Home theaters

Sometimes we feel like marriage counselors here at PAC-NJ, northern New Jersey’s source for home theater equipment, service, and advice. Couples come in shopping for audio-video components, but often one spouse objects to the way the equipment looks, or worries that the high-tech gear clashes with the rest of the décor. In our last blog we talked about mirrored design solutions that can make flat screen HD TVs disappear, and home theater speakers designed for placement behind walls. Well, your stack of audio video components and other can also do a disappearing act, so you can enjoy your system without having to look at the gear that drives it.

We’ve dealt with just about every question imaginable about home theater and audio video gear here at PAC-NJ, northern New Jersey’s source for home theater equipment , installation services and advice. But here’s one we hear over and over: “I want a new home theater for our family room, but my spouse doesn’t like the way the equipment looks – How can we both get what we want?”

“I bought a new, state-of-the-art flat screen HD TV, but the sound quality is like something out of the 1960s.” That’s a comment we hear from lots of people here at PAC NJ, northern New Jersey’s center for home theater equipment and advice. These people want to know why slim, new HD TVs have such poor sound quality, and if there is anything they can do about it.

We recently addressed the topic of HDMI – High-Definition Multimedia Interface – and explained why this single-cable technology is more than just another pretty abbreviation. We’re getting more and more questions about HDMI audio video technology here at PAC-NJ, northern New Jersey’s source for home theatre systems and services, so let me share with you some of what we tell customers.

I recently blogged about problems involving connecting cables, remote control units and managing power that do-it-yourselfers often run into when they’re trying to install a complex home theater or audio video system. Two other areas where we see lots of DIY mistakes involve what I call management issues: managing heat, and managing room noise. Here are the basics of controlling these issues every DIY home entertainment installer needs to remember:

Today’s home entertainment enthusiasts and audiophiles have a fantastic selection of home theater and home stereo equipment to choose from that can really enhance the experience of watching movies or listening to music. But getting these audio video components to operate as they’re designed to do isn’t always so easy. Here at PAC-NJ, we’re often called in by customers to help tweak home theater set ups and home stereo systems when their do-it-yourself efforts have gone wrong. We’ve seen many common errors, so I’d like to offer observations on some common DIY mistakes. A lot of them fall into three broad categories: cabling, power management, and control – that is, remote control - issues. Here’s some advice about each.

Some people are into home theaters, some people are more into home stereos, and some people want it all – both a great home theater experience that includes fantastic audio reproduction capability, and a home stereo system with the fidelity of a live symphonic concert or jazz club performance. We see all three types here at PAC-NJ, northern New Jersey’s source for high quality home entertainment systems. So how do you get both? Like we tell our clients, you need to know how to design great audio into a home theater equipment selection, and which equipment choices make a great home stereo and audio system. Here’s what you should know about each.

Five things to consider before buying a home theater:Who wouldn’t want a home theater? Having easy access to all the music and movies, video games and other entertainment they provide can bring lots of enjoyment to you and your family. But before you move forward on your home theater room, here are five key considerations we tell our clients in northern New Jersey to keep in mind:

Whether you live in a two-bedroom condo or a six-bedroom 12,000 square foot home, a custom designed home entertainment system or home theater will have a positive impact on your daily life. Our customers here in New Jersey tell us having convenient access to their favorite music and movies is game changer. You can easily create your own home audio video system with proper planning and expertise.

You can’t experience the highs of having a home theater without experiencing the lows – as in the low bass notes that only high quality subwoofers can reproduce. Low frequency bass notes are the foundation for accurate reproduction of music and movie soundtracks in a home stereo system. But most of today’s compact speakers have insufficient bass output to recreate these tones. High quality subwoofers add back the lowest octaves of bass smaller speakers struggle to reproduce.