When designing the home theatre from scratch, don’t look past the basement. It doesn’t have to be a place where boxes of old things are stored to never again see the light of day, because the basement can in fact be the ideal location for a home theatre.

The lack of sunlight combined with the isolation from outside life suddenly becomes an important asset in this situation. But on the other hand it is also a habitable room, so it’s not always practical to have a room in the house that has no access to natural light at all. Otherwise, be sure to install draperies that are easy to close over the windows, and will be enough to block out any irritating natural light.

Also make sure that the room is big enough to hold a home theatre and deliver a comfortable viewing experience for you and your guests. If you have a choice, irregular or rectangular room shapes are preferable. Try to avoid square rooms, as this isn’t the ideal setup for deep bass sound waves. This is because they produce “standing waves” which result in areas of extreme bass emphasis and nulls (or areas of no audible bass). Trying to fix the standing-wave problem after the fact is virtually impossible. Instead, select a rectangular shaped room with dimensions that are not evenly divisible by a common denominator.