How to build a good home audio system

In essence, building the perfect hi-fi system is about balance as much as individual quality. The whole should amount to more than, or at the very least equal, the sum of its parts. But balance is one of those concepts that can be hard to define, let alone to achieve. While a lot of it boils down to trial and error, there are certain guidelines that will aid and, hopefully, ease your path to sonic enlightenment. The first two questions you need to ask yourself are: what will you be using your system for, and how much are you willing to spend?

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Content:

• Building Your First Hi-Fi Home Stereo System
• Build a Home Stereo System on a Tight Budget
• The Best Gear for Building Your Home Theater
• How to Build a Home Theater System, Three Different Ways
• How to build the perfect hi-fi system
• 10 Mistakes to Avoid When Building a Home Theater System
• How to Build a Good System
• How to Hi-Fi: A Beginner's Guide to Home Audio Equipment
• The Setup: Building a Great Home Entertainment System

WATCH RELATED VIDEO: Audiophile 101: How to Set Up a Basic Hi-Fi System - Guide to Life

Building Your First Hi-Fi Home Stereo System

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Vertical Cable. View All. Everyone loves going to the movies. It is a classic choice for an outing or a date night, but with the soaring prices of movie tickets and snacks at peak hours, it might be time to consider other options for your movie fix.

More people are investing in home theaters. However, building a home theater does not need to break the bank, and you do not need to be a celebrity for your house to boast its own home theater.

It is an investment that pays back in spades. After all, what a great space for family movie nights, and one that is safe and fun for your kids if you have them and their friends! You may be nervous about the money and space apparently required for a home theater, but that is what we are here for. There is a vast amount of information out there about building your home theater, but we have compiled the best tips from experts, vendors, and home theater veterans to help you navigate the process.

Read on to discover the ten crucial mistakes to avoid when building your very own home theater. It may be tempting to walk into your nearest retail store and sweep up all the components a store representative assures you will need for your home theater, but make sure to do your research! Store representatives may not have in-depth experience with home theater equipment, or simply may be eager to make a sale. Plus, televisions and speakers sound different on the store floor; this misperception may cause you to make purchases that do not work for the type of home theater you are building.

Reading reviews of televisions and sound systems from professionals, as well as from past purchasers who have extensive experience with such things will serve you well. We get it — once your home theater is built, you want it to last for years, if not decades. This is an easy trap to fall into, especially given the vast amount of sometimes contradictory information out there. Until you understand the features that you will be paying more for, hold off on buying high-end products.

You will find the less expensive versions of components such as cables or receivers work just as well as the more expensive ones. The flip side of this tip is to not under-budget, either. Keeping costs low is important for almost every family in the U. Your home theater should be something you have worked hard on, and which you are proud of.

If equipment starts failing soon after you complete it, even the money you have sunk into the project could be lost. Find a good balance between spending money on quality products, and finding good deals.

You may want to upgrade your home theater in the future. Save your money for the upgrade instead of shelling out unnecessarily now. In this day and age, you can find package deals for the components needed to equip a home theater.

For those who are new to home DIY projects, going for such package deals is attractive, seemingly saving them time and money. However, what you gain in ease, you may sacrifice in quality.

This does not mean that building a home theater must be a long and arduous experience; just that the easiest choices may not be the right ones for you. For example, you may purchase a perfectly good receiver for a slightly higher price, but find later on that purchasing the components — video and audio processors, and an amplifier, for starters — may have yielded a better viewing experience. Take our advice and invest the time to research separate components in addition to attractive package deals.

Those of us who have been to an IMAX theater will tell you what an amazing experience it is to be surrounded by video and audio. However, unless you are planning to build a full-out IMAX theater in your house — which you are probably not — do not place your television too high up on the wall or on the ceiling.

Even if you have a television with a large screen, placing it too high can cause viewers to sustain neck and shoulder pain from straining their muscles. This translates to roughly three to five feet above the floor, but may vary depending on the elevation of the seating. Just as looking up at your television screen will eventually become uncomfortable, so will sitting too close or too far away from the screen. For this reason, think about the size of the space you have to work with, and the arrangement of seating in relation to the television screen.

Sitting too close to the screen diminishes how much of the screen you can see well. If you sit too far away, you may not see the fine details. You can go through calculations to determine the best viewing distance, but we recommend EngineeringCalulator. Keep in mind that the best viewing distance can be impossible to achieve given the size of the room, in which case you can tweak the size of the television or the seating arrangement. That is where the planning stage comes in handy.

Many people who build their home theaters focus on the television and the speakers, but forget that the way in which viewers are arranged within the room can make a huge difference to the viewing experience. In the same vein, more seats do not necessarily mean a better home theater.

If you decide to go with multiple seating tiers, you may be in for some calculations, which will pay off in great viewing experiences for all viewers.

These calculations take into account ceiling, room, and screen heights, as well as optimal viewing distances for each tier. By using risers, you can elevate second or third tiers to the perfect height. In the end, all viewers should be able to see the screen unobstructed.

You can have the perfect home movie theater — optimal viewing distance, a high-quality television, surround sound, and so on — but if people and other viewers are constantly moving in front of the television, you will not be able to enjoy it.

It is annoying when people do that in public movie theaters, so why would you want that for your home theater? When constructing your home theater, consider how you want to arrange the room in relation to the location of the door. You can also rectify this problem by moving the seating forward a bit, while remaining within optimal viewing range, or by placing a coffee-table in front of seating to block it off from passers-by.

This seems like an obvious consideration; nobody wants their home theater to be flooded with light, but if your television is placed in front of or near to a large window, sunlight may fall on the screen, ruining image quality. Even if you mainly watch movies at night, longer summer days may mean that light could be streaming in even in the late evening hours. You can account for this problem by locating your home theater in a room of your house that lacks large windows.

If that is not a possibility, consider buying blackout shades or blinds for your windows. Furthermore, if the television is opposite to a door, opening the door may flood the room with light from the hallway, disrupting the movie. Again, this can be remedied by adjusting the arrangement of the seating and screen in the room. Also, installing a sliding door may allow people to come and go without letting much light into the room, causing minimal disruption.

The color of the walls may affect the lighting in the room. It may seem classy to have tan fabric lining the walls, but light fabric contributes to increased light reflection in your home theater. This results in a brighter room and decreased viewing quality. As a result, stick to black walls and insulation. Many home theater owners consider surround sound to be a non-negotiable feature, but that is not necessarily the case, and may not always be possible.

Especially if you are short on space, consider forgoing the surround sound speakers. If your home theater is on the smaller side, you will need to buy costly wireless speakers, running speaker wires under the carpet, and so on.

This is a lot of work for something that may not have the payoff you hoped it would. Some choose to work around the problem of a smaller space by placing their speakers in the furniture or in cabinets. That way, they feel that they have gotten the benefits of surround sound without the space restrictions.

However, doing this may muffle and muddy the sound emanating from the speakers, foiling the primary purpose of having good speakers in the first place. Many who build a home theater often forget about power, which most of the high-tech devices need to function. So your home theater has a television, speakers, a DVD player, and a game console, but do you have enough outlets to accommodate all of those devices?

Even if the room has enough outlets, they may not be within reach of the devices you need to plug in. This is where surge protectors come in, and where splurging is not such a bad thing. For this reason, we recommend investing in a high-quality surge protector from a trusted company, as well as a sturdy warranty that covers not only the surge protector but also any equipment lost or damaged in a power surge. These cautions should be sufficient to get you started on your very own home theater.

By avoiding these ten mistakes, you are already on the right path. Although these tips are meant for people building their home theaters, do not hesitate to get professional advice or help if you think you need it.

Spending an extra couple hundred dollars on good advice is worth it for a fully functioning home theater and peace of mind. Even if your home theater happens to be located in an apartment, these tips will help you create a home theater that you can enjoy for a long time! Enter your text to search Search. About Us. Have a question? Our Live Chat operators are ready to help! Don't Buy Uninformed It may be tempting to walk into your nearest retail store and sweep up all the components a store representative assures you will need for your home theater, but make sure to do your research!

Don't Over-Budget We get it — once your home theater is built, you want it to last for years, if not decades. Don't Take the Easy Way Out In this day and age, you can find package deals for the components needed to equip a home theater.

Don't Look Up Those of us who have been to an IMAX theater will tell you what an amazing experience it is to be surrounded by video and audio. Don't Sit Too Far From or Too Close To the Screen Just as looking up at your television screen will eventually become uncomfortable, so will sitting too close or too far away from the screen. Don't Ignore the Seating Arrangement Many people who build their home theaters focus on the television and the speakers, but forget that the way in which viewers are arranged within the room can make a huge difference to the viewing experience.

Build a Home Stereo System on a Tight Budget

Comfy brown leather seats offer prime viewing of the screen in this stylish home theater. The seats complement the room's neutral palette, which is a perfect backdrop for enjoying favorite movies with family and friends. Home theaters are no longer only an extravagance for the rich and famous. Thanks to more affordable technology, many families are enjoying a true movie theater experience without leaving home. If you're thinking about building a home theater, let HGTV walk you through the steps. The ideal space for a home theater is 20 feet long by 13 feet wide and relatively isolated from the rest of the house.

The Best Gear for Building Your Home Theater

High-fidelity and high-end home audio are foreign concepts to many people. The term high fidelity or hi-fi simply means that the equipment reproduces the music faithfully to the recording. Of course, the vast majority of people listening to music are using fairly inexpensive equipment—from smartphones and Bluetooth speakers to streaming services like Apple Music and Spotify—built for convenience rather than fidelity. To many audiophiles buyers of this expensive equipment vinyl remains the pinnacle of fidelity, while also providing a tonal warmth that has a nostalgic sound to many listeners. Vinyl has had something of a resurgence in the last decade or so and many popular recording artists press their albums to vinyl and make them available online or in boutique brick-and-mortar record stores. Yes, record stores still exist. In recent years, high-resolution digital audio files not to be confused with audiophiles have become more popular, thanks in part to the streaming service Tidal , which offers convenient access to stream music in a higher-resolution format than Apple Music, Spotify, and other streaming services.

How to Build a Home Theater System, Three Different Ways

Everyone loves watching a great movie on a big screen with a kickass speaker system. Our AV team spends thousands of hours each year seeking the best-looking and best-sounding home theater equipment. Whether you have a dedicated theater room planned or are thinking of upgrading your weeknight living room movie night, we have recommendations covering whatever space and budget you have. This buying guide compiles everything you need in one place. The same goes for the cost of a high-performance dedicated theater compared with what home theater enthusiasts would have you believe.

How to build the perfect hi-fi system

Stereo systems range in price from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars. However, building a home stereo system that satisfies your tastes doesn't have to cost a fortune. A quality system can be affordable, especially if you're patient, vigilant, and know how to get the most for your money. But before you get started, it's important to have a plan. But you can enjoy a fantastic-sounding stereo system while keeping those wishlist items for potential future upgrades. First, set a budget and stick to it.

10 Mistakes to Avoid When Building a Home Theater System

However, it can be a challenging process since the various components including the speakers are designed for specific cars. This guide is going to take you through one of the simple steps in building an affordable car audio system. The first thing you need to consider before anything else is figuring out all the things that you require. This is actually the most difficult part of the whole process. It all depends on what on your expectations.

How to Build a Good System

Music has a strong connection with most people and it instantly transports people to an enjoyable, immersive experience. A great stereo sound system at home has the power to move you and give you the choice to discover more of the music that elevates your spirits. If your listening space is large, you will need larger loudspeakers that provide better amplification. But if your room is small, very large speakers can over-drive the space, leading to an overbearing sound that lacks control.

How to Hi-Fi: A Beginner's Guide to Home Audio Equipment

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This home theater harkens back to the Golden Age of Hollywood, entrancing guests with plush velvet theater chairs and ornate lighting. You're ready for a home theater set-up, and you're quivering with anticipation at the thought of a fully immersive movie experience right in your own home. But there's that one nagging question:. There are so many variables to consider, both technical and financial.

The Setup: Building a Great Home Entertainment System

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The cookie settings on this website are set to 'allow all cookies' to give you the very best experience. Please click Accept Cookies to continue to use the site. Seemingly endless acronyms, formats, and connections separate you from your original goal of great sound. While The Sound Organisation encourages you to work with an experienced local partner, your first inclination might be online research.