Seven Common Mistakes

1. Wrong Size or Type of TV

Plasma. LCD. DLP. Front Projection. It can seem like there’s a dizzying array of competing technologies to choose from when it comes to the most important factor of your system – the display. A front projection system is a great way to get the real theater experience at home – but not if you can’t adequately control the lighting. DLP TVs are a terrific value – but the picture can be dark at some angles. The list of exceptions goes on and on. Then you’ll need to consider the size of the screen. How far back are your seats going to be? What’s the resolution of the TV? How often will you watch standard definition programming? These are just some of the questions that factor into choosing the right screen size.

2. Low-Quality Sources

Even the best video display won’t look very good if you feed the wrong signal into it.

First of all, the components that you use need to be capable of outputting a high definition video signal (or up-converting a non-HD signal). This usually means a new cable box, DVD player and home theater receiver.

Second, those components need to be connected correctly. Most components can be connected in a number of different ways to accommodate a number of different TVs. Choosing the wrong connection or using an inferior quality cable means your system won’t look or sound as good as it can.

3. Poor Speaker Placement

There are several considerations that go into proper speaker placement:

  • How large are the speakers? Where will listeners be seated?
  • Where will the TV be located? How large is the room? How much sound absorbing material (carpeting, curtains, etc) is in the room?
  • The sound in your home theater system is impacted significantly by where you place the speakers. Speaker placement can make the difference between a great sounding system and one where you struggle to hear dialogue in one scene and are overwhelmed by the rumble of thunder in the next.

4. Not Calibrating a System for the Room

Most people don’t realize that TVs are set up at the factory to look good under the glare of thousands of watts of fluorescent light and to stand out among a wall of TVs. While that’s great for the sales floor of your local electronics store or warehouse club, it’s terrible for your living room.

To achieve a realistic, film-like picture at home, proper video calibration is essential. Without it, your new TV will never look very good.

5. Not Thinking About the Remote

Nothing will impact how much you enjoy your new home theater system as much as the remote. Read that again.

The remote control that you choose impacts how easy your system is to operate and where you can locate your equipment. A proper universal remote can be programmed so that it performs many functions (called a macro) simultaneously when you push a single button. It can control virtually anything in your home that has a remote control currently. It can even use radio waves (rather than infared) to operate equipment behind doors…or even in a closet down the hall.

Getting an inferior remote control (or using the manufacturer supplied remotes) means that you’ll probably spend as much time trying to figure out how to use your system as you do enjoying it.

6. Installing Equipment without Proper Ventilation

Installing your new system without proper ventilation around the electronics is the fastest route to the repair shop. Either invest in proper home theater furniture that is built to handle the heat that modern electronics generate…or modify existing furniture (installing a small exhaust fan, for example).

Alternatively, store the electronics away from the TV, where there is a larger space, and use an RF remote control (see above) to control it from your viewing area.

7. Not Knowing When to Call a Professional

Today’s electronics can provide an experience at home that rivals the local Cineplex. But installation of these electronics takes a significant amount of know how. If you’re a home owner that would call an electrician to install a new outlet, or a plumber to put in a new sink, it probably makes sense to call a professional installer to handle your home theater system.

A professional installer knows how to avoid every mistake on this list as well as hundreds of others.

After all, you’re buying the system to enjoy it—not install it.