Why Home Theater?
Few options for the home are more desirable than having a theater. The whole family can enjoy it, it is functional year round in any weather, we spend enough on entertainment to justify the investment, and it is s ton of fun! In excess of 20% of all new homes being built are now built with a dedicated theater or media space. Much confusion exists about what a theater is and why having a theater adds value. Many people confuse a home theater with a bunch of boxes of electronics and loud noise. A true home theater is an investment in your home and family and is often the most utilized room in the house. Here are a few reasons why:
The value of entertainment
Home entertainment is an essential part of the American home. More people than ever are spending time at home with their family. The average family spends $100’s per month on television (cable and satellite), movie rentals and purchases, and going out to the movies. Until now, a true home theater (seats, electronics, acoustics and room décor) was unattainable for all but the ultra wealthy. But home theater isn’t just for the rich and famous any longer. Designed for all applications of home entertainment - movies, television, music, video gaming systems, camcorders, computers and digital cameras a Series M theater is the most popular room in the home. Weather watching a DVD, playing a musical instrument, or reading a book, the warm comfortable design and quiet acoustical elements welcome you to spend time in the Series M Theater. And given the value we all place on home entertainment, we should be ale to enjoy that experience at its highest level. Series M is the ultimate home theater without the ultimate price.
Lifestyle
Think about the way most Americans live. While we represent a wide variety of interests and hobbies, virtually everyone spends a portion of their day with home entertainment products watching a DVD, playing a video game, watching a favorite talk show or sporting event, surfing the web, looking at digital camera pictures. We already have the use for the space; we just don’t have the space yet. Compared to a swimming pool, a boat, a motorcycle, or a sports car, a home theater is used by more of the family more often.
Trends
Imagine a day when the latest movie, CD, Videogame, or television program is available in your own home on opening night. That day is rapidly approaching. Soon, a home theater isn’t going to be a luxury, but a necessity if you want to enjoy home entertainment at it intended and true level. Movies aren’t meant to be seen on a small screen, producers spend thousands of hours and millions of dollars to create the ideal sound track to make the movie come alive, and Series M gives you your own private theater with ideal cinema quality picture and sound, right in your home.
Technology
Technology is rapidly advancing. It seems like every time you turn around, everything is new and the old technology is worthless. Because many people have confused home theater with the electronics, many feel that to have a home theater, you will have to redo your theater every few years to keep up with technology. Electronics are the part of home theater that become out dated the quickest and unfortunately, many people over invest in those electronics. At VFX, we build our theaters on a foundation that will stand the test of time and changing technology. Our theaters are built by creating the ideal acoustic environment and on the timeless principles of classic design. This ensures that no matter what technology emerges in the future, a VFX theater will always look and sound the best that any technology has available.
Investment
A home theater is not a luxury item any longer, but an investment in your home and family, A true home theater, like Series M, can add to the value of your home, just alike a sunroom, kitchen, or master bedroom suite. Would you be willing to pay more for your home if it included a complete custom theater? In addition, a Series M theater system is transportable. It can be moved to your next home in the future.
What is a home theater?
Like most people, you’ve heard of or experienced some sort of “home theater”.
But much confusion exists about what exactly constitutes home theater. Is it a big screen television? Surround sound? What differentiates a true home theater from a simple package of electronics available at your local store?
A home theater is made up of four (4) distinct parts. Each part is critical in creating a true home theater experience. The four elements comprising home theater are:
A home theater that lacks any of these elements is NOT a true home theater. Many companies offer what they call a home theater, with the proper attention to all 4 major components; our product is truly a “Theater for the Home”.
Electronics
Electronics are what most people think of when they think of a home theater. Today’s home theater wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for the advances in electronic technology. The original home theater, like those in the movie studio boss’ homes in the 1940’s, were actually a theater built in a home. They required 35mm film type projectors. Technology now allows us to use a 10pound video projector to create a high definition image. Technology also makes theater quality surround sound accessible from a single box wired to 6 speakers. All the parts are tied together to make it possible to enjoy every source of home entertainment from slideshows to video games to your favorite TV show to the big game to the latest DVD all at the touch of a button.
A true home theater will have a minimum of the following for electronics projector or 60”plus television or plasma, an audio/video receiver/amplifier, a speaker package for a minimum of 5 speakers and a sub woofer to create 5.1 surround sound a left, right, and center front speaker, two surround rear spears and a subwoofer, surge protection, wire and interconnect cables to link all items, source equipment (DVD player, Cable box, Video game console, Laptop computer) and a single remote control to tie all these elements together.
Many people confuse electronics with home theater. Although they are an integral part of a home theater, a bunch of electronics is no more a home theater than a bunch of appliances is a gourmet kitchen. To complete the room, you must have more that the basics.
Seating
What would a home theater experience be without a comfortable place to sit? What other forms of entertainment require you to sit for 2 hours at a time? We’ve all been to a movie theater with cramped, creaky seats that take away from the experience. Seating is the most direct tie a theater has with your physical being. Seating has to be comfortable, and functional. Seating should not interfere with your ability or those around you to enjoy your theater experience. When traditional theater seats are assembled in rows, a rear platform should be built to help the back rows clearly view the screen over the seats in front of them.
Home theater seating has a variety of options from which to choose. Traditional theater seating, couches, love seats, recliners, hybrid recliner style theater seats, single level, multi level, etc. The best theater in the world with an uncomfortable seat is still a bad experience and will often go unused.
Theatrical design elements
Theatrical elements are what make a home theater look and feel like a theater. These are the elements in the room that house the technology and provide the look and feel the space has. Architectural elements should be beautiful as well as functional. No matter what, your home theater is going to have a fair amount of technology inside of it a Projector, receiver, speakers, video game console, etc a true home theater provides housing for these components that does not interfere with the ambiance of the theater like environment. Undoubtedly, the design of the room is what makes it your own and fit your lifestyle.
Acoustical Room Treatments
The hardest part of a home theater to explain is also the most important part of home theater performance. In simplest terms acoustically treating a home theater space is what enables it to have the best quality sound performance. As much as 70% of the theater experience is in the way it sounds. Ever wonder why your local movie theater sounds so much better than your living room? The answer is acoustics. Look around the next time you go to the movies those fabric covered elements on the walls and ceiling are acoustical treatments. If you have any hope of replicating the quality of sound so critical to the home theater experience, your theater has to have properly designed, engineered, and placed acoustical treatments. A room with just regular walls is a reflective space, causing echoing, distortion, dead spots, and an overall loss of quality of sound. An acoustically treated room will have acoustical materials that are absorptive, reflective, and diffusive in a specifically engineered location and pattern. The combination of these materials and their placement in your room is what tunes the room for the ideal enjoyment of sound. Having even the best electronics without proper acoustic engineering and acoustic treatment would be like trying to drive a Ferrari and a road full of potholes. The performance is dependant on and limited to the environment in which it operates. Unfortunately, there is no amount of technology or electronic gadgetry that can overcome the timeless laws of physics.
Why home theater is right for my family
Simply stated, home theater is rapidly becoming the most desirable option for the home. Just as family room grew in popularity around the 1940’s and the “cooks kitchen” was the must have of the 1990’s, having a dedicated home theater is becoming the new mainstay of the home. In excess of 20% of all new homes are being designed with a dedicated media and theater space.
The popularity is due to a number of factors, most key being the availability of technology and media. Imagine a home theater without a big screen video source, or lacking surround sound. Now imagine a theater without DVD’s Videotapes, 100’s of television channels, or video game consoles. Prior to these technologies, there simply was no home theater. Now that they have arrived, and we buy record amounts of media and technology to enjoy our varied forms of home entertainment, having your own home theater is no longer a luxury, but a matter of necessity. For less than the cost of an average swimming pool or a moderate boat that will often go unused, you can have a family entertainment area that can be used every day in every weather at any time of the day or night. A home theater just makes sense.
Spending more time at home
Perhaps you’ve heard the term “cocoon” or “cocooning” in discussions or articles about today’s lifestyle. Cocooning refers to the idea that people are spending more and more of their time at home. Fundamentally, the function of the home has changed. In the past, the home was viewed as a rest stop, with much of your lifestyle taking you out of the home- going out to eat, playing in the front yard, visiting family, playing sports, picnics, going to the movies, etc. But the American lifestyle is changing. People are spending more time at home, and, as a consequence, they want their home to be the center of their activity. Exercise rooms instead of going to the gym. A cook’s kitchen instead of going out to eat. A home office in place of a traditional office location.
It’s only fitting that the activity where Americans spend most of their time, entertainment, should also have a dedicated space in your home. Most people today would love to trade long lines, crying babies, loud strangers, sticky floors and uncomfortable seats for a space of luxury, comfort, and so much more right in their own home.
For years people have had a “TV” room and most “family” rooms are where the television is. Our lives have a permeate attachment to audiovisual media that streams into our homes. When you add cable, satellite, slideshows, surfing the internet, video games and more to the mix, you see just how much sense a dedicated audio video entertainment space makes. And with the price of the average cable bill, movie tickets, and video rentals, it makes financial sense too. Enter the Home Theater, the ideal environment for all forms of entertainment, right in your own home.