 Home theater is an exciting entertainment option that provides the consumer with an exciting viewing and listening experience. Your home theater can be something as simple as a 27-inch TV and a home theater-in-a-box system, or a sophisticated custom-built system with video projector and in-wall speakers. However, there is a lot to consider in-between.
1. The Room:
The first place to start is the room you intend to place your home theater in. The size of the room will determine the size and type of video display device (TV or projector) that would be best to use. However, whether your room is large or small, additional questions to consider include:
How much ambient light is present?
Is the room carpeted or not carpeted?
What type of wall construction do you have?
Will you be placing your components in free space, or will you be housing your components in a cabinet or closet and installing your speakers in the wall or ceiling?
Where will you be sitting in relation to the screen image?
2. The Video Display Device:
This is the first actual component to consider. After-all, the idea of home theater is to bring the movie theater experience home. The most important element of this experience is the visual experience of viewing a large image on a screen.
3. Audio Reproduction - Home Theater Receiver or Preamp/Amp Combination:
The next essential element of movie theater experience is sound. The way this is implemented in the home theater environment is with either an AV receiver or Preamplifier/Amplifier combination.
An AV Receiver usually combines the functions of three components:
- A radio tuner for AM/FM and, in some cases, HD (High Definition Radio) or XM-Satellite Radio.
- A Preamplifier that switches and controls which audio and video source is selected (such as a DVD player, VCR, CD player, etc...) and processes the incoming stereo or surround sound signals and distributes them to the correct amplifier channels and the subwoofer output. The preamp in an AV receiver can also route video signals coming from source components (such as a DVD player) and direct the video signal to the projector (Dwin) or (Knoll).
- A built-in Multi-channel amplifier (5.1, 6.1, or 7.1 channels) that sends the surround sound signals and power to the speaker system (Denon).
AV Receiver or Separate Components
The AV receiver is the heart of a home theater system and provides most, if not all, the inputs and outputs that you connect everything, including your television, into. An AV Receiver provides an easy and cost-effective way of centralizing your your home theater system.
However, in many higher-end installations, the functions of an AV Receiver are often provided by separate components: Preamp/Processor, Tuner, and either a single multi-channel amplifier or even separate amplifiers for each channel (Denon). Such a setup provides more flexibility in switching out and/or upgrading the separate aspects of the system as well as isolating any interference that is caused by having all these functions combined in a signal chassis and sharing the same power supply.
Home Theater Manufacturers
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