Do it yourself design tips:choosing carpet for home theater
Choosing the right carpet for your home theater is vital because it can greatly affect the sound quality of the room.
When homeowners decide to invest in building a home theater, they carefully research the electronic devices available. This is a smart move, considering that inferior audio equipment results in poor sound quality. However, people often forget that even the finest speakers will not produce good acoustics if the room is not sufficiently prepared. This is because sound waves reverberate off bare walls and floors, creating an unpleasant echo. For this reason, it is vital to do your homework before choosing home theater carpeting so that nothing will keep your residential cinema from performing optimally.
Carpet in the home theater serves many purposes. Far from just being a plush treat for the feet, it also absorbs audio within the room, insulates from sounds outside, and dictates how difficult cleaning will be. In order to understand which carpet to choose, you need to understand how sound behaves within the home theater. When audio waves exit the speakers, they are projected into the room. Since a home theater is designed to have "surround sound," the cinema-like experience of feeling like you are in the movie, speakers are located throughout the room. A sound wave moves invisibly until it encounters an opposing force. What this force is greatly affects what the wave will do next. For instance, audio waves that hit a reflective surface (like a smooth wall) bounce off and head back into the space. If this happens, they will eventually meet other bouncing waves. This interferes with proper sound quality since rebounding dialogue sounds fuzzy and echoing music or background sounds are warped.
In other words, in order to experience movies in your home theater optimally, it is necessary to remove the majority of reflective surfaces. Carpeting will absorb sound waves that reach it, allowing each bit of audio to be heard and then essentially disappear. Used in conjunction with padded furniture and curtains, the right kind of carpet will perform much the same as expensive theater insulation without the high cost. However, the avid home theater buff will not be satisfied with the ugliest discount carpet they can get their hands on. Aesthetics are as much of a concern as are acoustics. If you have gone to great lengths to mimic an old-fashioned cinema, installing theater-style chairs and movie posters, you will not want to neglect the appearance of your flooring. Several carpet companies cater to the whims of home theater enthusiasts, offering replicas of movie house carpeting to all consumers. A quick search of the internet will reveal carpet decorated with movie reels, tickets, buckets of popcorn, and several other classic designs.
Of course, the price of these items cannot be ignored. Novelty carpets, generally sold in large quantities to commercial theaters, are not as affordable when only a 10' x 12' amount is needed. In fact, it could easily cost between $500 and $1000 to carpet an area this size with specialty flooring. Some home theater builders proudly quote their "spare no expense" motto, but others are working on a budget that electronics largely consume. For this reason, it may be useful to know that your local carpet store offers a selection that will suit the acoustic needs of a theater. In short, what you should look for is a stain-resistant brand with a tighter weave. A darker color is best, both because it will disguise stains and because it will not detract from the darkness during viewings. People of all ages are notorious for spilling their refreshments during movies, which is why most modern theaters have hard flooring in the viewing area. If your carpeting is ultra fluffy, it will hold onto every crumb and candy piece no matter how much you vacuum. If you follow these tips, you will save yourself the trouble of picking up food by hand and scrubbing soda stains endlessly.
No matter where you purchase you carpet from, keep in mind that it will have to be professionally installed. Even die-hard do-it-yourselfers lack the skill and expensive tools necessary to stretch carpet. Make sure that thick padding is laid and stapled down beneath your chosen carpet, keeping in mind that this usually costs extra. If you wish to carpet the walls for acoustic purposes, ask you installer if they can do this. The procedure is more difficult than that for covering floors and may incur additional fees. It may be best to take them on a walk-through of the theater before paying for anything. At this point, measurements can be taken and cost estimates given. This way, you will not be hit with a financial surprise afterwards because you were not aware of additional fees.
By carefully considering your options, you can choose the best carpet to fit your space and budget. Obviously, the audio benefits of laying carpet in the home theater are the most obvious. Still, the convenience, beauty, and affordability of your flooring all contribute to how much you enjoy your movie viewing experience. When combined, all of these advantages make the careful choice of which carpet to lay well worth the effort.
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