it. How many homes have you seen with a built in Home Theatre? And what a way to impress your visitors.
Celebrity Satellite & Home Theatre is a turn-key installation to your Home Theatre requirements.
Our services extend to:
- Assisting you with Audio-Visual selection (Equipment as per your budget and requirements)
- Assisting you with furniture selection
- Audio-visual Installation and set-up
- Ambiance Lighting Selection
- Ambiance Lighting installation
- Building alterations and Dry-Wall Installation (We do not contract out)
Home Theater Theory (What you need to know)
You’ve purchased your first home theater system and the moment is finally here – it’s time to put it all together. The adrenaline rush you felt opening the boxes containing your home theater’s components might turn to frustration and disappointment as you realize this isn’t just a plug-and-play system. Its installation requires meticulous planning and installation. No matter how top shelf your system may be, a haphazard install will only result in disappointment and will eventually require repairs and adjustments.
Planning also includes allotting enough time to get the job done. We know you’re anxious to play your first Blu-ray disc and invite everyone you know over tonight, but your system will be assembled for years to come - install it with that in mind. Minutes in setup preparation could save hours of repair later. You might even recruit a friend or neighbor to help out as a second pair of hands, and the additional advice they’ll surely provide could be just what you need to perform the perfect install.
FURNITURE
Take into consideration where your components, including speakers, will be placed after installation is completed. This also means some of your current furniture might need to be rearranged or removed completely to accommodate your home theater system.
All of your home theater components will need to be placed on a wall unit, moveable stand, or other sturdy furniture.
Speakers will need to be placed on stands or mounted onto the wall. Chances are none of the furniture needed will be included in your home theater purchase.
To prevent overloading a piece of furniture, tally up the weight of the components that will be housed on this piece and compare that weight to its maximum capacity. Don’t forget to include the weight of other items you’ll store on here – such as DVDs, converter boxes, and possibly even your HDTV.
You don’t want to be watching a movie only to see your entire home theater system collapse into a pile of wood splinters, wires, and damaged hardware.
If placing speakers on stands, don’t place them in a high traffic area where they may be a tripping hazard or knocked over by passersby. Wall mounting is an excellent choice to get the speakers off the floor, but make sure the bracket’s maximum capacity is at least 15 percent greater than the weight of the speaker. Otherwise, you’ll discover what’s behind the drywall in your home.
When choosing furniture, take into consideration the ability to access the rear of your components. If you’re always switching out your hardware, it could become cumbersome to constantly move a wall unit to access your wiring. A moveable stand on wheels would be a better choice.
ROOM SIZE REQUIREMENTS
Your home theater’s sights and sounds are only as good as the sum of its parts - and your home is one of those parts. The room where you’re going to set up your home theater is the most important decision to make. Every other decision, such as the size of your television, depends on the square footage of your room (including height) and where you’ll be sitting in relation to the television.
The size and shape of your room can make or break your surround sound audio experience.
But, wading through all the science involved in acoustics and the associated jargon can be daunting when it comes to deciding which room in your home to set up shop. Just follow the rule that home theater professionals use:
Choose a room with dimensions that cannot be divided evenly by the same number.
Why is this important? Rooms used for home theater that are too structurally square might experience an audio phenomenon called standing sound waves. Standing sound waves are created by the distance walls are from one another. The sound waves from your speakers bouncing off the walls and other objects inside the room can cause places where sounds cancel each other out, or even amplify sounds like bass sounds in a corner. The simple cure is to take the room’s dimensions into account when selecting your home theater location.
ROOM LAYOUT AND COMPONENT/SPEAKER PLACEMENT
Once you unpack your components and speakers, where do you put everything?
The following room layout map will help guide you to the placement of all your home theater pieces:
- Left Right Speakers
- Video Display (Plasma, LCD, LED, Rear Projection)
- A/V Receiver (Might include DVR/DVR/CD, Blu-Ray, etc.)
- Center Speaker (Lined up with center of main seating area)
- Subwoofer (Sitting on the floor in the corner)
- Length of Room
- Distance of Television to center of main seating area
- Left and Right speakers facing seating areas 22-30 Degree angle
- Satellite surround sound speakers mounted wall, pedestal or ceiling
- Satellite surround sound behind seating angled between 90 - 110 Degree
- Centre of main seating area in line with center speaker
- Width of room
AMBIENT LIGHT
Turning out the lights to enhance your enjoyment of the movie takes you back to the movie theater itself where there are no windows. Theaters turn out the lights when it’s Showtime, so should you.
Review your ambient lighting situation before deciding on a room for your home theater. General room lighting, including lamps and sunlight shining through windows can diminish the home theater experience.
If the room you’ve selected has a lot of windows, consider installing blackout shades or curtains which allow you to bring the light back in when the movie is over.
PAPERWORK & MANUALS
Read all of the owner’s manuals and associated documentation carefully. Not only will they have tips on installation, they will list many features and capabilities you might not have known about. Plus, you’ll learn about care procedures and safety measures to ensure your system performs at its best and lasts a long time. Write down the serial number and date of purchase in each applicable manual. This could be a big help if you need service and verification of warranty down the road. Along with your homeowner’s policy they could help provide proof of ownership if ... gulp, your system is stolen.
Also, draw a diagram of your system’s layout and log any problems or special issues you encountered during installation. If you end up moving years or even a few months after this install, your memory will surely be a fog on what setting was what. Takes notes!
YOU’VE GOT THE POWER
There’s no doubt you’ll need several more outlet sources to plug in your home theater system. It’s not like the streetlights outside will dim when you turn on your TV or anything like that but there are some concerns to review.
HIDING SPEAKER WIRES
If you want to hide your speaker wires inside the walls for a clean look, either hire a professional or ensure you’re really up to the job. This would be especially important if you’re trying to set up a home theater operation along with hanging your new HDTV on the wall.
If you’re a renter and poking several holes in the drywall or mortar is not in your lease, you might end up losing your security deposit. Ask first as there could be wiring and otherdangers lurking behind the wall you’re not aware of.
This doesn’t mean you can’t have a clean and safe look to your speaker wires. Just use some common sense along with wire ties and a staple gun. To find out how much speaker wire you’ll need, measure from the back of the receiver along the baseboards of the walls and up and over the edges of door jams in entryways. Don’t ever string speaker wire through open areas, on top of door thresholds, or dangle them from ceiling fixtures. Creating hazards through taking shortcuts will only cause injury to you, your guests, and your system.
TESTING 1-2-3
Before watching the newest release with family and friends, you’ll need to use a calibration DVD to sync and fine tune your HDTV and your home theater system to each other and the room in your home. Then you can really hear and see what they’re made of. The following are examples of home theater calibration DVDs* (both are user friendly for the new kid on the home theater block and gurus alike).
After calibration is complete, there are a plethora of DVDs and Blu-ray discs full of thunderous sounds and vibrant colors to test the limits of your system. Keep that special movie at the ready to impress anyone that enters your home theater Mecca. The family bragging rights will be all yours!
Here are a few movies that we suggest testing your system with before your grand opening. Not necessarily 100 percent of each movie*, just the exceptionally bright or very dark scenes, sections that continuously play music along with action, or loud explosions and booms.
- Pink Floyd The Wall (1982)
- The Abyss (1989)
- Terminator 2 (1991)
- Independence Day (1996)
- Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001, 2002, 2003)
- Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005)
- Cars (2006)
- Transformers (2007)
- Iron Man (2008)
FINAL THOUGHTS
A home theater system is only one piece of the home entertainment puzzle - the other pieces are your HDTV and the room in your home. To get everything to work in harmony takes some research and forethought, along with patience. Don’t rush the job and wonder why it doesn’t work right. And lastly, don’t be afraid to raise your hand and ask for help. There’s a reason why there are teams of professionals that do home theater installs for a living.