If going out in the time of a pandemic is too stressful and expensive, don’t you think it would be better to entertain yourself in the comfort of your home instead? You can partake of your favorite TV shows, films, console games, or any other multimedia content all in one place with a home entertainment center. It can be the place that you and your family members dedicate to relaxing and spending some quality time together.
What are the things you need to do in order to build a full-fledged home entertainment center that everyone will enjoy? Here are some awesome tips for setting up a nook in your home where you can watch movies and TV, play video games, and enjoy music anytime.
Think of Your Ideal Home Entertainment Experiences
The most important step in building a home entertainment center is determining what kind of experiences you want to have when you’re there. Your idea of winding down after a long day may be drastically different from someone else’s. While someone else may want to build their entertainment experiences around their gaming rig, perhaps you want a home theater that’s better for binge-watching TV. Or, perhaps you’re also thinking about home viewing experiences that are enjoyable to your kids as well as the adults in the family.
Regardless, you’ll get the most out of your investment in a home entertainment center if you design it according to what you wish for. Once you decide on what kinds of experiences you want, it’ll be much easier to shop for equipment and to lay it out.
Set Up the Space
The second thing you have to do when assembling a home entertainment center is to decide where in your house it should be. Will you put all the equipment in the living room? Or do you have a separate room in your house where you want to put everything in? Where are the acoustics best placed, and which area in the home will lend itself to immersive and uninterrupted entertainment?
Once you’ve chosen that perfect spot in your home, make sure to clear it out so that there’s enough space for all the equipment and furnishing. It would also be a good idea to ensure some distance between your home theater and the other rooms in your house. That way, long TV or movie marathons in the home entertainment center won’t disturb anyone else while they’re working, studying, or resting.
Start with the TV
The TV is the focal point of any home entertainment center. If you haven’t yet, look for good deals on a televisions for sale so that you can get the best one for your home theater. A quality basic TV would be good for entertainment experiences that are mostly analog, for example watching cable TV shows or videos on video players.
But if you want a full-fledged entertainment center that’s capable of great variety, you can take the chance to invest in your first smart TV. A smart TV will allow you to access the Internet for your favorite content. It can also pair with other smart devices, like your phone or tablet, and let you play audio or video from them. This may be exactly what you need if you want a lot of choices for content, as well as flexibility from your TV.
Add Audio-Video Accessories and Equipment
The next thing you have to do after you’ve secured your TV is determine what sources it will use to play audio and video. For starters, you should hook it up to a cable TV connection as well as a basic video player, like for DVDs. If you’ve got a smart TV, look for a streaming device so that you can watch Netflix shows and other streamed content directly on screen. And if you’d like to project videos from your computer to your TV, get an HDMI or VGA cable or adapter—whichever is compatible.
There’s virtually no limit to the things you can add to your home entertainment center. Aside from watching video content, you can even play videogames or sing karaoke from it. Just make sure that for everything you want to do, you have a complete range of audio and video accessories installed there.
Put Up a Sound System
No home entertainment center is complete without an excellent sound system. Consider investing in additional audio equipment that will deliver crisper, stronger sound quality than what your TV is capable of on its own.
You have several choices for what kind of audio system you want for your home theater. You can purchase large component speakers that come with their own audio receiver. Set the receiver up with your TV’s outputs and place the speakers on opposite sides of the TV. That ensures that the sound is balanced from where you’re sitting. Alternatively, you can use one long soundbar that will deliver the effect of several small speakers combined. You should place this at the bottom and center of your TV. Connect it to your TV—or even your laptop, smartphone, or tablet—using Bluetooth or an audio jack.
Finish with a Home Theater-Like Setting
Last but definitely not the least, you should furnish your home entertainment center so that it’s easy to lounge in. Gaming sessions or movie marathons might not be as fun if you’re not comfortable when you’re sitting still.
Put a sofa in front of the TV screen or add beanbags to the floor. Finish it off with a table for popcorn and other snacks, and maybe even pillows and blankets for optimum home viewing comfort. Once your space feels homey enough, you’ll look forward to retreating there at the end of a long day.
With those six tips, you’ll be ready to build the home entertainment center of your dreams. Mix and match the different components to get the entertainment experiences you truly want in your home!
