Avoid These Home Theater Mistakes

As far as seating goes - - - many HT owners, including myself, quickly find out that soon after the build is done that you only need one good seat. That would be for the person that paid for the room. It gets lonely in there fast.

nice humility, you will probably save other people millions over time.

The fact that your video shows up at my YouTube algorithm, and convinced me to watch it (with ads!) proved that your project was a success.

Haha I know what you mean about having a theater and no one actually joining you. That’s why this time when I built my room I only included 3 theater seat’s 😂

Thank you for your brutal honesty. This brings real added value to all home cinema enthusiasts, thank you for that. Especially the issue with the number of seats used in practice.

You have no idea how much this transparency helps me. Thnx for the video. So much more to think about before my build.

The final one is important. I had the Yamaha A-S1100 for stereo for more than a year before going surround. I eventually went ahead and bought a Yamaha RX-A4A and wired everything up to be powered solely from the receiver, until someone mentioned that I could use my integrated as an external amp for the front L/R and that it would be way better. I went ahead and A/B-tested them on the same movies and music fragments and the difference was staggering.

Funny, I discovered the same thing you did. Nearly 100% of the time, I am the only one watching a movie in my room. I did consider a second row of 3. I’m glad I stayed with a single row of 3. Thank you for the video

Onto my fourth home now. The last one I learned to make the perfect living room set up. No more basement man caves. This latest home I spent all my focus on a perfect living room that the family can use together. I had no hesitation to open up walls and ceilings to wire as much as possible. This hobby is a journey. Every home just gets better

Kudos. This. This is where YouTube actual value resides. In telling of the mistakes so we ALL learn from them and can avoid them. Well done. Some of the issues , easy to fix post with some heavy curtains, area rugs , and a bit of demo and painting . I had the same issues , hence now only two nice seats in the viewing room ; if I need more on the odd ball occasion I’ll carry them in from other rooms.

You have a few callouts I've thought of integrating. I've lived in my place for 15 years, and Atmos wasn't a thing then, but I upgraded in 2017, and had to run wires externally in a few instances. I finally solved the last speaker a few weeks ago during another upgrade. I thought of a platform, but realizing that aside from the Super Bowl, I too rarely have more than a few in the space. I use Sonance In-Ceiling speakers for my Atmos in the middle and rear of the room, and they are directional in both swivel in their sockets as well as tilt to about 30 degrees. I too have low ceilings, so monitors wouldn't work for me. Finally, I replaced the beige carpets about 4 years ago with middle-dark grey to match the wall color, and it made a HUGE difference. Thanks for the tour!

It's awesome to hear the things you'd change, if only time machines grew on trees. I too have about the same height ceiling and using in ceiling's. I've never really considered bookshelf speakers on articulating mounts. Thanks for bringing that up as it might be worth considering for future.

Great job. We all make so many mistakes along the way. Don't give up. Finish it for yourself this time, finish your dream theater, Finish it! I'm rooting for you!

Good info. Especially about the seating. I have focused my theater on the technical aspects, and haven’t bought my theater seating yet. I’m using a single home furniture recliner at the moment. I have been trying to figure out how many theater recliners to buy, and I was expecting to put them on a raised platform. Like you I mostly watch movies alone. Your comments on theater seating really help me here. Fortunately, my theater is in a converted attic, so I have a 12 foot ceiling, again, your comments helped me appreciate what I have to work with. Other aspects for me mostly good, I use 10 individual monoblock amplifiers, so good there. My speakers are not mounted to the walls yet, so your observations about that are helpful too. I’m glad the YouTube algorithm brought me to your channel. I’ll be watching your previous videos for insight.

Great content. I think this will be valuable to both beginners and veterans. I think you do a great job of highlighting "ideal" setup vs "pragmatic" and the latter usually always wins.

I liked your honesty. Also, great video

Don’t beat yourself up mate. Your theatre is brilliant!! Enjoy your achievement.. 😊

Great video! Love your movie posters, specially the Mission Impossible one... Very cool 😎

This is like my own checklist of changes I've made over the past few years. -switched from 2 rows with riser of theater seats, now 1 row of cushy comfy oversized seats. -moved wides closer to the screen -switched from in-ceiling to bookshelves -no bar behind the seats -switched from 7.2.4 to 9.4.9 -added transducers -my walls are dark but currently adding velvet to blackout the room -also working on the heat/ac noise check, check, and check. You don't know until you know in this hobby. It's good to follow what others have done when starting out, but eventually you will make adjustments to suit your own taste.

I thoroughly enjoyed auditioning your theater room. You need to make it out to my place sometime. Many of the things you mentioned in this video are things I considered in assembling my media room.