Beyond Aesthetics is the Science of Acoustics

Your eyes might be the major sensory index in evaluating beauty but when it comes to sound, it is your ears that analyze the beauty of sound.  A beautiful looking speaker is a visual treat and might complement your décor but the actual beauty of the speaker is experienced not by its looks but rather by its performance.  As professional home theater consultants, we come across many clients who tend to evaluate the quality of our work based on photos of our home theater installations.  While we do thrive to achieve a fusion of performance and aesthetics in our home theater installations, our prime focus is always on performance; and if required, we educate the client to overlook a few aesthetic aspects in order to achieve optimum audio-video experience.  To sum it up in a phrase, being beautiful at the cost of performance is like a bird with beautiful feathers but no wings.

Setting up the right home theater system is an elaborate process.  To begin with, we have to understand the client preference, which is a major initial challenge as clients naturally expect the best sound experience but when asked to explain their definition of best, clients tend to be either subjective or confused as to what exactly they want and of course to work out a package on the client specified budget.

Below are the factors that would add beauty to your home theater in terms of performance

• The right screen size
• The right screen illumination
• The right viewing angles
• The right surround sound choice, 5.1, 7.1, 9.2, 11.2
• The right seating positions
• The right acoustics -
  • The right dimensions (Length : Breadth : Height)
  • The right wall, ceiling, and floor treatment
  • The right bass traps
  • The right absorbers
  • The right diffusers
• The right cabling.
• The right match between the subjective taste of the customer and the capabilities of the products chosen.
• The right compatibility between the acoustic nature of the room and the product’s salient features.

While it is easy to educate on the importance of performance over aesthetics for the most demanding listeners or audiophiles, most music and movie lovers tend to demand the best audio-video experience without compromising on the aesthetics.  For such clients, we associate with some of the best interior designer to achieve the client expected finesse for a dedicated budget.  We have worked on many home theater installations in association with our interior designers and have successfully achieved a balance of performance and aesthetics, which has pleased our clients.  If all the above can go hand in hand with the aesthetics of the room and a willingness to dedicate a budget for aesthetics, then you will have a beautiful home theater with awesome performance and not just a photogenic but dumb home theater.