4 crucial home theater setup steps you may be forgetting

• Measure out the appropriate TV size
• Factor in the comfort of every viewer
• Plan for wiring before installing anything
• Fix their lighting situation

My primary hobby is weightlifting, and I think one of the lingering misconceptions out there is that there’s not much skill involved — that it’s really just about eating a lot and adding weight to the bar. In reality, you can spend years refining your form on a single movement. When I’m performing a barbell squat or a deadlift, there’s thought put not just into the setup, but into how it should feel at every step along the way. A tweak here or there can mean the difference between my adding an extra 10 pounds next week or risking injury.

You can see where I’m going with this metaphor. If you grip-and-rip with a home theater, you might get things right the first time — but it’s all too easy to make a mistake that will force you to reconfigure your setup, or buy extra gear. Don’t just buy the equipment you’ve had your eyes on, or that’s convenient to pick up at the store. Avoiding pitfalls like the ones below will save you a lot of grief.

Measure out the appropriate TV size

Everything in its right place

There’s always a temptation to buy the largest TV you can afford, especially now that weight isn’t a serious factor. You can even find reasonably affordable 100-inch TVs, though you may end up compromising on features to impress your friends during the Super Bowl. That’s a discussion in its own right, which you should check out by clicking the link.

Your first consideration should be the logistics of getting a TV in your door. If you’re picking up a TV from a store, be sure you’ve actually got enough trunk space — a 70-inch set might not fit in the back of some sedans and hatchbacks, much less a subcompact. If you live in an apartment or condo, you could end up struggling to carry an oversized TV upstairs, particularly if no one is around to help you. It may be worth compromising on size for the sake of convenience in such cases, particularly if you expect to take a TV with you during your next move.

Before buying anything, anywhere, be sure to measure out the space available for the diagonal of the screen, and its footprint if you’re planning to sit it on furniture. You’ll need to leave room for any speakers you’re planning to connect, and avoid blocking anything essential on the wall. Indeed, remember that you’ll need to get behind your TV to plug in cables — a corner position or a flush mount might look good on paper, but could become annoying whenever you need to change out hardware.

Most important, of course, is the question of viewing distance. For an immersive experience, you’ll want a TV to fill approximately 40 degrees of your field of vision. At a distance of roughly 9 feet, that translates into an 85- to 98-inch screen. At 6 feet, though, even 55 to 65 inches will feel gigantic. Err on the smaller side in these ranges. If your eye has to wander around to take in the entire frame of a movie, you’ve gone too big.

Factor in the comfort of every viewer

It’s not just about the sweet spot

When building a home theater, there’s a natural inclination to arrange everything around the place where you and/or your partner usually sit, i.e. the sweet spot. The TV is usually aimed at that location, and if you’re setting up a surround-sound system, speakers may be pointed and calibrated the same way.

This can lead to problems, however, once you’re watching with friends and family. People sitting outside the sweet spot may find themselves too close to a satellite speaker, or viewing the TV at such a sharp angle that all they get is a flattened image and/or inferior color and brightness. With some seating layouts, guests may find themselves too close to the TV, or craning their heads up the entire time.

Try positioning a TV where every seat will get a reasonable view. If that’s proving difficult, you may actually need to reposition your furniture, as difficult as that might be. Whatever you do, don’t make the mistake of mounting a screen too high. No one is going to want to sit through The Return of the King if it means four minutes of neck strain — let alone four hours. That’s one of the reasons I don’t like mounting a TV over a mantelpiece.

There may not be much choice when positioning and calibrating speakers, but try to aim (literally) for a relatively broad soundstage, and avoid placing satellites directly adjacent to a couch or chair. If a room is small enough that such placement is unavoidable, you’re probably better off buying a soundbar that’s compatible with Dolby Atmos and maybe DTS:X.

Plan for wiring before installing anything

Balance convenience and aesthetics

One of the most popular setups for Apple fans is pairing a couple of HomePods with an Apple TV 4K, and I can understand why. With proper cable organization, this allows for a very “clean” arrangement — sitting on your couch, you might not notice any cables at all.

It’s impossible to go completely wireless, however, so you’ll want spend some time on organization, regardless of which brands you choose. Measure out how far your HDMI, Ethernet, audio, and power cables need to go, and use Velcro or zip ties to bundle related cables together. Leave yourself some flexibility on length and undoing those ties — you’ll hate yourself if you have to regularly snip ties off, or if you suddenly discover that you need a longer cable because the one you bought is a few inches short.

Don’t get overzealous about concealment if you need to run cables around your room. It’s common for people to hide cables in floor covers and stick them under rugs and furniture, but you should be able to reposition these to some degree when your setup changes. For identical reasons, it’s best to avoid stapling cables to your wall, or going the extra mile to hide them in the wall — you might like the idea of an HDMI or Ethernet outlet near your couch, but at some point, that cable is going to become damaged or outdated.

There’s not much more to add, but be sure to buy a power supply with sufficient surge protection (typically at least 2,000 joules), and more than enough outlets for what you intend to plug in. I say that not just because you may end up adding more gear — it’s because some plugs are bigger than others, and may block you from using every available slot.

Fix their lighting situation

Smart lights are your ally

The overhead LED fixtures most homes have are ugly and overly bright for a home theater. You probably have the sense to use lamps instead, but it’s important to position these so they don’t show up as onscreen reflections. A simple trick in that regard is to aim lamps at the wall when you can, and use shades when you can’t. Some purists might choose to avoid positioning any light in front of their TV.

Smart lighting accessories can greatly simplify control. In my own home, for instance, I have a “movie night” automation that not only turns on my Google-based TV, but cuts the couch lights while dimming everything else. Spend a little time configuring things in your smart home platform of choice. For simplicity’s sake, though, try to minimize the number of brands, platforms, and commands involved.

Color effects can go a long way towards setting the mood. The most cost-effective option is probably an image-synced TV backlighting system (like the Govee model pictured), but simply being able to change and dim surrounding bulbs will improve the “theater” aspect of your home theater.