Common questions answered about a home cinema room
With the evolution of audio-visual technology, home cinemas have become more accessible and more desirable for homeowners across the South East. But designing and installing a high-quality home cinema at your property takes careful planning and consideration. Here, we answer some of the most commonly asked home cinema room questions and their various components.
Design
Living Room vs. Dedicated Home Cinema Room: What are the pros and cons of each?
Whether you choose to convert your main living space into a media room or have a dedicated home cinema room depends on your needs and budget. A media room is great for those who want a state-of-the-art audio-visual experience but prefer not to commit an entire room to it. It’s often a cost-effective solution for clients looking for a multi-purpose solution in their home.
While a dedicated home cinema is a more costly option, it faithfully recreates the commercial cinematic experience, providing outstanding audio and visuals, a tailored ambience and a feeling of exclusivity.
What are the ideal dimensions for a home cinema room?
The shape and size of your home cinema room is crucial to the experience. Ideally your chosen space will be rectangular, measuring 4.5m (15 ft) in width and 6m (20ft) in length with a 2.4m (8ft) ceiling. However, our team is very flexible and can work with the space you have selected to deliver the best possible results.
How can an interior designer enhance the cinema room experience?
The design of your room should facilitate an immersive and comfortable experience. Dark, matt paint colours and thoughtful lighting solutions will enhance the ambience, while furniture and fabric choices can help to absorb soundwaves and create comfort. Our experts will help you consider all the aspects of your space to ensure you enjoy a truly cinematic environment.
How to optimise a cinema room for movie nights?
When designing your home cinema room, you’ll need to consider how many people you want to accommodate. This will partly depend on the room’s dimensions, but also on whether you intend to have friends and family join you. To optimise for movie nights, ensure you have enough seating and that it is positioned so that sightlines are clear. You can also ensure drinks and snacks are readily available.
What considerations should be made to ensure the cinema room remains up-to-date?
To keep your home cinema room up-to-date, ensure that all smart devices are kept current with regular software updates, and schedule professional calibrations to maintain audio-visual performance. You can also speak to our team about the scalability of your system during the design phase, and discuss how to upgrade devices when necessary.
Audio-visual components
Projector Screen vs. TV: Which is better for a cinema room?
The solution you choose depends on your personal preferences and the size of your room. A TV is a good idea if you have a smaller space or the ambient light levels in your room are fairly high and a projector isn’t suitable.
However, technology has advanced over the past few years, making projectors the best choice in most situations. Projectors such as the Sony 4K range provide better visual clarity, contrast and quality, ensuring you are fully immersed in the content. You’ll also experience smoother on-screen action – and if necessary, both the projector and the screen can be motorised so that they are hidden when not in use.
How do you determine the appropriate screen size for the room?
Screen size is crucial to your viewing comfort, and our professionals will determine the optimum dimensions based on the room size and the distance between your seating and the screen. As a rule of thumb, you need to divide your distance from the screen by 1.2. If you’re sitting 3m (120 inches) from your screen, it will need to be around 240cm/100 inches. Remember that screens are measured in terms of their diagonal length, from the upper left-hand corner to the lower right-hand corner.
What are the best sound systems for a cinema room?
There are several sound system manufacturers that offer premium solutions for home cinemas, and your choice depends on your preference, budget and space. Our designers will talk you through the options and recommend products based on your needs. We often work with Artcoustic, as these speakers are Dolby Atmos enabled and offer a discrete design while delivering a high-end audio experience.
How does surround sound enhance the viewing experience?
Surround sound is integral to the cinematic experience, creating a more realistic and immersive soundscape that places you right in the centre of the action. Unlike stereo sound, it allows for the more precise placement of audio, enhancing the sense of directionality and supporting engagement with the visual content. In addition, sound elements are clearer and more noticeable, creating a richer and more nuanced soundscape.
Is Dolby Atmos necessary for a home cinema?
While Dolby Atmos is not strictly necessary for a home cinema, it will significantly enhance your experience. Dolby Atmos works by placing sound ‘objects’ in precise locations, adding height and depth to the soundscape. These objects can also travel between speakers, creating a more realistic and immersive experience.
Acoustic considerations
What acoustic treatments are recommended for optimal sound quality?
As with many home cinema elements, the acoustic treatments we select for each installation depend on the size, shape and nature of the space, customer preferences, and budget. There are several types of acoustic treatment, including bass traps, acoustic panels and diffusers. Often a carefully placed combination is required for the optimal result.
How can sound insulation improve the cinema room experience?
If your home cinema room is in a part of your main house – as opposed to a garage conversion or other outbuilding – sound insulation can be beneficial for several reasons. Not only does it prevent external noise from distracting viewers, it also stops the sound from your audio system from travelling into other areas of the property. In addition, it helps to minimise reverberations, promoting enhanced clarity.
What design elements contribute to better acoustics?
As a rule, the use of fabric and other sound-absorbing materials will help to optimise the acoustics in your home cinema room. Carpets, curtains, soft furnishings such as cushions or upholstered seating, and even large house plants (real or fake) can help to reduce the reflections and echoes in your space. Our experts will discuss various options with you during the design phase to help you achieve a good balance.
Lighting and ambience
How does ambient light affect the viewing experience?
Ideally, the amount of ambient light in your home cinema should be minimal. Natural light that creeps through curtains or under doors can at best affect how immersive your experience is, and at worst create distractions. Shafts of sunlight across the screen will detract from the action, while the presence of general ambient light can affect the clarity and brightness of your projected picture.
We recommend that ambient light is blocked out as effectively as possible while you are watching your chosen content. This can be achieved with quality window shading and similar solutions. If your home has smart automation, you can opt for motorised blinds that can be closed at the touch of a button.
What control systems are available to manage lighting and sound?
Home automation is a popular element of many home cinema rooms, providing additional convenience and comfort. Operating systems such as Control4 enable you to manage lighting, audio-visual equipment, climate and more with the touch of a button. We also work with Lutron lighting to create the ideal ambience in your space, which you can adjust as required.
Streaming and content
Which streaming services are best for a home cinema?
If you’re creating a state-of-the-art home cinema, the last thing you want is poor quality content services. Products such as Kaleidescape enable you to download content and view it in uncompressed 4K with HDR. That means, unlike services such as Netflix and Amazon Video, it reproduces a bit-for-bit identical copy of the studio master audio and an uncompressed image, delivering exceptional quality. The technology also integrates with home automation and can be scaled for use in multiple rooms of your home.
Practical considerations
Why should I choose a professional for home cinema installation?
Put simply, choosing a professional such as New Wave AV for your home cinema installation means you will enjoy the best possible experience. Our experts have completed countless projects and will ensure every detail of your space is optimised, from the audio-visual system and acoustic treatments to the seating and lighting. We’ll design a room that exceeds your expectations, recommend the best products for your needs and ensure control of your devices is seamless.
How much does a home cinema cost?
The cost of your dedicated home cinema room depends on the size of the space, the equipment you choose and amount of work required. Basic setups typically cost in the region of £10,000 – £15,000, while a high-end, fully immersive space can cost upwards of £50,000. Our team will design and complete your project according to your budget.
