Most home theaters are decided before anyone picks a speaker
The room sets the ceiling on what the system can ever sound or look like. Where the seats go, how much light you can kill, whether the ceiling is drywall or tray, how the room is shaped and what is on the floor all matter more than which receiver you buy. Spend twelve thousand dollars in a room that fights you and it will sound worse than half that spent in a room that cooperates.
So we walk the room first. We look at seating distance against screen size, where the light comes from and at what time of day, what the walls are made of, where a subwoofer can go without booming in one seat and disappearing in another, and where the equipment can live without a fan whine you hear in the quiet parts.
Then we tell you what the room can do. Sometimes that is a nine-thousand-dollar answer and sometimes it is a hundred-thousand dollar one, and occasionally it is that the room you picked is the wrong room and the one next door is better.
The two parts most integrators hand to somebody else
The electrical. Theater lighting, dimming, sconces, the projector circuit and a clean dedicated circuit for the rack are all line voltage. Most AV companies can’t legally touch any of it, so it gets subcontracted to an electrician, which means another trade to schedule and a seam where problems become somebody else’s. We are a Florida licensed electrical contractor, EC13014608. On our jobs the line voltage and the low voltage are the same crew.
The network. Modern theaters run on IP. Streaming, the control system, the projector, the receiver and the calibration tools all sit on the network, and when a movie stutters on a Friday night the theater gets blamed for what is actually a wireless problem two rooms away. We run managed IT for businesses across Brevard, and a theater we build gets a network designed the same way: wired where it matters, segmented, and documented.
That combination is the reason to use us rather than the reason we think you should. If you are building or renovating, our work with builders covers what should be roughed in before drywall, and it is a much cheaper conversation then than after.
Projector or a 100 inch TV, and how to tell
This is the first real decision and people usually arrive having already made it. Give it a minute before you commit.
A projector wins when you can control the light. A 120 inch image costs far less from a projector than from a panel, and a large projected image is easier to watch for a long film. A 4K laser projector holds its brightness for years with no lamp to replace. All of that depends on getting the room dark, which means shades or no windows, not just drawing the blinds.
A panel wins in a room with real daylight. An 85, 98 or 100 inch 4K panel is a serious picture and it looks right at two in the afternoon with the sliders open. In a great room with a wall of windows facing the water, a panel is almost always the correct answer, and we will say so even though the projector job is the bigger sale.
The screen matters as much as the projector. A fixed frame screen gives the best picture in a dedicated room. A motorized screen that drops from the ceiling lets a great room stay a living room during the day. An ambient light rejecting screen makes a projector watchable in a room you can’t fully darken, though in a bright room a panel usually still wins.
Sometimes it is both. A panel for daily television and a drop-down screen for film nights, on one control system, is a common answer in a great room and it is not as expensive as it sounds.
Sound, done so it disappears
The goal is that you stop noticing the system. Dialogue sits on the screen instead of in a speaker, bass is even across every seat rather than pounding in one and vanishing in another, and an overhead effect sounds like it is above you.
We install 5.1 and 7.1 systems and Dolby Atmos with in-ceiling height channels, in-wall and in-ceiling speakers with cable run before the drywall closes, and subwoofers placed by measuring the room rather than by putting them in the corner that is free. Receivers get configured for every speaker’s size and crossover and then room corrected against the actual acoustics, not left on factory defaults.
If audio matters to you beyond the theater, the same trip can cover whole-home audio. We are a Sonos dealer and most theater clients end up with music on the lanai and in the primary suite as part of the same job.
One button, or the room doesn’t get used
The most common failure in an expensive theater isn’t sound or picture. It is that only one person in the house can turn it on. Four remotes and three apps means the room gets used on weekends by whoever built it and ignored by everyone else.
We program the control so that one press does the whole sequence: display on, source selected, receiver on the right input, lights down to the scene you chose. We are an AVA dealer, which puts the control on the remote itself rather than in a rack processor, and we work with Control4 and Savant systems already in the house. Before we leave, whoever is least interested in the technology drives it while we watch.
What it costs
Nobody publishes real numbers here, which makes it hard to budget. A rough shape, before we have seen your room:
- Living room, done properly. Large panel, in-wall or in-ceiling speakers, receiver, concealed wiring, one-remote control. Mid four figures.
- Great room with a projector and a panel. Motorized screen, 4K laser projector, Atmos, lighting scenes. Low to mid five figures.
- Dedicated theater. Acoustic treatment, tiered seating, full Atmos, theater lighting and dimming, rack and control. Upper five figures and beyond, driven mostly by seating and finishes.
What moves the number most: whether the walls are open, how far the rack sits from the display, how much lighting and electrical work the design needs, and seating. Equipment is rarely the largest line. Our write-up on what a home theater room costs goes through it in more detail.
The design visit is free and you get a budget range from it. If we think the room isn’t worth what you have in mind, we will tell you on that visit rather than after a deposit.
Built to a commercial standard
Half our work is commercial, and it shows up in the residential jobs as labeled racks, tested cable and documentation you actually get a copy of.
We built the projector and sound system for the Addison Village clubhouse in Viera, a new Viera Builders community, and the auditorium AV at Rockledge High School. Rooms that get used hard by people who did not read a manual are a good test of whether a system was designed or just assembled.
Where we work
Brevard County and the Space Coast as standard: Melbourne, Palm Bay, Viera, Suntree, Rockledge, Merritt Island, Indialantic, Melbourne Beach, Satellite Beach and Cocoa Beach.
We regularly travel the Treasure Coast for theater work, including Vero Beach, Sebastian, Port St. Lucie, Jensen Beach, Stuart and Martin County, and the Orlando area including Windermere, Isleworth, Keene’s Pointe and Winter Park.
If you are further out than that, call anyway and we will be honest about whether we are the right people. A theater we cannot get back to in an afternoon is not a favor to either of us.
Questions we get asked
The Electpros designs and installs residential and commercial AV. We do not offer car audio or mobile audio installation.
Related Services
AVA Smart Home Control →
One remote for the whole system, programmed around how your household actually uses it.
Whole-Home Audio →
Sonos multi-room audio, from the theater out to the lanai and the pool deck.
For Builders →
Pre-wire and low-voltage packages for custom homes, on one schedule with one point of contact.
TV Mounting →
Wall mounting for any size panel with in-wall cable concealment.
Home Networking →
The network a theater actually runs on. Wired where it matters, designed rather than assumed.
Book a Design Visit
We walk the room, tell you what it can do and leave you with a budget range, at no charge. Brevard County, the Treasure Coast and the Orlando area. Call (321) 655-7767 or book online.
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