Enhance Your Home Theater
Immerse in Cinema Magic
Home Theater Brands
Receivers, processors, pre-amps
Yamaha, Denon, Marantz, Sony, Anthem, Arcam and others
Speakers
Monitor Audio, Triad, KEF, Martin Logan, Klipsch, Definitive Technology, and many others
Subwoofers
We recommend SVS subwoofers to all of our customers as they represent an excellent balance of price to performance.
Home Theater Design
Whether you are creating a home theater from scratch during new construction or renovating a room into your dream home theater, we will help you design and implement a custom theater experience for almost any price range.
Projectors for Home Theater
Size is king! Projectors are the only way to get image sizes above 85 inches. Projectors are fantastic for dedicated theater rooms. To be dedicated, the room should be painted and decorated in such a way as to control excess light. Excess light can severely impact or even cripple a home theater. Examples of light control include painting walls and trim a dark color, using black wall plates and outlets, etc.
Televisions for Home Theater
Televisions are great for smaller home theaters. In home theater environments, light control isn't as critical when using a television, but it can greatly improve your viewing experience. Modern televisions do outstanding work in home theaters and should be considered as an alternative rather than a lesser choice when designing a home theater. They are usually quieter and less heat-generating than projectors.
Understanding the numbers in a home theater
What is a 5.1 home theater? How is it different from a 7.2 or even a 7.2.4? This is simpler than you think. The first number is the number of "bed" speakers, or speakers that are approximately at listening height. Below is a list of the different speakers and what they do in a theater/surround sound environment. The second number is the number of subwoofers in the system. The final number is the number of Atmos speakers.
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So a 5.1 system has 5 speakers (Left, Center, Right, two surround speakers) and 1 subwoofer, see image to the left.
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A 7.1.2 system has 7 speakers (Left, Center, Right, two surrounds, two rear speakers), 1 subwoofer, and 2 Atmos speakers, see image to the right.
Speakers in Home Theater/Surround Sound
Below are brief descriptions of different speakers that are commonly used in home theater applications. These are often called channels in the audio world.
Front Channels
The Left and Right speakers at the front of the room. These speakers are primarily for non-speaking sounds and music.
Subwoofers
These provide the bass sounds that you hear and feel in the theater. Most speakers can't reproduce the low notes like dedicated subwoofers can.
Atmos
Just like the Surround and Rear Channels move sounds and objects around the soundscape, the Atmos speakers move sounds overhead. These can also be called presence speakers and there are front presence and rear presence Atmos channels.
Center Channel
The Center speaker is perhaps the most important speaker. It controls the majority of spoken dialog. It can also add to music and sound effects.
Surround Channels
Placed to the right and left side of the listening position, these speakes enhance the theater experience by passing sound around the system as things move around. Like a car or bullets whizzing by on the left or right.
Top Middle
These specialty speakers are usually for large theaters where the Atmos speakers are spaced in such a way that there is a bubble in the top, middle of the soundscape. These aren't commonly used in home theaters, except in higher end theaters.
Front soundstage
The combination of the Left, Center, and Right speakers or LCR. These speakers should be matched triplets, same brand, all the way down to the same components in the speakers.
Rear Channels
These are placed in the rear of the listening area, they perform a similar function to surround channels, just dedicated to the rear of the soundscape. When that car roars up behind you in the movie, you hear it from these speakers.
Priority in purchasing
Generally, when considering what speakers to spend money on, you should follow this order:
LCR
Subwoofers
Surround
Rear
Atmos (inl. Top Middle)
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This means if you are looking to save some money, don't skimp on LCR, skimp on Atmos.