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- 1). Appropriate seating is critical to an enjoyable home theater. When choosing chairs, ottomans and couches, consider the materials used, height and depth. If you are designing the room from scratch, choose the chairs first and build the room around them. Be sure there is plenty of leg room and that the height of the chairs allows for adequate acoustic interaction. Chairs that are too low are better than chairs that are too high in terms of sound. Consider the number of people you plan on entertaining on a regular basis. This will help you to determine if you need single chairs or a couch set up where people can sit next to each other.
- 2). Choose the speakers. Speakers vary greatly in quality and price. Your budget will often determine the brand and type of speakers for your home theater. Find a dealer with a good testing room. Take a variety of play materials with you. Besides your favorite flick, music is a good determinant of sound quality in a speaker. When testing the speakers, sit in different places within the room, including the center and each side of the speaker. Audio is an integral part of your home theater and speakers and amplifiers should be chosen with care.
- 3). Placement of equipment and furniture in a theater is critical. Use the rule of thirds and fifths for speaker placement. Place the speakers approximately one-third or one-fifth of the room's dimension away from the walls. Position chairs so the screen can be seen from every angle and sound is in stereo. The big screen television or home theater screen should be placed in front of the center speaker. The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers recommends the screen be placed at a distance of 1.87 times the width of the screen away from the viewer. The 30-degree viewing angle is the accepted angle for screen position in a room. Projectors can be mounted on the ceiling, placed on a floor stand between the front row of seats or hidden in a cabinet at the rear of the theater.
Changing the listener and speaker positions within your layout can significantly alter your viewing and sound quality. - 4). Proper lighting will give your home theater the right feel. Consider sconce lighting on the walls that runs perpendicular to the screen. Overhead lighting with a good dimmer switch allows you to quickly adjust from bright to dim. Doors and windows should be closed and any shades should be pulled down. An internal room with no windows is an ideal room for a home theater. Lighting is affected by paint color. You do not want the images form the screen to reflect off of the walls. Use a dark unreflective paint to prevent this unwanted effect.
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