Mac Slocum
03-09-07, 01:01 PM
Home Theaters for Condos and Apartments
Learn how to squeeze a home theater experience into a small room.
Just because you live in an apartment or condominium doesn’t mean you can’t have a boffo home theater system. You probably just can’t have a large dedicated home theater, unless you want to dedicate your entire living space to one function and quite possibly make enemies of your neighbors. But you can still have a killer surround-sound system, with a decent-size video screen. Of course, there are several issues involved with having even that.
http://www.electronichouse.com/images/uploads/too_small_01.jpg (http://www.electronichouse.com/article/room_solutions_too_small/)
Problem #1: Where to Put All the Stuff
Space is almost always an issue in an apartment or a condominium, so you’ll probably have to make the best of it. You can pretty much forget about that 60-inch rear-projection CRT (cathode ray tube) TV that weighs 400 pounds and takes up as much floor space as a Manhattan studio. And those 7-foot-tall speakers with hundreds of individual drivers? We’d probably nix those, too. But there are still plenty of attractive options.
Solutions:
Find a way to fit it - Think flat-panel plasma or LCD TVs that can hang on the wall or sit atop credenzalike or open-shelf entertainment stands. Think small speakers like bookshelf-size models that can fit in the stand as well. If you can cut into the wall, consider in-wall or in-ceiling speakers.
For more ideas on how to fit theater into your small space, check out
http://www.electronichouse.com/article/room_solutions_too_small/ (http://www.electronichouse.com/article/room_solutions_too_small/)
Learn how to squeeze a home theater experience into a small room.
Just because you live in an apartment or condominium doesn’t mean you can’t have a boffo home theater system. You probably just can’t have a large dedicated home theater, unless you want to dedicate your entire living space to one function and quite possibly make enemies of your neighbors. But you can still have a killer surround-sound system, with a decent-size video screen. Of course, there are several issues involved with having even that.
http://www.electronichouse.com/images/uploads/too_small_01.jpg (http://www.electronichouse.com/article/room_solutions_too_small/)
Problem #1: Where to Put All the Stuff
Space is almost always an issue in an apartment or a condominium, so you’ll probably have to make the best of it. You can pretty much forget about that 60-inch rear-projection CRT (cathode ray tube) TV that weighs 400 pounds and takes up as much floor space as a Manhattan studio. And those 7-foot-tall speakers with hundreds of individual drivers? We’d probably nix those, too. But there are still plenty of attractive options.
Solutions:
Find a way to fit it - Think flat-panel plasma or LCD TVs that can hang on the wall or sit atop credenzalike or open-shelf entertainment stands. Think small speakers like bookshelf-size models that can fit in the stand as well. If you can cut into the wall, consider in-wall or in-ceiling speakers.
For more ideas on how to fit theater into your small space, check out
http://www.electronichouse.com/article/room_solutions_too_small/ (http://www.electronichouse.com/article/room_solutions_too_small/)