Second opinion
Home Cinema Audit and Independent Calibration Check
For rooms that cost a lot and still don’t look or sound right, and for quotes you want checked before you sign.
By Dr. Atif Ghaffar, founder of Zebra Home Cinema ·
If your home cinema sounds boomy, dialogue is hard to follow or the picture looks flat, the cause is usually the room set-up rather than the equipment. Zebra Home Cinema audits existing rooms and installers’ specifications independently: we measure, find the cause, and give you a written fix list ranked by impact. We sell no equipment, so the advice is not a route to a new sale.
We work from Little Aston near Birmingham across the West Midlands and London, and from Barrie across Ontario.
Symptoms we are asked about, and what usually causes them
| What you notice | Usual cause | Usual fix |
|---|---|---|
| Bass is boomy at your seat, thin at others | Room modes; subwoofer in the wrong place or only one sub | Move or add subwoofers, re-run room correction, add bass treatment |
| Dialogue is muddy or hard to hear | Centre speaker behind a non-transparent screen, aimed wrong or set low; side-wall reflections | Re-aim and re-level the centre, treat first reflections, check the screen |
| Sound seems to come from the speakers, not the screen | Front speakers at different heights or distances; delays not set | Re-measure distances and levels, adjust layout |
| Atmos height effects are hard to place | Ceiling speakers in the wrong positions for the seats | Check angles against the seating and remap or move speakers |
| Picture looks washed out or too dark | Projector not calibrated for the screen size, gain or room light | Video calibration, light control, screen review |
| It was great at handover and worse now | Settings changed by updates, a reset or new sources | Audit settings and restore the documented calibration |
Two kinds of audit
1. An installed room that isn’t right
We visit, listen and measure at the seats, and review the equipment, its settings and the room. You get a written report: what is wrong, why, and what it will take to fix, from free settings changes to treatment or speaker moves. Where recalibration is needed, we appoint and oversee a calibrator, or brief your existing installer so they can correct it.
2. A specification or quote before you sign
We check an integrator’s proposal against your room and budget: screen size and seating distances, speaker layout and subwoofers, processing and room correction, acoustic treatment and calibration. You get a list of what is over-specified, what is missing and what to ask the bidders, so quotes can be compared like for like.
What you receive
- a measurement-based diagnosis of the room, not an opinion on brands;
- a written fix list ranked by impact and cost;
- settings and layout changes that can be made immediately;
- a recalibration brief, overseen by Zebra, if the room needs one;
- for quote audits, the questions to put to each bidder.
Calibration is the last step of every project we design, and auditing other integrators’ specifications is part of our day-to-day design work. Read how a full project runs on what we do, or why an independent advisor differs from an installer in our advisor vs installer guide.
Frequently asked questions
Why does my home cinema sound boomy?
Boomy bass is almost always the room, not the subwoofer. Standing waves (room modes) pile bass up at some seats and cancel it at others, so the main seat can sit on a peak. The usual fixes are moving or adding subwoofers, re-running room correction with the right target, and adding bass treatment. Turning the subwoofer down hides the problem without fixing it.
Why is dialogue hard to hear in my home cinema?
Muddy dialogue usually comes from the centre speaker: it is behind a screen that is not acoustically transparent, aimed at the wrong height, set too low in level, or competing with reflections from bare side walls and the ceiling. Measuring the centre channel at the seats shows which one it is.
Who can audit or recalibrate a home cinema someone else installed?
An independent designer with no equipment to sell is the right person for a second opinion. Zebra measures the room, reviews the specification and settings, and gives you a written list of what is wrong and what it will take to fix, ranked by impact. Where recalibration is needed, we appoint and oversee a calibrator, or brief your existing installer so they can correct it.
Can you check an installer's quote before I sign it?
Yes. A specification audit checks that the screen size, seating distances, speaker layout, subwoofers, processor and acoustic treatment suit your room and budget, flags equipment that is over or under-specified, and lists what is missing, such as acoustic treatment or calibration, so you can compare quotes like for like.
What does home cinema calibration involve?
Audio calibration measures each speaker and subwoofer at the seats and sets levels, distances, crossovers and room correction to a target. Video calibration sets the projector or TV to the reference standard for brightness, colour and gamma for your screen and light conditions. Both are done after the room is finished and furnished, because furniture and treatment change the result.
Do you cover Birmingham and the West Midlands?
Yes. Zebra's UK office is in Little Aston, north of Birmingham, so rooms across Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, Solihull, Walsall and the wider Midlands can be visited in person. We also work in London and, from our Barrie office, across Ontario.
The next step
Room not living up to what it cost?
Tell us what you hear and see, and what is installed. We will tell you honestly whether it is a settings fix, a room fix or a specification problem.
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