The Art (and Science) of Creating an Immersive Home Theater Soundscape
Good audio sweeps you directly into the action of your favorite films
As the American film director and screenwriter George Lucas famously said, sound is 50% of the moviegoing experience. A movie’s soundscape has just as much influence on invoking strong feelings and reactions from a film as the visuals do.
One of the primary draws of a home theater setup is the ability to recreate a surround sound experience outside of the commercial theater setting. Optimizing the acoustics in a home theater requires design and engineering unique to any other type of entertainment space. At Simply Automated, we’ve spent years perfecting the art and science of creating immersive soundscapes in private cinemas across Pittsburgh, PA.
Keep reading to learn more about how we deliver the best audio experiences to our clients.
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Speaker Placement
Speaker placement — both the location and the angle — is an important part of optimizing the sound in your home theater. While it’s tempting to place speakers where they look best or where they’ll be out of the way, doing so without considering the room construction and seating arrangements can cause distorted sound effects.
For example, speakers placed too far apart will leave sound gaps, while speakers placed too close together will create muddy sound. Floorstanding speakers placed too close to a wall or corner can lead to distorted bass and frequency responses. Meanwhile, speakers positioned at the wrong angle or level cause intelligibility and accuracy issues.
Letting an experienced professional handle your speaker placement is the simplest way to ensure your speakers are installed correctly to deliver the best sound experience possible.
Equipment Calibration
Every theater room is different, and your audio equipment should be properly calibrated to deliver the best output based on the room shape and dimensions, furniture placement, flooring material, and other factors.
The goal of calibration is to optimize your equipment for even frequency responses, tight bass, intelligible dialogue, accurate timing, and balanced sound across all your speakers. A properly calibrated home theater system will produce an engaging and immersive soundscape with richly detailed audio that pulls you into the film.
Room Treatments
Everything in your theater room affects the acoustics of the space — the size and shape of the room, floor and wall materials, furniture placement, and ceiling height are just a few factors that dictate how sound will behave in your home cinema.
Keep in mind that not all sound travels directly from the speakers to your ears. Once released, sound waves reflect off the surfaces around them and bounce back toward you. Unfortunately, uncontrolled reflections in your theater room can create many unpleasant effects, like reverberations, echoes, ringing, and unintelligible dialogue.
Acoustic room treatments correct and control sound waves to balance the acoustics of the space and create accurate sound reproduction. Hiring a home theater expert to install room treatments is a smart move because a professional can identify trouble areas in your theater and determine what types of acoustic panels you need to absorb or diffuse uncontrolled sound.
Trust the team at Simply Automated to be your home theater design and installation experts. We’ll work with you from start to finish to create the best entertainment experience for your home. Call or fill out our contact form to set up a consultation at one of our two Pittsburgh locations. We look forward to hearing from you!
