DO NOT SKIMP ON THE AUDIO
We are a visual species. By nature, we tend to place more importance (and budget) on the picture side of a theater versus the audio. To demonstrate the importance of sound quality, at a recent trade show an audio company equipped two rooms with two home theater systems. In both rooms were the identical projector, screen, Blu-Ray player, and Blu-Ray disc. The projectors were both calibrated so the image was identical in both rooms. In the first room was a mediocre “average” surround sound system, and in the second room a high-quality surround sound system was used. They brought attendees into both rooms and showed them the same movie clip. After the audience saw both, they asked each person which room had the best picture quality. 95% of them picked the room with the better sound system! Nobody said that they were the same. Adding insult to injury, all of the people that went through the room were audio/video professionals. You would think they wouldn’t have fallen for this trick.
What this proves is that the better the sound, the better the overall experience. George Lucas has said many times that sound is at least 50% of the movie-going experience. Great movie sound is not designed to be an experience only an “audiophile” will appreciate, but rather to be an immersive movie-watching experience everyone will respond to.
GO BIGGER THAN YOU TINK YOU WANT
Choosing the correct screen size can sometimes be difficult to determine. There are formulas that can help you decide what the “optimum” size is, but this specification is very subjective. After all, some go to the movies and sit near the front and others prefer to sit near the back. Our best advice is to get in front of a screen. Select a movie that makes most people nauseous (any ‘Bourne’ movie is good) and get as close as you can without feeling uncomfortable. Measure how far you are away and how wide the screen is. Share these results with your home theater designer and he or she can calculate your optimum field of view. Do this exercise with your significant other, too, since their preference may differ from yours.
If you don’t want to go through that exercise, use blue painters tape and mock up the screen size you are thinking about on the wall you are thinking about placing the screen. Then sit where your planned seating area will be to see how it feels. Our guess is that you will immediately get a sense of what size is right for you.
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