Mistakes to Avoid When Mixing and Matching Home Theater System Components
Can you mix and matching home theater system components and end up with the system that provides the results you desire? Yes, it can be accomplished and really isn't that difficult as long as you understand a few important facts.
First of all, determine whether it is within your budget to purchase a matching component system all at one time. If you can do so, there are some great 'home theater in a box' options out there that provide you with all the basics you need, perfectly matched.
However, many people who want a great home theater system can't afford to purchase everything at one time and need to find some great deal to extend their purchasing power. In these cases, mixing and matching can be the right answer.
You can shop for components separately, but there are a few mistakes you simply must avoid in order to reproduce the theater experience in your home effectively. A little advance planning before purchasing that first component can make a big difference in how satisfied you will be with the completed home theater system.
First, avoid purchasing a high-definition television without carefully considering your room size. All too often, the
looks great in the store but once it is placed in the home, it is far too large. Bigger will always look better in the huge electronics showroom, but your house is where the HDTV will be expected to perform. A good rule for determining what size television to mix with other components is to look at the seating plan for the room. The optimum view for the HDTV screen is a distance of about two to two and one-half times the width of the television screen. A 54-inch screen would require you to be seated over 11 feet away for the best viewing. Do you have that much room? If not, consider a smaller screen. A 34-inch HDTV provides a perfect view for those seated about seven feet away. Bigger is better only when the room in which it will be used is also bigger!
Another common error with home theater systems is that shoppers tend to want to use old, inexpensive speakers for part of their system or want to scrimp on speakers. You simply can't expect cheap speakers to provide the quality of loudspeaker and subwoofer sound reproduction you want. When shopping for speakers, it is a good idea to take a CD or DVD that you are very familiar with to test the speakers. This way you can truly judge the sound quality and determine the balance you want between price and quality. Speakers can run into the thousands of dollars, but buy the ones that sound best and that you can still fit into your home theater budget.
When you mix and match speakers and subwoofers in a home theater system, you must realize you will need to read the surround sound information that comes with your receiver to learn how to adjust speaker levels to suit your room. This is the process of balancing speakers and often people are unhappy with their mixed component system when they only failed to perform this one crucial step.
Once you have your home theater components, or even part of them, in place, a major mistake made frequently is using low-quality cables and connectors to set up the home theatre system. If you are able to purchase an HDTV and other components, don't think you can't afford the best cabling and wiring available to allow those components to operate at optimum performance. It isn't' that expensive to buy the best in this area, and too often people simply don't think about this factor.
Yes, you can mix and match a great home theater component system as long as you do the planning, smart shopping and avoid these frequent mistakes. But remember, if a price for a component sounds too good to be true, it just might be – read those specifications, warranties, service agreements and be sure what you are actually purchasing.