Home Theater Installation Tips

These do-it-yourself home theater installation tips will be helpful if you are installing or building your own home theater. Hopefully you have read the other, various sections of this site, acquired the necessary info to make an informed decision on what components you need, have purchased those system components and now you're ready to put it all together to achieve the maximum home theater effect. Here are a few pointers to help make your home theater installation go just a bit smoother.

Plan Your Installation
A little pre-installation planning can save a lot of headaches along the way. It seems like simple advice but rushing into an install can greatly increase the difficulty factor of your project.

Make sure you have everything you need in place before beginning. Having all of your necessary home theater cables and wiring will save that "quick trip to Radio Shack" where you will pay twice what the cable is actually worth. Assess your wiring needs and order the necessary cables ahead of time from Amazon.com to ensure you have quality cables at way less than MONSTER prices.

Make sure the wires you order are long enough. Measure the distances between your components and then add a foot because it is way better to "have it and not need it than to need it and not have it". In other words -- it's better to coil up a short bit of wire than to come up a bit short on wire -- as wire is a lot easier to coil than to stretch.

Ensure adequate, protected power is available. At the very least make sure you use surge-protected power strips. I highly recommend you get a UPS (battery back-up) to prevent sudden shut-off of your components. Suddenly cutting power to your expensive components is not good for them. In addition to losing your preference settings on any volatile memory components -- some devices (in particular projectors) need an extended fan-cooling period after powering off. Suddenly killing power to a projector can lead to greatly diminished lamp life.

A Few Helpful Tools
The old saying "the right tool for the right job" is a good adage to keep in mind when preparing to install your home theater and is one of the most important home theater installation tips. Four important tools I use on nearly every installation are --

• Corded Power Drill - extra power when needed in studs or masonry
• Cordless Power Drill - mobility for driving screws and bolts
• Stud Finder - for locating obstacles or mounting points
• Fish Tape - essential when running in-wall cables and wiring

Other often useful tools include --

• Level - essential when mounting on-wall LCDs and Plasma TVs
• Spade/Paddle Drill Bits - for making BIG holes for cabling
• Masonry Drill Bit - when mounting TV over fireplace
• Assorted Screwdrivers - assorted sizes both Phillips and standard

Now that you have a plan and your tools it's time to put it all together. Unbox and lay out your equipment in a logically arranged order. Create a priority order on what you will install first. Those priorities will depend on what type of video display you are using and where your audio-video components will be housed. I suggest you run any in-wall wiring first - TV cables from the TV to your A/V rack and speaker cables to your surround speakers.

Onward to Page 2 >> In-wall wiring for Speaker Installation Tips.

Onward to Page 3 >> Do-it-yourself, how-to TV Installation Tips.

Onward to Page 4 >> Do-it-yourself Audio-Video Installation Tips.

Home Theater Installation Tips

Home Theater Systems Advice