What if you could get the movie theater experience within the comfort of your own home? With a quality home theater, you can easily make this dream a reality. Your home movie theater can become even better than the real thing. The team at CAVE is ready to make your home theater setup perfect for enjoying movies at home, watching the big game, and throwing viewing parties. All you need to do is include our home theater must-haves:

Quality Visuals

The first and perhaps most important step when creating a home theater is to make sure you have quality visuals. You want a screen that’s modern, high-definition, and perfectly suited to the space. With so many amazing products on the market, these parameters barely narrow down your options, so let’s go over three things to consider when you purchase your television or projection system.

• Size: You want everyone to be able to easily see the screen from wherever they sit. Measure the distance between the screen and the seats in inches, then divide that by three. This will tell you the ideal screen size for your home theater.
• Resolution: Since technology is always progressing so quickly, we suggest you settle for nothing less than 4k resolution. If you want optimal viewing for maximum years of use, you should go with the latest technology—which is currently 8k resolution.
• Screen Technology: Screen technology refers to the way the television creates the image. Today’s market offers options like LCD, LED, and OLED—which is the newest option.

Excellent Audio

Modern screens are thinner and lighter than ever before. While this makes them easier to move, it does decrease the size of their built-in speakers.

As is the case with the screen you choose to purchase, you’ll want to ensure your audio is suited to fit your Tucson home theater. The closer your seats are to the screen, the fewer the number of speakers you’ll need in the room. In a small space where seats are closer, a sound bar will suffice. For a genuine home movie theater, full surround sound is a must.

You should also consider how you plan to use your audio. Are you strictly thinking movies and television, or will you also be using it to listen to music? If music is on the mind, then you might want a system that gives you control over the bass and comes with standing speakers. For television and film, small, corner-mounted speakers will suffice.

Comfortable Seating

What’s the worst aspect of the average movie theater besides the price? Uncomfortable seating! If you’re creating a home theater setup that’s in its own space, you have a lot of design flexibility. If your home theater is in the living room and is highly visible, you’ll want to find furniture that complements both the viewing experience and your home design. That may mean sacrificing the full recliner home theater set with speakers built into the headrest, but your audio and visual equipment will still give you the full theater experience.

Dimmable Lighting

Track and recessed lighting are both popular choices for home theater setups because they are similar to lighting used in actual theaters. They aren’t the most design friendly, however. The good news is that you can use whatever type of lighting you want—just make sure it is dimmable. Dimmable lighting gives you precise control over the amount of illumination in the home theater, which allows you to adjust it based on time of day, purpose, and mood.

Controlled Sunlight

Indoor lighting isn’t the only concern when viewing movies at home—you also have to account for the sun shining in and reflecting off the screen. To combat this, look for blackout curtains and shades that you can use in your Tucson home theater space. These specialty window dressings ensure that little to no light is able to come in through the windows, so you can enjoy a film at any time of day.

Hidden Wires

While audio and visual technology makes it easier than ever to enjoy quality viewing experiences at home, it does come with certain limitations like bunches of noticeable wires. To combat the unappealing aesthetic of wires from cable boxes, media players, speakers, and more, consider having your home theater system wired behind your drywall. If this isn’t possible, use special wire organizers and hiders to keep the clutter out of sight.

Personalized Extras

To make it truly feel like your space, include items that make your home theater work the best for you. Do you have someone in your home who likes to watch movies late at night? Save the rest of the household the disturbance and purchase wireless headphones. Want to host fun, music-filled parties? Then grab that karaoke machine! Your home theater can be anything you want it to be, and it’s your dream design that will make your space work best for you.

For products, assistance, and services for any of your home theater must-haves in Tucson, come to CAVE. Here at Cathey’s Audio Visual Entertainment, our audio-visual experts are here to help you design and create your ideal home theater.