Sound of home

While making one’s dream home, everything has to be perfect. Among all the additions a new home requires are the home theatre and music systems. From sleek designs to heavy boxes, a plethora of audio systems are available in the market. For many, the deciding factor seems to be the price. While men have a preference for massive sound systems, women seem to want something more functional, with fewer wires running around.  

With the breakthroughs in technology, sound companies have found ways to appeal to both categories. Audio companies have taken the age-old large speaker and chopped it up into smaller ones. The idea behind this is that the high-range tweeter and the mid-range audio are more directional and can be placed in smaller discreet speakers, while the low bass housed in the larger subwoofers can be replaced, out of sight if necessary, thus providing both quality sounds and sleek, soft designs for the interiors.

With the trend of home theatre systems turning into bragging items, audio companies have launched a plethora of pieces that can serve the purpose. It is this technology that makes creating a surround sound home theatre such an easy thing to do. Systems such as the sound bars can be hooked to your TV to play audio or play songs from the internet.  

For some listeners, these options aren’t good enough. To cater to them, there are now several speakers that can be placed anywhere, within a certain radius of the house, and connected wirelessly to the main system. This enables the entire house to be able to hear the music of the audio being played through the connected device. While wireless can be convenient and is certainly cutting-edge technology, it still has drawbacks. These wireless systems can be quite cumbersome and are forever buffering or loading, even once they are paired.

Sometimes the plan to have a specific room dedicated to this system comes at a later stage, after planning and mostly into occupancy. In such cases, there is little a designer can do to control the sound from penetrating into the neighbour’s tranquillity. However, if incorporated during the design phase, the room selected for the purpose is often isolated and away from the rest of the rooms in the house. Soundproofing the rooms will help in enhancing the experience as well as protect the ears of those outside. A min of 12’x 12’ is advised for rooms to provide sound bouncing, absorbing, reflecting and other acoustical needs. Adequate dimmer-set lighting paired with cosy recliners are other features that will help in creating the mood and effect desired for such spaces. As obvious as it may be, this would also be one room wherein you would want to avoid direct light.

(The writer is an architect who is passionate about the spaces she designs as well as dances in)