Picture this: You and your guests settle into your comfortable home theatre. You press a button, and the lights slowly dim. Your visitors look around in wonderment. Maybe a curtain parts in front of the screen or closes in front of some windows. The display, amp and signal sources fire up and you enter another world.
This very special effect is possible with lighting control, motorised window treatments and an automated control system to operate everything -- in addition to all of your audiovisual components. These systems often provide the final dramatic touches for high-end home theatres. After all, merely dimming the lights can have a most dramatic impact on a night at movies.
So, if you want to add some real sizzle to your home theatre, consider adding these systems. They can make an ordinary home theatre experience truly great.
The lights dim…
With a lighting control system, you can set the optimum amount of light in the room to suit watching movies, sports, concerts or cartoons. When you need to take a break to answer the door or grab a snack from another part of the house, the right lighting can guide you safely to the exit from the depths of your home theatre. You can have lighting focused over a pool table whilst the viewing area of your home theatre is dimmed. And, when the movie is over, all the lights can come on again gradually. Virtually anything is possible.
Lighting control systems can be operated easily through wall-mounted touchpads that are about the size of a light switch and contain just a few buttons. They can also be handled by remote control devices programmed by you and/or a professional installer. The lights can even be tied into a whole-house control system and activated through a touchpanel or touchscreen.
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| Automated lighting and window treatments can transform even the most modest home cinema |
The most reliable and expensive lighting control systems are hardwired. These systems often work through their own communications cable, so it's best to plan for them when your home theatre room is being constructed. Some manufacturers of high-end lighting systems also make scaled-down one-room lighting control systems that are ideal for home theatre use.
Newer wireless lighting control systems use radio frequency (RF) technology and are used often for retrofit systems, sometimes in addition to and in conjunction with a hardwired control system used in the rest of the house. A processor is typically placed near the home's electrical box and delivers control signals wirelessly to locations around the home, eliminating the need for a lot of in-wall wiring. Lamps can be controlled wirelessly by plugging them into RF modules that receive the signals.
