Like going to the movies
The seventh art ! Professional advice on installing your own home cinema.
Thanks to home cinema, the seventh art can now be enjoyed
on an everyday basis. But before investing, it’s worth
consulting a professional.
Philippe Demougeot, an interior architect who trained at the Ecole Boulle and an architect with a D.P.L.G. qualification, often appears on the France 5 TV programme “Question Maison”. He gave us his opinion on the best way of using the home movie concept. “A room devoted to home cinema should first have a DVD player and a large-screen TV with accoustic speakers. But that’s not all ! If you decide to give your hobby the place it deserves, be prepared to make a few changes. First question : do I need an entire room devoted to home cinema ? The area will depend on the size of the image and the quality you want. For a base of 70 centimetres to 1.2 metres (ie. a plasma screen), the spectator must be at least 3 metres from the screen. If you opt for a base of 1.8 to 2.5 metres (for video projections), the ideal distance is from 3.5 to 5 metres. The room needs to be from 3 to 4.5 metres wide : the bigger it is, the greater the distance between the speakers, making for an even better surround effect. You can then add comfy armchairs or a sofa facing the screen, and set up a sound system around this point.” For top conditions, should the room be completely dark ? “A plasma screen functions under the same conditions as a TV, because the surface is luminous. For video screenings, it’s better to have a “blacked out” room. And to benefit fully from the sound, think about soundproofing the room from bedrooms and getting sound-absorbant materials for the floor and ceiling : home cinema has a wide range of noise-levels which can be disturbing (though limiters do exist on most amplifiers). To banish the echo effect produced by sound rebounding off a “hard” wall, avoid concrete ceilings and tiling, and line the partition walls. Also, try not to have two hard surfaces facing each other. If the ceiling is made of concrete, lay carpet on the floor, and use wall-paper or drapes on one of the dividing walls. Windows and French windows can act as sound deflectors and thus disturb the neighbours : when closed, they give a lot of reflection. Which brings us to the problem posed by light. The ideal solution is a dimmer switch.”
Crestron has already foreseen demand. A single switch will now perform several operations simultaneously, such as lowering the screen, switching on the video projector, dimming the lights… “As a general rule, it is essential to think about your installation before rushing out and buying it : there’s a considerable amount of wiring, especially for sound, as it has to encircle the entire room. Idem for the sockets (at least five or six are necessary). Finally, take a look at costs. A basic installation will set you back about 4,000 € (price of the equipment without installation of the room, which is necessarily made-to-measure). For top-quality, expect to pay 15,000 € or twice as much if you want the entire set-up.”
By Cécile Olivéro - Photos : press.
