A home theater is more than a windowless room with plush seating, loads of technology and a large screen at the front. Designing a theater offers the Minneapolis homeowner a unique opportunity to create a space that reflects their personal style, a particular hobby, or highlights their favorite sports memorabilia. Whether you plan to watch sitcoms, sporting events, or blockbuster movies, there are a number of factors you ought to consider before hiring a professional integrator to build your dream theater. If you’re like most homeowners, technology is the first consideration that comes to mind and while this is certainly important, we chose to highlight a few other factors that will dramatically impact your theater experience.

1. Does your home have an area like a den, guest bedroom, or finished basement that goes largely unused?

Ample space is an important factor to consider as you daydream about a home theater. Choosing the right type of theater seating and determining the specific layout will allow you to relax and be fully immersed in the film. On average, a home theater is typically designed to seat anywhere from four to six people depending in large part on the available floor space. The number of required seats in conjunction with the size of the screen will ultimately determine the space needed to house your home theater. If we follow some general rules regarding theater seating size, space between rows, and distance from walls, we can pretty quickly calculate what size room we need. Let’s image you plan to put two rows of 3-seats each, then the approximate width of the room should be 15 feet.

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2. Is there access below the floor and above the ceiling? Are wall studs easily accessible?

Complex home theater systems require a plethora of pre-wiring and pre-planning. One of the most important aspects of home theater design is to ensure that the wiring is installed safely, correctly, and discreetly. Discuss with your A/V contractor the need to pre-wire your home theater for future upgrades as well as flexibility. The quality of your home theater wiring will impact the video and sound quality of your system components. Consider where the equipment rack will be located since all the wires from speakers, subwoofers, projectors, and accessories will merge and be terminated at the equipment. Besides the electronics, lighting is another key element of your home theater set up that will require wiring.

3. Does the room have only hard surfaces? How will you control sound within the space?

The flow of sound within your home theater is integral to any movie, sporting event, or gaming experience. Sound control is a necessary line item on your home theater budget otherwise, you could end up with an echo chamber or disturbing others throughout the house. The typical wall is composed of sheets of half-inch-thick drywall that don’t do a very good job of containing sound. We recommend the home theater experience be kept to within the four walls of the space and should not leak into other areas of the home. For new homes or those undergoing an extensive remodel, install zero-sound drywall which absorbs the noise. For existing rooms, insulating drapes help with sound deadening, along with carpeting the floor. Acoustic panels may also be mounted to the wall. These panels isolate and absorb sound as well as improve the acoustics of the room.

If you’re looking to escape reality via a private movie viewing experience, you’ve come to the right place. Reach out to one of our design consultants to get started.