Setting up a home theater in your living room? Then you would need to understand that what works for the showroom and a cinema hall would not necessarily work in your home. In order to ensure that you enjoy the best cinema sound quality from your home theater, you would need to make certain adjustments to the living room. Here are some pointers that would help you in the process.
Camouflage hard wood flooring
A hardwood flooring will not be kind to the sound that is projected downwards from the speakers. You can correct this by placing a large rug between the seating area and the front speakers. Place the rug midway between both so that it creates a nice absorption surface to enhance the quality of any sound that comes its way. Don’t place subwoofers on hardwood floors as doing so would lead to booming that would drown out the other sounds. Place it on a carpet instead.
Place the speakers appropriately
Merely arranging the home theater in a haphazard manner is not going to promise you a good sound quality. You would need to place the speakers in such a way that the sound that comes from them is maximized and enhanced before it reaches your ears. The best way to do this would be to use a room acoustics calculator that would require the dimensions of the room to give you the perfect placement option. The standard rule of the thumb however, indicates that speakers should be placed at least 3 feet and 1.6 feet away from the front and side walls respectively. You should also ensure that the speakers are facing the listening position in order to enhance sound quality.
Arrange items that diffuse, absorb and break up sound
In case you have noticed, cinema halls usually have heavy curtains to reduce echo. You can opt for the same method to reduce echo in your living room by covering windows with thick curtains. The same can be said for rugs that can easily absorb distractions while leaving behind clean, cinema quality sound. In the case of walls, you can use items like bookcases to diffuse and break up the sound. If the need arises, you can also consider hanging a large canvas or tapestry on the rear wall to reduce echo as well as resonating noise. These will ensure that your living room offers the perfect ambiance for sound enhancement when using your home theater.
Remove unwanted sounds
Sometimes, in spite of making all the necessary arrangements, we still tend to experience low quality sound. This can be attributed to unwanted sounds that filter into the living room from outside. This doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to board up your home every time you want to use the living room. Rather, by following a few simple tricks, you can minimize these unwanted sounds effectively.
Accordingly, you can opt for double or triple layered glass along with sound absorbing drapes to muffle the sound of vehicles outside the home. Sound proof windows are also an option if you are willing to splurge extra in order to enjoy the perfect cinema sound quality experience indoors.
The sounds that come from beneath doorways can be minimized by using rubber floor-sweepers. Rubber seals when installed around the door will also keep out sounds filtering in through these cracks as well as prevent the door from vibrating from the stereo sounds. Distracting sounds that creep into the room via the floor can be easily tackled by placing a thick carpet or rug over it. Choose a carpet made of natural fibers for best results. All these measures would ensure that your home theater experience is unlike any other for sure.
Summary
If you are setting up your first home theater, you would need to know about the alterations that need to be made to ensure cinema sound quality from the system.
