Home Entertainment

Home Entertainment System Configurations

Home entertainment usually refers to a very good quality audio and video system. It may consist of a high definition television and a Dolby surround system, but it may only be an audio system. When talking about it, we usually mean something extra is given, not just an old stereo. I will classify these systems according to what they give you in terms of depth and immersion, but remember that even a low end configuration system could cost a lot, depending on the elements you construct it from.

High-end

At the top of the quality and price ladder we find dedicated home theater systems which are either big projection screens or plasma TV's. This is usually coupled with a dedicated theater room where the speakers and audio system is built into the walls and is optimized to the room for maximum performance.

Projection units essentially work like a real theater. The DVD movie is projected on a to a white screen which enables some customization of the size and can allow bigger sizes than normal TV's could achieve. Projectors designed specifically for home use will have sufficient output jacks to connect to a surround sound system, after that it's up to the movie itself to provide the channels required.

A great number of cables are needed to run these entertainment system types. When designing or planning you should always consider where to put them. When building a special room consider hiding them behind a wall, but on the other hand, you may want to move the projector sometimes, so consider that option too.

Mid-range

Compared to the projection rooms the mid-range products would be large screen TV's coupled with a sound system. You will need a processing unit, a TV and speakers for the job and of course a DVD player. Your TV can be a large screen regular TV or a plasma scree, or anything else, but you really should go for screen size here. While picture and audio quality is not as good as with dedicated rooms but you will still get pretty high-end performance. If you have the means to totally darken the room you will have no problem immersing yourself in a movie.

Cables still prove to be a logistical problem, but much less so. This is because the processor, DVD player and TV usually occupy the same space, wiring them is much easier. Cables to the sound system are the only ones you really have to worry about here.

Low-end

The lower range systems would be built from a smaller TV and perhaps only a 2.1 system, which means a subwoofer and two speakers. If you are working with a really small room this may still be a viable alternative because sound quality can still be okay. These are really systems that are designed for every-day use in the sense that normal programming should be watched with a similar system. The additional subwoofer, instead of just 2 speakers provides some extra sound depth to the films. If nothing else, you really should invest in a surround system which doesn't cost that much nowadays so I would still place that in the low end.

Cable considerations are just about non-existent because the subwoofer is likely to go near the TV and the speakers are near to it too.