4 Tips to Improve Your Home Theater Experience

Having your own home theater is awesome and is a great goal to have as a homeowner. The trouble is, however, is that most people don’t know how to optimize it and make it stellar. The good news is, we have some tips to improve your home theater experience so that it’s more than just ok.

Adjust the Lighting

When you go to a movie theater, what’s the first thing they do before the show starts? They dim the lights. The suspension of disbelief relies heavily on forgetting that you are in a room, viewing something on a two-dimensional screen. It’s hard to suspend that when you can see everything around you. Figure out a way to make your theater darker. If there’s a window, cover it. If you have a dimmer switch, dim the lights or turn them off altogether. The darkness will make the color on the screen brighter, creating better depth and helping you believe you are there.

Get a Subwoofer

A popular belief in the home theater world is that the center channel is the most important speaker. It does get a lot of use, but its impact on the sound pales in comparison to what a good subwoofer can do. A subwoofer brings the lower, bass tones to life better than any other speaker—simply by its design. Viewers will be able to feel the explosions and the roar of jet engines in their chest—action-packed movies will come to life. Adding a sub to your system will make your home theater legit.

Position the Speakers Correctly

Producers create movies with surround sound in mind to ensure you’ll hear everything going on–even in the background—and create an immersive experience. To hear those sounds, the speakers in your home theater need the proper positioning. Obviously having them facing the wall isn’t going to do any good, but you don’t want them pointed straight at your head either. As such, place the sub, center, and main channels in front of you and the surround speakers behind you. Play with the angles you set them at to get the best sound.

Set the TV to the Right Mode

Some time ago, someone in marketing discovered that brighter TVs sell better under the fluorescent lights of a store. Walk through any retailer that sells TVs and you’ll notice that they are all set to what some call “torch mode”—the brightest setting possible. It’s so popular that most TVs come out of the factory set to torch mode. The problem with this, however, is that it sucks for watching movies at home. It washes out all the blacks and greys on the screen. Scroll through the settings and find one that softens the colors. There will be a few options, so try each to find what looks best.

When you are ready for your home theater installation in Denver, contact us at Denver Sights and Sounds. We can turn any old room into an amazing home theater.