Do-It-Yourself! Your Guide to creating your own Home Theater

Movie Theater at Home If you love watching movies, but you’d rather skip the “crowded movie theater-long lines-over priced snacks” experience, you are not alone. According to an AP-AOL news poll released in June, 73 percent of Americans would rather watch movies at home. I’m sure you have your own reasons to agree with this poll, but some stated were crowded theaters, uncomfortable seats, expensive tickets and over priced concessions. Well that is great news for do-it-yourselfers who want to create their own home theater in their living room, family room, basement or even an extra bedroom. Nowadays you can create a truly enjoyable movie theater experience in your own home for a reasonable price. Here are a few tips for setting up your room and staying within your budget. Determine your space and seating Choose your room or space to set up your home theater. Some people choose a dedicated room like a basement, garage, or spare bedroom, while others choose a living room or family room. Then you’ll need to decide what type of seating you want and where to position those seats. TechTraderz Tip: Seating rules of thumb- take the room dimensions, divide them by three and draw the lines on the floor and find where they intersect. Those seating positions will enjoy the best sound. The Screen Screens come in a wide variety of sizes, fabrics and styles. You can choose an electric screen that rolls down at the touch of a button, or a permanently fixed screen like in a movie theater. Or if your budget is very tight, a simple manual pull down screen will do. The screen specialists at TechTraderz can help you determine the best screen type and fabric for your home theater room. We will take into consideration your projector type, viewing angle, ambient lighting and throw distance to help you get the perfect screen for your situation and budget. TechTraderz Tip: Sizing your screen- The standard guideline home-theater designers use to determine an appropriate screen size is to make sure the seating distance to the screen equals 1-1/2 times the diagonal of the screen. For example, if you will be seated 11 feet away from the screen, divide 11 by 1.5 and your screen should be approximately 88 inches wide. Where on the wall do I place the screen? For comfortable viewing, the center of the screen should be no higher than 15-degrees above the viewer, and the top of the screen should be no more than 35-degrees above the viewer. Since the average person sits 36" high in a home-theater style chair, the center of the screen should be no higher than 5', 10" from the ground. The Projector There are so many different types of projectors on the market today ranging from $1000 to $10,000. You can choose to mount it on a table or stand or ceiling mount your projector for an out of the way approach. This is especially wise if there are small children in the house. A great place to find a bargain on a projector is to do some research on the internet and then look on ebay. There are many good deals to be found, you just need to do a little homework. Surround Sound This is really up to you and your budget. You can go all out and buy a $5000 surround sound system with all the bells and whistles or go with the more affordable method of a home theater in a box for under $500. Look for a home theater set up with at least 5 main speakers: a center speaker, usually placed on top of or just below the screen; 2 speakers in the front of the room on either side of the screen near the corners of the room, about ear level for seated listeners; and 2 speakers placed slightly behind above ear level but facing horizontally and not down toward the listener. The speakers can be placed on bookshelves, speakers stands or mounted to the wall or ceiling. There you have it- Your very own home theater without the huge price tag! Now you can enjoy going to the movies without ever getting in the car.

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