Five ways to improve your modern home theatre

There can be few better ways to spend an evening than by losing yourself in a blockbuster movie, with a bucket of popcorn on your lap and your loved ones around you. Gone are the days of needing to venture out into a crowded cinema to enjoy this experience. By improving your modern home theatre system, you can enjoy authentic cinematic experiences in your own home.

By taking simple steps like letting your subwoofer do its job, enhancing your ability to block out light, upgrading your centre channel, calibrating your speaker levels and updating your furniture, you can dramatically improve your home theatre system.

Your property inspiration

The desire to entertain friends and family members is built into South Africans’ DNA. Home movie nights are the perfect antidote to stressful work days and home cinemas are places where treasured memories are made. In this stunning Sibaya home, the home theatre forms part of a larger family entertainment space boasting minimalist décor and sophisticated finishings. The home theatre system has everything needed to make stories on the screen larger than life.

Five tips for improving your home theatre experience

1. Add a subwoofer and position it correctly
Adding a subwoofer to your setup is an important part of optimising your home theatre audio. It is thanks to your subwoofer that explosions will be felt rather than heard and that action will truly come to life. Experiment with the placement of your subwoofer, as you may get even better sensations if you place it in a different spot in relation to where you’re sitting. Your subwoofer is the speaker that delivers the lower frequencies that the rest of your surround sound system is not able to produce.

2. Keep the light out
To create a truly cinematic experience, your space needs to be as dark as a movie theatre would be. Having lights on dimmer switches and blackout curtains or blinds in your home theatre will enable you to enjoy movies to a far fuller extent.

3. Upgrade your centre channel
Your centre channel is arguably the most important component in a home theatre system. This is because it’s the one that does most of the work. It delivers up to 70% of on-screen dialogue and it also adds a powerful punch to the special effects in movies. In a basic home theatre system, the centre channel should be identical to your left and right speakers. Upgrading to a bigger centre channel within the same speaker model series will give you an even better home theatre experience.

4. Calibrate your speaker levels
Having proper speaker-level calibration ensures that you’ll hear each speaker at the correct level - regardless of how far away you’re sitting from it. While experienced home theatre aficionados may be able to do this by ear, using a decibel meter is always a better way to get precise results.

5. Update your furniture
The ultimate cinema experience has to be enjoyed on comfortable chairs. If space allows, consider upgrading from couches to individual reclining chairs - and don’t forget there will need to be space for the popcorn.

Your home should inspire you

A modern, upgraded home theatre system can transform your home into an entertainment venue and the perfect place to spend quality time with family and friends. Some simple upgrades can help you be transported to other worlds as you enjoy your favourite movie masterpieces. If you’re looking for a new home that has a great home theatre - or the potential for one - contact Lew Geffen Sotheby’s International Realty today and let us help you find your family’s dream home.