When planning a home theater room there are two elements to take into consideration, the technical equipment and the room design itself. For the technical side of things you should consider consulting with a professional but the design element of your home theater room has a lot to do with your personal taste.

The Home Theater Room Design

photo credit: gsloan

• Location – Start by choosing the location of your home theater room, preferably not next to the baby’s room. Think about adding cinema curtains across the door way to insulate the sound.
• Furniture – When choosing seating you need to make sure that the seats are comfortable; that everyone will have a good view of the screen, no matter where they sit and that those who want to cuddle up together have enough room. You may want to add platforms for different levels of seating.  In other words avoid having only single seating and provide a range of seating options. You will need a surface to place drinks and snacks on that can be reached from all the seats and a carpeted floor is usually preferable as people may want to sit on the floor.
• Color scheme – colors can be according your personal taste; it could be anything from a movie theme to classic and classy surroundings.
• Screen Wall – The room has to have one large wall which will be used for the screen.
• Lighting – Remember to include clever lighting; dimmer lights are a plus in a home theater room. A home theater room should either have no windows, very few windows or good quality black out curtains.
• Use – Think of the use your family has for the room – is it for a large family; intimate romantic movie nights; for entertaining big groups of friends or for sitting alone listening to music?
• Extras – You may wish to incorporate other elements in your room like a pool table or bar. How about adding a mini-bar fridge, snack corner or popcorn machine?

The Technical Side of a Home Theater Room

Firstly choose something you will be able to operate and leave out the things you will never be able to understand or operate. Pay that little bit extra to get a professional to set up your system and teach you how to operate it. Consider the size of your room and how much power you will need behind the speakers. For a small space you don’t need huge speakers. Allow for a skirting board or other element which will hide unsightly wires and cables along the walls. Plan the location of the speakers so that no one will hit their heads on them and that they will be sturdy and perform correctly.

There are two main technical aspects to consider in a home theater room:

Speakers

• Central Channel Speaker: carries the film dialogue and some of the soundtrack, a good choice is in-wall or wall-mountable channel speaker.
• Surround Speakers: Responsible for special effect sounds and ambience-creating background sounds. Two surround speakers are usually enough and can be placed around the room.
• Front Left and Right Speakers: Carry most of the sound effects, the movie score and sounds coming from a specific direction, left or right. These can be placed on either side of the screen, on shelves, in-wall speakers or floor-standing speakers.
• Power Sub-woofer: Makes the sounds more life-like especially with video games, audio effects and TV shows. The sub-woofer adds the deep bass sound.

Projector

• Choose your projector according to your needs. The aspect ratio and resolution varies from classic films and modern movies to Blu-Ray and high resolution videos. The Aspect Ration and Resolution of projectors comes in several variations – 1280×720; 1280×768 and 1920×1080.
• Consider the brightness and contrast of your projector, choose one that is bright enough to see in a dimly lit room but not too bright as to strain your eyes.
• Lastly consider the price of the projector and cost of installation.