The 7 Most Common Home Theater Mistakes

[Packer]

The 8th most common mistake is being poor. Big mistake if your going to build a home theater. 9th most common mistake is getting married. Huge mistake for home theaters. It will hurt your home theater as much as being poor.

[DIGGERS]

Another mistake is decorating the room with movie posters etc.. People don’t realize that things like posters and popcorn machines in commercial cinemas are in the lobby or hallways not the screening room. I want to to watch the movie on my screen not reflected on a movie poster. I remember seeing one home theater that had a popcorn machine to the side of the projection screen.

[Billkou]

Man, I JUST decided that I need a dedicated home theater room. One month after setting up my first 5.1 setup after 15 years of inactivity and you got me hooked!!! Putting this to the bucket list. Great video.

[Euorgos]

Another mistake is having your room designed by the wrong people. One of the worst I ever encountered is a friend who built a new house and had the builder design the home theatre. All speakers were in the ceiling, with the left, center, and right speakers all next to each other, just inches apart, directly above the screen, and rear speakers only about a foot in front of them.

[maxjonak]

Personal tip- if your room calls for it, a horizontal setup is not nearly as bad as many think. it present an extremely wide sound stage. For me I had a window that I wanted access to on one wall and extra seating without a second row so horizontal was the best option for me. Not half bad

[teet-boi]

When budget Tom Cruise gives you advice, you take it!

[davidvansickle]

my 8th add on would be seating. Avoid high backed cushioned recliner chairs, because they block out the room acoustics from the rear. if you want surround sound, get chairs without the head cushions, but be comfortable enough to stay in for 3 hours straight.

[Jack-urin]

This man knows exactly what he’s talking about.

[conchobar]

Spending too much on video, too small a screen, and not enough power, are the 3 issues I expect to observe when entering someone's home theater. They are so common, they are the norm rather than the exception. Great video.

[pedroluciano]

I have been doing a/v for 23 years. Sometimes you have to go with clients wishes as opposed to what would work best. I do always try to tell them what i think and feel is better for the area but oftentimes find it is what looks better, or what is smaller, etc.

[jerome]

#1. Screen width x 1.2 = minimum viewing distance. Screen width x 1.6 = optimal viewing distance.
#2. Use flat or eggshell sheen with dark colors. TIP: Eggshell is best overall, because flat shows fingerprints.
#3. Minimum riser height for multi-row seating = 12"
#4. Audio/Video performance. This is mostly subjective and is why you should have a pro help design the system.
#5. You should have dedicated circuit(s) for theater equipment.
#6. DO NOT use the auto calibration with cheap receivers like Sony, Onkyo/Integra, Denon, etc. Most use Audyssey which sucks and will often make the system sound worse. Unless you have a higher end product like Anthem which has it's own room correction software, learn how to manually setup the receiver. It's really not hard.
#7. Plan for acoustic treatments. You can put a world class audio system in an untreated room and it will sound like garbage. This is probably the single biggest mistake I see with entry-level theaters. This also directly impacts how well a room correction software will work. Software cannot turn a terrible room into a good room. Get the room at least 80% of the way there by treating first reflections and let the software do the rest.

[michaelglenn]

Awesome video! Excited to setup my new space in my new home in a few weeks!

[iowaman]

Just pulled the trigger on building a home today. What would you recommend for the dimensions of the room for the interior? Double drywall for sound dampening, plus sound dampening insulation? I’m good on speaker placement, screen size, audio placement, just want to make sure I frame the room correctly. I’m going to start with a 65” that I have, to save cost, but plan to later add a projector, maybe laser or something.

[paulcarroll]

Fantastic, accurate and cost-saving advice.
Cheers

[SteveHartmanVideos]

number 7 "the room" should be number 1. I think that will make more of a difference than all the other things combined.

[grrrrr]

I thought I always wanted a home theater room. I watched a video where this guy built a great dedicated room and one of his comments was that he was the only one that used it! Unless your wife really wants it, you will be the only one using it. You are better off having a nice system without all of the speakers that you can share in an environment that others will use on a regular basis.

[MrSatyre]

I haven’t made any mistakes. 😀 Because I don't have a home theater. 😥

[onlinetechnologytoday]

I disagree with Blue Mustang, (had a blue 67) with a little research you can have good 5 channel system.

[bingdong]

The one thing that surprised me more than anything is how little power my theater uses. I've got 6 subs, 400ish rms watts each. 15 chanels, averages out to 200ish watts per channel and a projector. 15 amp circuit, full blast, no problem. I guess I have good power.

[adevel]

Very helpful with my custom home in future.. Thanks ☺️👍😌