Selecting a TV for the Living Room

When selecting a TV for the living room, there’s a certain balance that you’ll want to keep in mind. On one hand, you want a TV that blends in with your décor. After all, your living room is the focal point of your home’s interior design. On the other hand, you want a TV that’s big enough to be visually pleasing for you, your family and friends. 

Flat-panel TVs  
Wall-mounted flat-panel TVs are ideal for living rooms. They take up zero floor space, and can take on the appearance of a painting on the wall. Get a DVD of some famous paintings, put it on continuous play, and you’re guests might not even guess that it’s a TV.

Video Projectors 
For the “true” cinema experience in your living room, there’s nothing like a video projector and separate screen. The screen size can be pretty much as big as you want, although a 120” diagonal screen is what we usually recommend for most living rooms. And the really cool thing about video projection systems is the way they can be hidden away when not in use. We can install the projector and screen using special motorized “lifts” that automatically conceal them when they’re turned off. Your living room furnishings remain intact and only when you’re watching do you even notice that you have home theater equipment installed. Pretty slick!

Determining the best screen size
In general, the vast majority of televisions that Sound Advice installs in living rooms are in the 40” to 58” range. This seems to be the “sweet spot’ for a large enough picture for enjoyable viewing, without overpowering the room’s aesthetics. That being said, there is a formula we use at Sound Advice that helps us determine the best screen size and viewing distance for a particular room. Here it is:

Viewing Distance = 1.5 to 2.5 x TV screen size

Plugging in a few popular TV screen sizes give us:

Screen Size: 26” Viewing Distance: 3-½ to 5-½ feet
Screen Size: 32” Viewing Distance: 4 to 6-½ feet
Screen Size: 40” Viewing Distance: 5 to 8-½ feet
Screen Size: 46” Viewing Distance: 5-¾ to 9-½ feet
Screen Size: 65” Viewing Distance: 8 to 13-½ feet

Don’t forget the sound
Without great sound, you’re only getting half of the experience. For superior sound in the living room, we usually recommend in-ceiling/in-wall architectural speakers or “invisible speakers.” They sound fantastic and strike the perfect balance between performance and designer aesthetics.

Call us today
A Sound Advice system designer will come to your home, take the critical measurements, and then work with you and your designers to come up with the perfect television solution for your living room. Just call us or click for help. What do you have to lose?

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