HOME CINEMA – BEST PRACTICE FOR SET UP
In this blog Mayflower London ask the questions that need to be answered and offer a few choice tips for choosing and setting up your personalised, dream home cinema setup.
So you’re about to purchase all the equipment you need to make your dream home cinema setup a reality. Although you’re no expert, you’ve also decided that you want to set it up by yourself. So what’s your next move? In this blog we’ll ask the questions that need to be answered and offer a few choice tips on best practice for choosing and setting up your dream home cinema setup.
For friends and family, or just for you?
First and foremost, how many people will be using the home cinema? Will it mostly just be you and your immediate family, or do you plan on throwing regular movie nights for all your friends and neighbours? Make sure to get a decent idea of numbers as it would be terrible to build your home cinema and then subsequently realise that there isn’t enough space or seating capacity to meet your needs. Once you have a good idea of the numbers, you can decide if you want individual loungers or a selection of couches so that there is ample seating for everybody. Perhaps you can have the custom built lounger for yourself, comfy couches for the family and friends and, if you’re feeling nice, a few giant bean bags thrown in for good measure, just in case any stragglers decide to tag along.
Dedicated room or multi purpose?
Then you will have to decide where you want your home cinema to be. Do you want a room which is a solely dedicated home cinema room, or would you prefer your living room to double up as a home cinema so that the equipment is out of view when not being used? Furthermore you will have to consider which rooms will be a feasible option in terms of lighting, any additional structural work that might be required, as well as whether or not you’ll be able to run all the necessary cabling and wires which will be necessary to implement your system and have it operate at its full potential.
Choosing the right bits and bobs
Next, and perhaps most importantly, is selecting the equipment you want to include in your home cinema system. Do you want the best performing equipment, or the most durable? Is there a particular brand which you prefer, or does the brand not matter as long as the specifications meet your needs? Is it essential to have a stand alone amplifier or receiver and a subwoofer, or are you happy with the built-in speakers? Are you restricted by the amount of space you have? Are you happy with using a range of remotes, or is it a must to have a singular control panel that operates the whole system? Does the equipment have to fit in with the aesthetic of the room? Cheap and cheerful, or is money of no object? These are all questions you will have to ask and answer yourself. In a perfect world, you’d obviously choose equipment that has consistently proven itself to be of the highest quality and the equipment that genuinely offers good value for the price you are willing to pay, and it is generally accepted that it is worth splashing that extra bit of cash if it means performance and durability is second to none. Mayflower London would always hope our clients take this into account as well as choosing to have one fully integrated controller such as those provided by companies such as Crestron, RTI, or Elan. After all, convenience and efficiency is why we’re all about having the latest tech, right?
Where to purchase and who to install?
Once you have decided the equipment that is perfect for you, next you’ll have to decide where you want to purchase it from and who you would choose to perform the installation. If you decide to shop about and buy your equipment from a range of different suppliers, you may get good individual prices for each piece of equipment, but you’ll probably end up getting charged an arm and a leg to have each piece of equipment individually installed. Your best option is likely to be to buy it all from one supplier as you’re more likely to get a discount for making a big order and you may also be offered discounted or even free installation of the whole system.
This is where Mayflower London can be of great assistance. Whether or not you decide to purchase your chosen equipment through us, our professional team of specialist AV technicians has been designing and installing state of the art home cinema setups tailored to our clients exact specifications for well over a decade. This means we can offer you an exhaustive range of options when it comes to properly combining and installing Home Cinema equipment, releasing the setup’s full potential or as much of its potential as our client deems necessary. Alternatively our team can teach you everything you need to know if you’d rather set it all up yourself. Furthermore, Mayflower London’s aftercare packages are the envy of our competitors, many of whom are yet to incorporate such a comprehensive maintenance and update service as ours, and it the main reason why many of our clients both remain our patrons as well as enthusiastically recommending us to their friends, family, and business partners who require a premium end-to-end AV automation and integration facilitation service.
So, no matter if you want to learn to set up your home cinema yourself, or hire well seasoned and ultimately professional Audio Visual architects such as ourselves, Mayflower London will assist you in any way you require, from design and supply all the way through to installation and maintenance. Our team is here to support you all the way and make sure to work with our clients side by side throughout the whole process.
When looking to set up a home cinema room, Mayflower London would recommend using our very own, end-to-end, SMART Home and AV facilitation service. From initial consultation through to design, supply, and installation, our team will perform every task that could be required by the client. From performing a structural survey complete with CAD drawings, to carrying out professional sound design and calculating the optimal viewing position options, Mayflower London’s team includes a supremely diverse array of professionals, from our in house automation programmers and electricians to our partner interior designers and architects. Subsequent to completion of the installation, Mayflower London’s premium aftercare package will take care of all the rest, offering first class maintenance and service updates on a regular basis or as so desired.