A Melbourne electrician shares 6 tips for your home theatre audio system

Most people think of their home entertainment setup as a “nice to have” – something that isn’t essential, but which wouldn’t hurt to have (assuming the budget can handle it, of course).

For the households that have sprung for a home theatre system however, it’s quickly proven itself a real sanity-saver during the long lockdown months.

Buttered popcorn, a nice comfortable sofa, the ability to talk without being shushed by the rest of the audience and of course, a great movie or series to binge… it almost captures the cinema experience (remember when those were a thing?)

If you’re watching an action movie, you want every explosion to shake the building. You want to hear every note of the soundtrack. And of course, it isn’t quite the same unless your home theatre system has the powerful, booming speakers to make it happen.

While we aren’t audio experts, our domestic electricians have been involved in several home theatre installations in Melbourne homes, so we’ve got some experience in this area!

Our domestic electricians in Melbourne share their home theatre audio tips

1) Choose good quality speakers and components

If you want an excellent sound quality in your home theatre, it all starts by choosing quality speakers and components. While budget is one factor to consider, you shouldn’t let yourself fall into the trap of compromising audio quality to save a few bucks!

First thing you’ll want to do is research different brands. Try checking out audiophile websites for system reviews, with a particular focus on sites that use measurements like these to back up their assessments.

While you’re there, it’s also important that you familiarise yourself with all of the terms you’ll run into while looking at audio devices.

2) Familiarise yourself with the different kinds of speakers

Home theatre speakers come in a variety of sizes and types. Understanding the different types of speakers will help you plan what kind of speakers do you need for your home theatre.

Such speakers can include:

• Main left and right speakers
• Centre channel speaker
• Subwoofers
• Height speakers

Each type of speaker functions differently and outputs different levels of sound; that’s why it’s important to make sure that you have all your bases covered.

Your left and right speakers are probably the most important ones as they’ll be doing the heavy lifting whether it’s music, a movie, or a sports match. The left and right speakers should be one of the ones that you put the most thought into.

A centre channel speaker is usually located under or above your screen or projector, and is responsible for dialogue and voices. This particular speaker is key to being able to understand what’s happening on screen, so you won’t want to cut corners here.

Subwoofers, on the other hand, are all about that bass. Without these, your sound won’t have the “oomph” you expect. It is also recommended that you install two subwoofers in your home theatre room, so you get a good bass frequency.

Finally, there’s height speakers, which round out the package. Whether they’re set up in a ceiling-mounted arrangement (something you’ll need our Melbourne electrical team to help out with) or freestanding, these speakers are the key to your surround sound.

3) Consider your space and speaker placement

The speakers themselves aren’t the only things you need to worry about – you’ll also need to think about how much space you have, as well as speaker placement.

This will vary from one house to another. In an ideal world though, you should make sure that speakers and sound systems are placed in a way that works with your home theatre room. Remember that a bigger room would require a bigger sound system to compensate, and vice versa.

It’s also important that you think about placement as well – putting speakers too close to the corners of the room, near walls and even within the cabinets will distort and lower the sound quality.

The centre channel speaker in particular should be placed close to your screen either below or above your screen, while subwoofers should be placed in the background to create a low-frequency sound effect.

Finally, don’t forget about wiring when choosing spots for your speakers – choose places that don’t require you to run wires everywhere (and create dozens of tripping hazards in the process).

4) Always calibrate

To achieve the optimum sound level of your sound system, you will need to calibrate or adjust your speaker system correctly to get all the levels correct and maximise sound quality when watching your favourite movie or series.

Of course, to do this you’ll first need to familiarise yourself with your Hi-Fi system first!

5) Don’t DIY

One common mistake that homeowners make is just leaving cables and wires lying around their home theatre room.

Look, this might just be our sparkie senses tingling, but if you ask us, this is the wrong way to go about it – in our opinion, the best cable is one that you never see!

Ideally, all of your wiring and cables will be hidden inside your walls, eliminating tripping hazards, as well as making it impossible for someone to accidentally cut the audio feed if they aren’t looking where they’re going. Not only that, but it plain looks better too.

That’s where our electricians in Melbourne come into the picture.

While we may not be able to help you with the audio side of things, we can certainly help you get set up!

With our experience performing home theatre installation in melbourne, we ensure your project has properly placed sockets and plugs for all of your speakers and whatnot, ensuring that your audio setup is seamless, and that your home theatre isn’t marred by all sorts of ugly cables.

Our team can:

• Mount projectors to the ceiling
• Install audio jacks and additional electrical sockets in your walls
• Install ceiling-mounted speakers
• Mount TVs to the walls
• Wire up motorised monitor screens

Call our electrical team for home theatre installation in Melbourne

From installing the audio component of your home theatre, to the big screen itself, to your theatre lighting, our team of domestic electricians in Melbourne are here to install the home theatre of your dreams!

Instead of trying to DIY it, why not let a Melbourne electrician take over?

Our emergency electricians in Melbourne don’t just deal with busted lightbulbs or faulty sockets – you can also trust us to install your home theatre system.

Bring our team onto the job, and we’ll ensure that your system is safe, free of tripping hazards, seamless and most importantly, delivers the ultimate home entertainment experience.

When planning and installing your home theatre system, make sure that you only work with a registered and qualified team of Melbourne electricians that can deliver the right electrical solutions to your home and business.

Call us on 1300 300 222 or book a job with us today.