Home theaters allow you to get much more pleasure and functionality when watching movies than Hi-Fi stereo systems, and you do not need to be a sound engineer to install them. All you need to do is perform a few simple steps, and very soon you will be able to enjoy music and movies with excellent sound quality.
Suppose a speaker and a projector for a movie theater have already been purchased, and many large boxes and cables have been delivered. The installation process will not depend on whether they are purchased in whole or in separate components.
Connecting home theaters requires three steps.
Step 1: Choosing the Right Placement
Each room is not like the others, and a high-quality home theater connection depends on the choice of placement of speakers and other components.
Ideally, all speakers should be at the same distance from the listener. This is rarely achievable in practice, but it is already good if this condition is met, at least for the front left and right speakers. If possible, they should be placed approximately at the level of the head, 2-3 meters from the spectator's seat.
Connecting an LG home theater, for example, requires the installation of a front left, top left, right, top right, center, spatial left, top left, right, top right speakers and a subwoofer.
The center speaker should be aimed directly at the sitting listener at approximately head level. It would be a big mistake to put it on the floor much lower than the screen or somewhere above the TV, as this situation will give the impression that voices are heard from the sky or from underground.
The rear speakers may be closer or farther from the listener, but it is better to try to put them a little higher and behind his head. Again, try to keep the distance as close as possible. It is not necessary to direct the speakers directly to the listener, but rather turn it a little towards the front of the room.
Subwoofers make good stands for indoor plants or coffee tables. It is advisable to install them, at least a few centimeters from the walls, and not push them into a corner - this low frequencies will become distorted and overpriced. The best place for a subwoofer is near the front speakers.
Cables and wires
Connecting cables and wires is the second most difficult part of installing a home theater after placing speakers. They can become an aesthetic nightmare and a dangerous trap for the legs, but you cannot do without them, unless, of course, the columns are used only as jewelry.
Wireless rear speakers will eliminate the need for wires going from one end of the room to the other, but they will still need power, so wires going from the control unit to the speakers in the back of the room cannot be avoided.
Connecting a home theater to a computer is via the LAN port on the rear panel or the built-in wireless module. In addition, access to the home network will allow for the replacement of device software, access to online content, etc.
Home theaters, Blu-ray / CD / DVD players, video recorders and other home audio and video equipment - all this can be anywhere, if the cables are long enough. It is better to use HDMI wherever possible to get rid of the chaotic interweaving of wires, which makes finding the right connection a nightmare.
Connecting a home theater to a TV or monitor occurs through just such a cable. In this case, on the device itself, you must select the appropriate image source. A movie projector is connected in the same way.
The best option is when the cable for the home theater is laid under the floor or hidden by a carpet. Otherwise, it will not be superfluous to purchase fasteners for laying along the baseboards in the lower part of the wall, where they will not interfere so much.
Make sure that the audio outputs and inputs of the same color are connected. Some systems come with colored wires for each speaker, in which case the speaker connection diagram specified in the manufacturer's instructions must be followed.
Where to put the equipment?
The AV receiver is the main unit of a home theater and contains all the amplifiers that control the speaker system. It will heat up, so do not hide it in an airtight cabinet. In addition, you must have access to the rear panel of the receiver to connect the wires. And you need to place it within the line of sight of the remote control.
The TV should be close enough, it should give a sense of involvement in what is happening (the same as if the viewer was in a real movie theater, but not so much that he felt depressed or could distinguish individual pixels on the screen).
A general rule for HDTV screens is to maintain a minimum distance between the viewer and the TV equal to one and a half times the length of the screen diagonal. For example, for a 106 cm TV display, the smallest allowable distance would be about 160 cm, which is still too close. Most people prefer a distance of 2-3 m.
Step 2: adjust the sound
Connecting home theaters continues to adjust the sound of the system. Although it may be excellent without additional intervention, it is unlikely.
Most new systems have automatic adjustment when it is enough to set the included microphone to the listening position and press the button so that the theater can figure it out on its own. This is normal for a start, but you should not expect too much.
If there is no automated setup, you will have to delve into the receiver menu.
Most systems will show how automated tuning calculated the room by indicating the distance from the microphone to each speaker. This information may be correct and not entirely correct. Check the calculation data. And, if they are wrong, fix them using controls. This will ensure the simultaneous arrival of sound from speakers that are at different distances.
Automated systems often balance the speaker volume well, but this can also be done manually. Usually it’s enough to simply press a button to start broadcasting white noise on each speaker. The volume of each speaker can be adjusted by ear, using an inexpensive sound level meter, which is sold in consumer electronics stores, or a free application for a smartphone. The manual indicates the recommended sound pressure level, in most cases equal to 75dB.
Automation is good, but hearing is better
Then you should play some well-known music or watch a movie clip. If the system sounds dull or lacks something else, it is likely that the automated installation suppressed some frequencies. To fix this, you need to find the equalizer or dynamic control settings . Sometimes it has its own name, such as Audessey or Dolby, but regardless of the name, you just need to turn it off, and the sound should improve.
Subwoofers can have their own volume and frequency controls, called crossovers. If they were bought with the system, then all this should be controlled by the on-screen menu. Otherwise, the subwoofer will have to be configured separately.
Connecting home theaters should always start with the proposed settings and change them only when there is confidence that the problem can be solved by simply moving the speakers. Sometimes even a few centimeters are crucial.
Step 3: connecting correctly
Many home theaters include a Blu-ray player in the headunit. There is also an audio and video receiver. To connect anything else, as a rule, one or two additional HDMI ports are present, but the number of analog inputs can be limited.
One of the benefits of standalone AV receivers is that they have a staggering amount of inputs and outputs. In addition to the speaker outputs, the most commonly used are the HDMI ports for connecting various players and VCRs, as well as at least one connecting a home theater to a TV. All connectors must be clearly labeled, and a connection diagram can be found in the manual.
As a rule, it is enough to connect the PVR cable to the PVR port and so on, but some systems require port settings through the on-screen menu with a choice of the name of each connector controlled by the remote control. This is necessary, for example, so that when you press the button of the Blu-ray player on the remote control, the video recorder does not turn on. The good thing is that this procedure needs to be done only with the initial setup.
The main thing to do now is listening. In addition, you should record all the settings that will be changed in order to be able to return them if the result is not quite expected.
Setup tips
Buying a home cinema can turn out to be a big disappointment when, after going through the pain of tuning, the owner realizes that his impression of the purchase is not as good as expected. One possible reason for this is that the room reflects the waves in a completely different way than where the system was first listened to. Even if the sound is satisfactory, you should listen to some tips that will help squeeze the maximum out of the system that it is capable of.
What to do when it is booming?
Too sharp a bright sound - when high notes rumble and voices are hard to make out. This is a common misfortune of inexpensive speakers, but not all is lost. If the room has a hard floor or many windows, not a lot of upholstered furniture, even good speakers can be excessively bright. Adding flooring such as a carpet or heavy curtains is likely to improve things. You can also purchase special sound-absorbing materials that are attached to the wall, but they are usually expensive and probably will not be combined with the decor of the room.
And if it is too deaf?
The sound is too pale when the drums sound like a cardboard box, and the bass notes seem to be dressed in woolen sweaters, which means that either the room is extremely “dull” or a very poor system was bought. As a rule, in such rooms there are too many upholstered furniture, a carpet on the floor and heavy curtains.
Such rooms are not suitable for home theater systems, but adding some hard surfaces can solve the problem. Sometimes it’s enough just to hang a couple of pictures on both sides of the room so that the sound is reflected in the direction of the listener and the feeling of lack of volume is lost.
When adding or removing something, it is necessary to maintain a balance, since the movement of sound vibrations is similar to the movement of ripples on water - reflection from only one wall will bring a feeling of imbalance.
Chatter elimination
The hum of the bass is a common problem that can often be solved by simply moving the subwoofer a short distance. Do not install it in corners and against walls. If this did not work, it may be useful to place upholstered furniture and even open bookcases in the corners of the room.
Nothing makes windows rattle like a subwoofer, but some things vibrate at higher frequencies at higher frequencies.
Having turned on the music to the maximum, you should walk around the room in search of vibrating objects. The sound of the system will improve much if the terrifying roar of Smaug is not accompanied by the noise of a baby rattle forgotten in the room.