Home Theater Fort Collins. Have you ever paid attention to the color of your theater room? It does make a difference. A light, reflective color will reflect the light from your screen back onto the screen, resulting in a deterioration of the quality of the image on your screen. Black is the ideal color, but not very practical in terms of aesthetics. So go for a darker color, and avoid a high gloss paint as well. This will give you the best possible image on your screen.

Home Theater Upgrade Receiver Fort Collins.   Is it time to upgrade your Audio Video surround sound receiver? The answer may be yes. There are a number of new audio formats, like Dolby True HD and DTS HD Master Audio. These new formats will add like-like realism to your Bluray video watching.

These new receivers also typically add more HDMI switching to their lineup. More and more source devices (Bluray players, DVD changers, cable boxes, etc) now offer an HDMI output, so it is helpful to have a greater number of HDMI inputs on your receiver.

Give us a call today, and we will happy to help you determine if this is the right time to upgrade your receiver.

Home Theater Fort Collins.  Are the high dollar cables worth the extra money. Salesmen will tell you that they are. But many tests have proven time and again that this is just not true.

However cable gauge and length do matter when it comes to longer cable runs. When you are running longer cable runs, you will want to choose heavier gauge cabling, in both digital and analog cabling. That does not mean you have to choose the more expensive brand, however. One more thing to consider is the quality of the connectors. Make sure they are well made.

If you run a Google search, you will find a great deal of information about cabling. Or give us a call and we can help you understand the basics of what can be a confusing issue.

Home Theater Fort Collins. What is the most important component in a home theater sound system? If you said the room, then you are correct. This has been an area of much discussion and research. I have attended many hours of expensive training on this subject. Here, and in a article to come, I will give a brief synopsis of pertinent issues.

The biggest challenge for any home theater system is the problem of room modes. Room modes happen because the room is shorter than bass (20-200hz) wavelengths. Consequently, these bass frequencies are reflected back into the room where they mix with the original wavelength. This causes cancellation or mixing of these frequencies.

How do we deal with this problem of room modes? Most importantly, by designing the home theater room with the right dimensions. With the right shape, we can make big improvements in the sound of the room. We can also solve the room mode by installing absorptive materials and putting the speakers in the ideal locations.

In an upcoming article we will look at several other issues which pertain to the sound of the home theater system as influenced by the room itself.

Home Theater Fort Collins. Our clients often desire to create a surround sound experience in their living room or great room.  Most of the time, this is not possible.  The living room is designed with purposes other than surround sound in mind, and these purposes are at odds with creating a movie theater like experience.

Our best advice would be to setup a good stereo experience in the living room.  In order to create movie theater audio in a room, there are design requirements which cannot be ignored.  If you ignore these requirements, you will not succeed.  We recommend that you choose a room where speakers can be placed in the correct locations, and the chairs in the correct relationship to the speakers and video display.  The room does not need to be dedicated to use as a theater room, but proper design considerations must be taken into account.  We would be happy to come help you think about your home, and what you can do there.  Give us a call.

Home Theater Fort Collins. One of the most common questions we hear is if it really helps to calibrate your TV. To this we answer an unqualified yes, for a number of reasons. The aim of calibration is to set your TV to display the video content in the manner which the artist intended for you to see it.

You can do it according to how it looks to you, but you will never achieve the kind of setup which gives you the best possible picture. Most manufacturers set their TVs to look their best in the store. In a bright showroom, that means setting the TV to its brightest, most contrasty settings. Accuracy is irrelevant to the TV company. They only want their TV to stand out from among the others, and making it brighter seems to do that.

But brightest and best are not the same in your Home Theater. You will not be seeing the colors with the proper saturation or balance. The details in the darker parts of the picture will be lost, and picture will not be a sharp as it should be.

When a TV is properly setup, you will see the picture the artist intended you to see. That is truly the best picture. You will also realize a significant reduction in the energy your TV consumes, and you will increase the life of your TV or projector bulb.

Home Theater Fort Collins. If you have not yet upgraded your system to include a Bluray player as of yet, then now is the time.  The audio and video quality is stunning.  There is no better format for showing off all that your system is capable of than Bluray.  The new audio formats like Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD bring unparalleled realism to your sound system.  And the capabilities of your 1080P projector or flat panel shine through the best when you use a Bluray player

Prices have dropped precipitously in the past 6 months.  You can find Bluray players for less than $100.  Be sure to look for additional features which include the ability to stream video and audio from some of the many online sources like YouTube, Netflix, Amazon on Demand, Pandora, and many others.  There are a variety of other features, so find the player that has the ones you want.

Home Theater Fort Collins. What is the most important component in the audio system of your home theater?  It is the room itself.  This often comes as a surprise to most people, but it is certainly true.  The construction materials in the room, what floor coverings are used, what is hanging on the walls, and where they are located are tremendously influential in the final sound of the room.

All of these things affect the reverberation, or liveness, of the room.  This reverberation also varies depending upon the frequency that is being analyzed.  So it is important to do a good job of designing the room properly, in order to maximize the properly.

Encore Sight and Sound is THX level II certified.  We have had a great deal of training and experience in designing the best possible audio environment for your home theater.  We would love to come to your home and look at your situation, and talk with you about the potential your home has to become the best theater room in the neighborhood.  Give us a call at 970-217-7018