Home Cinema Builders
Home Cinema Design & Build
How to build a home cinema guide
A home cinema is a luxurious addition to any large home with space to spare, and provides amazing opportunities for entertaining at home – or just enjoying your favourite movies in the tranquility of your own space.
Creating a home cinema isn't as complicated, high tech or expensive as it sounds – although you can spend thousands if you want. However, you do need to get the design and technical details right, particularly ensuring that the sound emitted doesn't disturb the rest of the household.
Fear not as Quiet Interiors are here to help. Read our guide below on how to create the perfect home cinema room.
Home Cinema or Media Room
When Quiet Interiors design a cinema room, we first consider how many people will use the space at a time – will it just be your family, or will you be inviting guests to watch a movie with you? The answer to this question will determine the amount of seating, and therefore, the space, you need.
One of the most important questions to ask yourself is whether it will truly be a dedicated home cinema or a multi-purpose room capable of transforming from a beautiful living environment into a private cinema. The two rooms are very different and, although both can provide a truly immersive experience, a multi-purpose room will always have a degree of compromise.
At the same time, you need to consider the cinema room's layout, taking into account factors such as screen size, viewing angles, the projection method, seat comfort, speaker placement, equipment storage and acoustics.
At the very minimum you’ll want to include a high-quality screen, speakers, an AV receiver, mood lighting, a dedicated control system, and comfortable seating. All this will, of course, be more difficult to get right in a multi-purpose room.
Home Cinema Soundproofing and Acoustics
When designing a Home cinema room, Quiet Interiors suggest thinking about where the cinema room will be located in relation to other rooms in the house., Soundproofing will need to be considered if there’s a chance of noise disturbing other spaces in the home.
When it comes to acoustics, the surfaces need to absorb sound rather than reflecting or transmitting it. Quiet Interiors suggest adding acoustic panels and stretch fabric walling. These are both great for the walls, while our acoustic plaster is ideal for the ceiling. The floor of the room should also be carpeted.
In most cases Quiet Interiors create an inner wall of stud work in most home cinema builds. This provides space to conceal speakers and its a good way to create sound-proofing – but this won't be practical if you'll be converting an already small room, perhaps a single garage, into a cinema room.
If the cinema room has windows, automated blinds will reduce glare when you’re watching films, and will help with acoustics too, especially if matched with thick, lined curtains. Seats will, undoubtedly, be comfortably upholstered, too – another good way to help with acoustics.
Classic Home Cinema designs
The Louvre Wall
The Light Stripe
Edge Glow
Home Cinema Surround Sound
It wouldn't be a home cinema without surround sound, which means speakers positioned to distribute different layers of sound.
The classic style home cinema rooms use 5.1 surround sound: the 'five' represents the five satellite speakers (three around or behind the screen (left, right and centre), and two at the rear of the room); the ‘one’ is the subwoofer, which provides the low frequencies or bass.
You can also opt for 6.1, 7.1, 7.2... surround sound systems, but this doesn't guarantee better sound. If you're creating your cinema room on a tight budget, go for a good quality 5.1 system, than a basic quality 7.1 arrangement.