Three Questions to Ask Your Home Theater Designer

First, do you need a home theater designer at all? We'll argue that it's a great idea unless you really like to run projects like a general contractor. Home theaters have a lot of things in them, from technology to electrical to finishes, and they are serious projects. Like building a house in Milton, GA, it’s wise to have someone that puts it all together and knows how to manage the process from start to finish.

Now that we have that established, what should you ask a home theater designer or company when interviewing them? We could write multiple blogs about this, but here are three questions you can ask so they'll know you're an informed home theater buyer!

SEE ALSO: 5 Deadly Sins that Make Home Theater Designers Cringe

How Big a Screen Should I Get?

This sounds like a novice question, but it's not. When we get this question, we're not going to immediately ask, "How much money do you have?" Instead, good home theater designers will say it depends on what you want. The room's layout and seating impact your screen. Will you have multiple rows and risers? Do you want the screen hidden behind doors or motorized curtains? 

Some of today's home theaters double as game rooms, where part of the room may have a pool table and a small kitchen area for snacks and beverages. This design might not be a traditional home theater, but it may be what you want. A good designer will work with you to understand all the aspects of your room and recommend a screen size and other features (like widescreens for serious film buffs) that fit your usage of the space. 

Do I Need Acoustic Treatments?

If you even know about acoustic treatment, a home theater designer will realize you're no novice! Today's immersive Dolby Atmos multichannel sound systems benefit greatly from acoustic treatment. With multiple speakers in the front of the room, on the side, the rear, and the ceiling (depending on the layout), you have many chances to get unwanted reflections and other sound issues that will detract from the soundtrack. 

While modern home theater processors (receivers and components) often have sophisticated calibration capabilities, they can’t totally overcome the physics of sound. The bottom line is that expertly applied acoustic treatment can make an average sound system sound great, and it makes a great sound system sound spectacular. Chances are, if you’re spending the money for a dream home theater, you’ll want something closer to spectacular. You will want acoustic treatment. 

Can I Make Everything Work with One Remote Control?

Home theaters can be complicated rooms. You may have motorized screens that appear from the ceiling or from behind a covering. And then, you have to consider projectors, sound systems, source components, power management, lighting, and more. You don’t want to have a sequence of buttons to push in a particular order to get the whole thing orchestrated. It’s not enough to just get the AV part of it under one control. 

For example, you may press one button like “Watch Netflix” and have your whole system come to life, with lights dimming, sound set to the perfect settings for that input, temperature set to a comfortable level, and maybe your smart locks locked for good measure. A good home theater designer will recommend a powerful and flexible home automation system like Control4 to enable all of that, customized to your preferences.

Are you ready to get started on a custom home theater? We invite you to visit our 20,000-square-foot Marietta showroom, reach out to us here, or click the chat below to connect with us. We would love to help you!