Have you always wanted to have a Home Cinema system in your home that can make you experience the emotions of the great hall? You don’t know how to juggle the choice of components that the market is able to offer? Well, to answer some of your questions we have decided to write a Home Cinema guide that can take you by the hand and accompany you in this new, articulated, adventure.
Home Cinema Guide – The first question to ask
Well, when you try your hand at building a Home Cinema chain, you often find yourself faced with a myriad of products of different manufacture and price range. Therefore, identifying what he can do in our case becomes a sort of obstacle course full of inaccessible roads. In fact, as for the assembly of a computer, even the Home Cinema system is not free from coupling and compatibility problems. Before delving into the question, however, it is good to ask yourself a few questions. The first we suggest is: what kind of result do I want to achieve?
First step – Understand what you want to achieve and think about a project
The world of Home Cinema is often seen as an elite sector, however, it can be approached on multiple levels and adapted even in the presence of a limited budget. Let’s see how.
Is your goal to enjoy your digital content in a home environment with superior quality without revolutionizing your environment? Or do you want to fully reproduce a home cinema room? In between these two questions, there are multiple answers.
What to do then? In the meantime, we need to understand what kind of environment we have and what budget we want to invest. If your environment is small, the system must also be proportionate to it (and vice versa the opposite).
How to improve the sound of your home TV
If your intention is to improve the sound emitted by the built-in speakers of your TV, and you are not planning to spend large sums, there are two solutions.
The first, and the easiest to do, is to rely on a soundbar. These devices cover different price ranges and offer a marked improvement in the sound output from your TV. The points in favor of this technology are the ease of installation and, thanks to the use of integrated electronics, the ability to simulate greater spatiality of the audio. Many purists will turn up their noses, but soundbars are actually a great solution for those who, in fact, have a small room and a limited budget.
The second solution, in some ways potentially better (the conditional is a must), is to buy a two-channel stereo amplifier and install two front speakers. In this case you lose the surround effect offered by the soundbar, but you have the possibility to choose quality components that are also well suited in the musical field. Depending on the environment you have available, you can opt for a pair of bookshelf speakers (which can also be mounted on a stand) or a tower speaker. The latter, if they are full range, can cover different frequencies more easily. In fact, if you buy a pair of tower speakers equipped with a good subwoofer you will also have excellent bass response.
The multi-channel solution
Well, if the first two proposals are not for you, and you are looking for something more, the multichannel solution is the way. Here there are essentially two considerations: the size of the environment, which remains a constant, and the budget. If the budget is small, the question you have to ask yourself is: is it better the egg today or the chicken tomorrow?
The ideal is, of course, to make a shopping list and buy everything you need right away. However, this solution offers the possibility of making purchases gradually. How? The first things to take are in fact the audio / video receiver and a pair of front speakers. It then continues with the purchase of the sub, the famous .1 of the plant. This component will forever change the way you view movies. Then we move on to the purchase of the center speaker, mainly dedicated to the emission of voices, and ends with the rear speakers used for the sound effects. The advantage of an audio / video receiver, compared to a two-channel amplifier, is given by the presence of a series of audio encodings, such as the well-known Dolby Digital, DTS and so on. The receiver is able to reproduce the audio spatiality present in cinemas in your home.
How many channels do we need?
The receivers support a minimum of 5.1 channels and upwards. How many channels do you need? This Home Cinema Guide may not know what is best for you. Here we are faced with different schools of thought and a lot depends on the size of your room. In principle, we suggest that you do not look too much at the numbers but at the quality of the components, a good 5.1 system with adequate speakers and amplification is better than a poor quality 7.1 channel (or more) system.
Aware of what has been written so far, you can certainly have a clearer idea of your needs. Obviously, as in other sectors, even in Home Cinema you can always go further. The next step to using an audio / video receiver is to purchase a pre-amplifier with a series of dedicated power amps. But this is not the time to address the issue.
The video part
The video part in a Home Cinema is clearly less thorny than the audio one, unless you want to dedicate yourself to ad hoc calibrations or to perfecting the entire chain. Here too we have different possibilities on the market and each of them has its pros and cons. The smart TV market is constantly evolving and its strong presence on the market has led to a steady decline in panel prices. Today it is possible to take home a 55-75 inch panel at figures unthinkable until a few years ago. We all know the comforts of TVs, so we will avoid listing them.
But if you are looking for the true cinematic experience, the projector remains the most fascinating choice. These too, like the panels, have become more and more affordable for everyone over the years. If you are not looking for models with the latest technological references, with around 1,000 euros you can take home a little jewel that can make you open your mouth wide. The cons? Well, although many video projectors offer a good vision even in situations of not complete darkness, from this point of view they are not at the same level as TV panels. But what they can give in environments without light is priceless.
What do you think of this Home Cinema Guide? Did he answer your questions? Is there a particular topic you would like us to address? As always, tell us your opinion on our Facebook page.