Whether you’re looking for that sophisticated, polished look, or you just want to create a home theater that is unified in style, there are some guidelines that you must keep in mind when doing things yourself. The DIY approach is popular with home theater enthusiasts because it gives you complete customization and control over the outcome. So if you’re ready to get your hands a bit dirty, grab your tools, home theater equipment and your imagination, and read on.

The level of hands-on depth you want to embrace while putting together your home theater is completely up to you. Some people prefer to conceptually design the layout and get a professional to do the actual installations and setup. Others take on small tasks themselves: you might decide that mounting your flat panel display is something you can handle, or maybe you want to play with your home theater speaker layout yourself to find that “sweet spot”. If you decide that a whole-room renovation is up your alley, or just a few adjustments, read on for some home theater installation tips and tricks to get you through the rough patches of DIY home theater construction.

Planning is key. Plan out you whole vision before you even pick up a screwdriver. Gather your devices and store them safely before you begin – you don’t want to be halfway through and realize you didn’t leave room for your gaming console or your AV receiver. And planning goes beyond just the handy-man attitude: you should plan out the decor, from the color of the trim to the style and size of seating, in advance as well. This is a “whole-vision” project, and you want to see results that are smooth and coherent.

Something that often gets lost in the shuffle of a home theater installation are the cables and cords. In order to save yourself time and money, thoroughly check your devices and gather the cables they need before you begin your project. Need the latest HDMI 1.4 for your home theater? Get it sooner rather than later. By ordering these cables in advance online, you’ll save yourself the trip, and the expense, of picking them up at inflated prices at the local hardware store.

Check your room for power outlets. Try to place your main equipment near these outlets, or, if your layout doesn’t permit this, be sure to purchase extra-long power cords.

Lighting is as important as the placement of your devices, when all is said and done. If you have your AV rack nicely nestled in a merlot-stained cabinet to bring out the beauty of your Classical TV Frame from HD Envy, that’s great. But if you can’t tell the Blu-Ray player from the PS3, you’re going to run into problems. Many people choose to install wall sconces or ceiling lighting to brighten the whole room, and add dimmer functions for those nights that they want a little romantic lighting. Be sure to sketch in your lighting placement and wires before you begin your DIY project.

By planning everything, writing down directions or sketching out visuals, you will save yourself potentially expensive and time-consuming reworking. You don’t want to have to spend hours fixing the placement of your speakers because you didn’t leave enough room for your soundbar, or be faced with the prospect of constant reshuffling until everything haphazardly fits. A home theater DIY installation can be a satisfying and rewarding experience, but without the planning stage you might end up with more of a mess than when you began.

It isn’t enough to just have the latest and greatest home theater equipment. You must take good care of it in order to pull out the best performance, and have an overall functionally and aesthetically appealing room. In addition to maintenance and AV tweaking, you’ll need to keep your gear clean if you want the top-performance possible.

You’ve got to understand proper AV equipment care in order to preserve the life of your devices. You can’t just go in there with a rag and some cleaner and swipe away the grime – you could end up irreparably damaging the surface, the finish, or even the inner mechanisms of your device. So, if you’re proud of how well all of your equipment shows off your flat screen TV frame, you’ll want to keep it clean to keep it looking and performing at its best.

There are some basic cleaning rules for all, or at least most, AV equipment. Be absolutely sure that the device is in “off” (not just standby) mode before tackling the dust. If you can, unplug it to be doubly sure. Furniture polish or wax is meant for furniture – not for your gear. Keep it for the mahogany coffee table and the traditional wood flat screen TV frame, and never use it on electronics. When you do pick a cleaner, don’t spray it straight onto the device. Spray it onto a cloth to protect your delicate home theater components. And finally, after reading this article, go check out the user’s manual for your equipment. If you don’t have a hardcopy, many manuals can be found online. There is usually a section on care and cleaning, and it’s best to follow the manufacturer’s guidelines when it comes to the delicate operation that is cleaning your home theater.

So now on to the specifics. We’ll begin with tips on cleaning your plasma or LCD HDTV, as this is usually the central unit of a home theater. Before you begin, keep in mind that you can keep your flat screen TV frame mounted, or you can remove it with a few easy snaps. An LCD TV screen will be damaged by common household chemicals like Windex, so purchase a cleaner specifically designed to be gentle on screens. The cloth that you use should be soft and either dry or nearly dry – most LCD screens get damaged by moisture and too much rubbing, so treat this delicately. If you must use a cleaner for that stubborn dirt, try a small amount of water first.

Your TV might not be the dustiest thing in your home theater. In fact, the nature of Blu-Ray players, DVD players and gaming consoles make them highly susceptible to dust and dirt collection. The fans that are used for ventilation often make dust settle on the back, around the cables, and when you’re doing your general sweep of the room with a duster, you will often miss those areas around the buttons and underneath the devices.

In order to do a thorough job of cleaning these devices, you should pair your regular cleaning with something a bit more rigorous. Try using that same soft, dry cloth that you used for your TV. You’ll want to start with the device that is on top of the stack and move downward, because dust will likely fall from the top down. On the chassis, keep the dusting motion designed to dust away from the vent holes to preserve the delicate inner workings. When you move to the front panel, you might want to use a soft paintbrush, as this will get you precision without being so rough as to knock around your settings. For the inside of your device, keep an optical lens cleaner disc handy. These are versatile little discs that spin and use small brushes or holes to pull away the dust and dirt.

Cleaning your home theater properly will not only make it look great and highlight your modern flat screen TV frame, but it will also prolong the life of your components. The tips above are all great to follow, but just to reiterate an important point – because not all devices are created equal, check out the cleaning section of the manufacturer’s manual before diving in to your home theater dusting day.

Clutter is something we can all live without. And as more and more “connected” devices are being released each month, we have increasingly varied options when it comes to reducing the cable clutter in our home theaters. Everything from HDTVs to Blu-Ray players, from surround sound systems to gaming consoles, is being upgraded to be compatible with wireless technology. This is good news for those of us who would like to see a smooth, streamlined home theater without a mess of cables winding along the floor from speaker to TV to AV receiver to wall outlet.

To begin your journey into the wonderful world of wireless home entertainment, you have to set up a home network. This involves setting up a modem to access the Internet through your Internet Service Provider, either through cable, phone line or satellite. This modem is then attached to a router, which is the central hub that connects all wireless devices. For more information on how to configure your modem and your router, contact your local ISP.

Now that you’ve got the building blocks for a networked home theater, you can move on to the actual components of the soon-to-be-wireless system. Let’s start with the largest and most central component for many home theaters – the flat screen HDTV. There are several options for a connected TV in today’s market, all of which can be wall mounted and can incorporate a TV picture frame. When searching for the perfect wireless TV, remember that limitations are usually placed on what the TV can and cannot do on the Internet. For instance, a particular HDTV might allow access to Netflix and a photo sharing service, but it will not necessarily allow you to browse web sites through a Google search like a computer would.

A lot of HDTV manufacturers call the specific connected features “widgets”. These widgets are usually the limited abilities that the TV has in on-line access. In one instance, you might be able to access a local weather widget and a stock market widget. These would allow you access to real-time information on your local weather or specific stock conditions, based on your location and your preferences. You could not, however, log-on and check your email or browse a news aggregate site for the latest stock or weather information.

What’s great about Net TVs, wireless HDTVs or connected TVs is that they are constantly being upgraded. Because they can access the Internet through your home network, you can automatically download any updates to the software. This can result in expanded access, as the TV manufacturer decides to open up social networking widgets, YouTube video streaming widgets and more.

Many of the big-name manufacturers have a version of a connected TV on the market. Sony, for instance, has the Bravia line which includes TVs that can access Yahoo news, YouTube videos, Flickr photo sharing, Amazon video-on-demand and more. And several Samsung TVs have access to a host of Yahoo widgets, such as Yahoo Finance and Flickr, as well as 3rd-party widgets like eBay and USA Today. Not to mention the fact that a wireless HDTV can connect to a home theater PC and access pictures, videos and more on your hard drive.

If you are interested in purchasing a TV that includes wireless capabilities, now is a good time to buy. There are new HDTVs being offered all the time that are at the cutting-edge of wireless technology, and companies are quick to follow the industry leaders in this trend. Once you’ve chosen the wireless TV that suits your needs, you can incorporate a whole host of other wireless devices, like speakers and a Blu-Ray player, to truly have a wireless home theater.

So now you understand how speakers work, and the difference between stereo and home theater speakers. You’re committed to achieving the best possible movie sound, and you know you need a good center speaker with limited off-axis vertical response and two rear speakers to provide the reflecting sound. This is the start of your surround sound system. Next, you should get to know the other speakers you’ll need, and how to set them up to achieve the most accurate sound reproduction for your next home theater experience.

Possibly the most important element that a good home theater speaker system will achieve is total sound immersion. This is basically that experience of being in the film. You don’t want to have to crane your neck every time a loud, low thud occurs to see where it’s coming from. The speakers in front, behind, above and to your sides should blend seamlessly with your visual experience.

How do you get this smooth audio reproduction in your own home theater? First, be prepared for a bit of tweaking. The acoustics of every room vary, so your setup might need several trial and error attempts before it hits perfection. But when it does, you’ll realize what all the fuss is about.

Dialog is a driving audio force in many movies. You want your center speaker to be close enough to your flat panel display so that the dialog feels cemented to the actors in front of you. In a 5.1 surround sound recording, more likely than not the dialog is hard mixed, attached, to the center speaker. This is the driver of most dialog, and as such you need to experiment until it is positioned so that you can hear the dialog coming straight at you.

A 5.1 surround sound system is the standard for most DVDs and HDTV broadcasts. The ideal spot to sit is directly in front of your center speaker at 0 degrees – your ears level with the speaker’s drivers. You should place the front left and right speakers about 22 to 30 degrees on either side of the center speaker, as seen from this spot on your couch. Your left and right side speakers should be mounted two or more feet above ear level, if possible, and be angled between 90 and 110 degrees toward you. These are rough guidelines, and you should try listening to all types of audio (Dolby, DTS, SACD, etc.) that you will be listening to, in order to get the most out of your setup.

7.1 surround sound is truly a surround sound setup, as it uses the rear speakers that are so important in establishing your location. The two rear speakers should be placed about 135 to 150 degrees towards the center of the room (which should be directly in line with the center speaker’s drivers). The other aspects of the speaker setup are similar to 5.1. Keep in mind that your rear speakers should never be directly behind you, or a 180 degree angle, because our brains will sometimes process this sound to be coming from in front of us.

So now that you have the basics of the two most popular types of home theater setup, try it out! Listen for all the details in your favorite movie, and adjust your speakers based on what you hear. You are going to be the one listening to and enjoying all of the great movie sounds, so be sure that you are enjoying your audio experience to its fullest the next time you pop in your favorite disc.

Lauren is a contributing writer for the HD Envy blog. If you’ve ever wondered how to frame a flat screen TV, HD Envy has your solution. In order to frame a flat screen TV, you just have to visit HD Envy’s website to get started. Just contact HD Envy and ask them how they can let you custom frame a flat screen TV using any color or style of your choosing. And the next time your neighbors come for a visit, they’ll be asking how to frame a flat screen TV too.