5 Home Theatre Installation Mistakes (and how to avoid them)

1. Wrong Height of Screen

So many people mount their TV too high, which means they are constantly looking up at the screen. Over time, this can cause neck strain. If your neck is tilted upwards at all, then the screen is too high.

To get your TV screen set at the right height, you have to consider the screen size and your viewing distance. For a 40-inch TV, for example, the ideal height from the floor to the base of the TV should be around 63 centimetres or 25 inches. For a 50-inch TV, it would be about 73 centimetres or 29 inches.

However, the best way to ensure your TV is set to a comfortable height is through trial and error. Once this is sorted out, not only will you be more comfortable, but you will also get the best picture from the screen by viewing at direct eye level.

2. Wrong Lighting in the Room

Another important factor regarding screen placement is the amount of glare or light that affects the screen. Placing screens near too many windows can make the picture difficult to see during the daytime. If positioning the screen away from windows is not an option, black out blinds or curtains will need to be used.

3. Speakers Placed Within Furniture

Placing speakers within entertainment cabinets is a common setup decision to hide the speakers, but, unfortunately, this can greatly compromise sound quality as it will produce a muffled sound and cause the audio to rebound.

Speakers already come in their own furniture (the speaker casing) and need a certain amount of air and space to sound their best. Therefore, other furniture and items should not be positioned in front of speakers.

If you want speakers to be hidden, the best thing to do is to go for a discreet and seamless in-wall or in-ceiling option.

4. Improper Placement of Surround Speakers

Often, the centre channel speaker of a surround sound system is placed in the wrong area, which can make dialogue difficult to understand. Ideally, this part of the equipment should be placed close to the screen without being too low to the floor or too far back on the entertainment unit shelf.

While bass and low-frequency sounds are mainly directionless, you still need to pay attention to the placement of your speakers and avoid positioning them too close to a wall or corner of the room. In fact, putting just a few centimetres distance between the wall and your subwoofer can make a big difference to the sound quality of your home theatre system.

5. Wrong Calibration of Picture and Audio

You don’t need to spend a fortune on cables, but you do need to use the right cables for the connections. Sometimes the wrong connection cables are used to split the audio and video between the AV source, the surround sound and the TV. Often, this means the sound is being bypassed directly to the TV, which means you won’t be getting full high resolution audio, as there might be a pass through feature on your AV receiver.

Additionally, the calibration of the picture might be skipped, and the default setting used. Often, this causes the screen to run much brighter than recommended, which can then risk blowing out or torching the whites, blacks and colours displayed. Therefore, a less bright setting is recommended for dim rooms.