hometheaterspeakers

Home Entertainment Ideas To Watch the Big Game

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Home Entertainment Ideas for Watching the Big Game in Frisco, TX

Do you get excited as football season draws near? We certainly do!  Football means cheering on your favorite team, having friends and family over to scream and celebrate a good play, it means temperatures getting cooler outside. All great things. All opportunities to have fun, eat good food, and make memories. Let’s explore some home entertainment ideas and ways to step up your game at home to watch the big game.

Get the Popcorn Honey – We’re Watching the game in our Media Room!
Media Room
110″ Projector Screen in Media Room

Media rooms can provide the ultimate experience to watch the big game…on the BIG screen! It’s like being in a movie theater, sitting comfy in home theater chairs, eating popcorn, drinking your beverage of choice, and rallying with your family…and maybe even a group of your buddies. You can mount the biggest, coolest TV you can find on your wall or mount a projector with a large projector screen (typical projector screens can range from 92″ to 130″+). It’s all preference. We have customers who do prefer the TV over the projector with screen. Check out projector screen options here.

Gather Around, Family – We’re Watching the game in our Family Room!

Upgrade your family room set up with a large TV mounted on the wall (or mounting above the fireplace has became popular). Go for a 70″ mounted TV, have 5.1 surround sound speakers or 7.1 surround sound speakers installed. The surround sound speakers will give you the maximum sound to enjoy the big game in your family room.

Another home theater option for your family room, instead of surround sound speakers, is a soundbar. This is either mounted beneath the TV on the wall, or sat on the entertainment console. It is a great substitute for the standard surround sound speakers.

Come on over Friends – We’re Watching the game on the Back Patio and while we grill and enjoy the Fall weather!
Pool-facing mounted TV
Outdoor mounted TV

Take the watching party outside! Mount a big TV on your back patio. Add a pair or two of outdoor speakers to enhance the sound. You can purchase a standard flat screen TV for the patio and enclose it in a weather-proof TV case (idea! take on a fun Pinterest project and build one!). Or you can purchase a weather-proof TV. This is the more costly option, but certainly guarantees there would be no problems with it being on the patio.

This is a great time of year to invest in home entertainment, no matter which option you choose!  Cheers to Fall, football, and building memories with family and friends.

Center Stage A/V serves the northern Collin County, TX area: Frisco, McKinney, Prosper, Little Elm, Celina, Plano, Melissa, Anna, and surrounding areas.

Have some fun and visit our Build My Experience page or submit a quick Contact Us form!

Best home theater company

Center Stage A/V
2831 ElDorado Pkwy.
Ste. 103-172
Frisco, TX 75033
214-498-9996

 

Home Theater Equipment – Proper Heat Ventilation, Frisco TX

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Heat Ventilation for Home Theater Equipment, Frisco TX

You have invested in your very own media room in your home. You have purchased all of the latest and greatest home theater equipment for your media room. You are planning to ‘live’ in your brand new media room because it is just that exciting. Oh, the possibilities of events you could host in your new media room. Football watching parties. Movie nights with the family. March Madness with the friends. The list goes on!

You are right. It is an exciting, thrilling, “can’t wait until the weekend” kind of feeling. Imagine this – it is Saturday night, you are sitting back watching a movie with your family in your awesome media room, and all of the sudden the movie shuts off. What happened? Could it be the heat gremlin?  What is a heat gremlin? We have the answer and solution.

The heat gremlin is when home theater equipment gets too hot and overheats, which could cause the home theater equipment to shut down. Yes, that happens! Let’s explain…

Home theater equipment must have proper heat ventilation. Each a/v component (Blue Ray player, Receiver, Cable box, etc.) produces heat, similar to how a computer or laptop produces heat. When there a several a/v components in one small space, such as an a/v component rack, that heat can easily and quickly build up, and potentially created issues.

Watch this video for a demonstration and more details on proper home theater equipment heat ventilation.

 

There are a few other notable factors to consider as it relates to proper home theater equipment heat ventilation, to ensure an optimal lifespan for your investment.

  • They should be kept at a comfortable, cool temperature.
  • The ideal temperature is 85 degrees or lower in the component cabinet. For every 10 degrees above that, there could be a possible reduction in lifespan of 40% (based on studies).
  • Maintain proper airflow for the home theater equipment. As long as the heat from your components can be released, and not recirculate within the component space, all should be good.
  • Place your equipment is a home theater equipment rack, such as the one pictured here.
Home Theater Equipment
AV Component Rack

 

 

 

 

 

Protect your investment, and enjoy it for years to come!

Contact Center Stage A/V today to discuss your home theater installation!

Best home theater installation
Center Stage A/V
2831 Eldorado Pkwy. Ste 103-172
Frisco, TX 75033
214-498-9996

We service the northern Collin County, TX area: Frisco TX, Prosper TX, Celina TX, McKinney TX, Little Elm TX, Plano TX, Allen TX, Lucas TX, Savannah TX.

Media Room Demo: 7.1 Surround Gives a 10.0 Experience, Prosper, TX

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Media Room Demo: 7.1 Surround Gives a 10.0 Experience, Prosper, TX

Media rooms have become very common in today’s homes. It is part of the American dream in Prosper, TX: to have a theater in your home, to watch movies and games. It is a place where families and friends can gather for an in-home experience, home theater style.

When it comes to media rooms, it seems there are endless options. Where do you begin? It’s like playing a game of 20 questions… Do I need 7.1 or 5.1 surround sounds speakers? What size projector screen do I need? Do I buy a projector/screen or LED TV? Do I want in-wall or floor standing speakers? How much will it cost?

These are all valid questions, and ones that a professional home theater company can answer and help guide you through the process of designing your dream media room.

Understandably, one of the most common questions is how much will it cost? Our recommendation would be to go into the media room planning process with a budget in mind. The budget will help guide the selection of equipment and will help keep the project scope where you need it to be.

Home theater is fun. It is all about an experience. You can get ‘knock your socks off’ quality without a ‘knock your socks off’ price. Check out the demo linked below. This media room was professionally installed with excellent quality equipment, without a hefty price tag. With this type of quality media room equipment, that room will be enjoyed for countless years to come.

Media Room Demo

This video is a demo of a media room that has 7.1 Polk surround sound speakers, Onkyo receiver, Sony projector, and a Pro Control universal remote control. Equipment can tailored to the customer’s needs and budget requirements.

Media room
Media Room

This media room system certainly outputs incredible sound, to make 10.0 home theater experience!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Best home theater installer
Center Stage AV
2831 El Dorado Pkwy. Ste 103-172
Frisco, TX 75033
www.CenterStageTX.com
214-498-9996

Center Stage A/V services the northern Collin County, TX area: Frisco TX, Prosper TX, Celina TX, McKinney TX, Little Elm TX, Plano TX, Allen TX, Lucas TX, Savannah TX.

Home Theater Speakers: In-Wall vs. Floor Standing – Which is Best in Frisco, TX?

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Home Theater Speakers: In-Wall vs. Floor Standing – Which is Best for You? Frisco, TX

You are in the planning process for your beloved media room in Frisco, TX. You know you want the speakers with incredible, wall-shaking, knock-your-socks-off, sound.

Now, for the million dollar question – do you go with in-wall speakers or floor standing home theater speakers?  Great question… and one that many homeowners wonder when planning their media room sound equipment and speakers.  Let’s have some fun and break it down…

First, we’ll start with laying some foundation of how home theater speakers are made, and how they work.

Speakers have what’s called a cone, which you may recognize as the cone-shaped part of the speaker. The speaker cone produces the sound via the coil and electromagnet behind it.  This is what causes the speaker cone to vibrate (which is the same for any speaker, including car speakers).  An electrical signals passes through the coil, and that ‘activates’ the magnet to produce the sound. Check out this article for a deeper look.

The sound production does vary between in-wall and floor standing speakers, and because of that, there are definite pros and cons between them.

Home theater speakers
In-Wall Speaker is flush inside the wall/ceiling
In-wall home theater speakers – Pros:
  • In-wall speakers are mounted inside of the wall and/or ceiling. This can be considered a pro if you like to visual appearance of flush mounted speakers (also viewed as semi-hidden speakers).
  • In-wall speakers can be painted to match any décor/paint color. This makes the speaker blend in perfectly with the wall, making them less visible.
  • Offers a flexibility factor, as they can be placed anywhere in the wall/ceiling.
  • Typically cost less than floor standing speakers.
In-wall home theater speakers – Cons:
  • Drywall has to be cut in the walls (or ceiling) for wires to be placed in the walls, requiring more installation and time investment.
  • The low, mid and high sounds are all coming through one speaker (primarily the lows), as opposed to having a floor standing speaker which produces the low, mid, and high sounds individually.
  • They are smaller speakers in size, as compared to a floor standing, which reduces the amount of sound it can produce.
  • Sound can get ‘lost’ within the walls, causing some (probably minor) level of sound loss.
Floor standing home theater speakers – Pros:
home theater speakers
Floor standing speaker
  • A floor standing speaker is known to have the most accurate sound reproduction, because it’s in a custom speaker box that enhances and compliments acoustics.
  • Usually each speaker tower consists of a tweeter, a mid-range speaker, and a speaker for the low sounds, therefore, covering all ranges of sound being produced (see photo). As a result, no sound gets lost.
  • Floor standing speakers offer various styles and sizes, to personalize and accommodate spaces and buyer preferences.
  • Some floor standing speakers have built in sub-woofer, which prevents from having to buy a separate sub-woofer.
Floor standing home theater speakers – Cons:
  • Floor standing home theater speakers can be considered more intrusive, only because they stand on the floor and are visible, as opposed to being inside the walls/ceiling.
  • Floor standing speakers typically cost more than an in-wall speaker. If you prefer a floor standing speaker, you will want your budget to allow the cost difference.

There is always the option to combine and do both in-wall and floor standing speakers.

With all that being said, it really boils down to personal preference.  You can accomplish terrific, knock-your-socks-off sound with either in-wall or floor standing home theater speakers.  It’s all about your personal preference, and possibly budget.

To conclude, whichever home theater speakers you ultimately decide on, you can produce that quality in-home movie theater experience. So, have fun with your media room, and know that you will have years of enjoyment ahead of you!

Best home theater installer
Center Stage AV
2831 El Dorado Pkwy. Ste 103-172
Frisco, TX 75033
www.CenterStageTX.com
214-498-9996

Center Stage A/V services the northern Collin County, TX area: Frisco TX, Prosper TX, Celina TX, McKinney TX, Little Elm TX, Plano TX, Allen TX, Lucas TX, Savannah TX.