"Yes, why do I need home theater acoustic panels "? Well, if you are asking me this question, the answer is that you have set yourself on the great task of making a stylish home theater in your house. You already have a home theater design chosen. You have gone out in the city as well as on the Internet, choosing the best sound system, projector and screen, video/DVD player to create a magical Home Theater experience. So all right, you have exceeded your budge, but your theater will sound better than the best commercial movie theater anywhere. After a lengthy and expensive installation, it's all systems go...turn on the power, dim the lights and play your favorite DVD. The movie starts and you can't wait to hear your new system in your very own theater. But wait, the dialog is muddy, the bass is all over the place and there is an echo that makes you feel that you are standing in centerfield of Yankee Stadium. What happened to the great sounding demo that you heard in the A/V Dealers showroom?

Most intelligent A/V Dealers want to create the best sound environment to showcase their high-end audio equipment. They understand that a room with four naked walls will cause the sound waves to bounce throughout the room, reaching the listeners ears at different time intervals. This causes muddy dialog as well as an echo effect.

To help control the sound in their showroom, the Dealers will have some kind of sound control product installed in the room. Most often, this product will be an acoustic panel which absorbs the sound waves emitted from the speakers. In effect, the panels prevent the sound waves from bouncing off the multiple walls.

Most showrooms will have fairly non-descript looking acoustic panels. The Dealers aren't interested in how the panels look, but how they enhance the sound in the room. That's great for their demos, but what about the investment you just made in your Home Theater system. In order to realize the true potential of your equipment, you will now have to invest in rather ugly acoustic panels that will surely enrage your wife and/or Interior Designer.

Well, because your A/V Dealer is in the business of selling high end equipment and not Home Theater Decor, he is most likely not aware of the breakthroughs in decorative acoustic panels. There are now several companies who have the ability to create designer-friendly prints on acoustic materials. The prints are wrapped around traditional acoustic panels which results in an acoustic product that looks similar to any large format canvass art.

This new technology can convert your basic acoustic panel into a beautiful piece of art that can become the highlight of any Home Theater design. Just about any image that you can imagine can be printed on these acoustic fabrics. However, one company, 3-D Squared Inc., has created a portfolio of original art that was made specifically for the Home Theater environment. You can visit their website at www.home-theater-design-concepts.com to view their vast portfolio. Typically, people spend the majority of their budget on video products, with the remainder set aside for audio. This leaves little or no budget for the acoustic panels. Well hopefully you now realize that you can now sacrifice some of your audio budget for your acoustic treatments. The net result will be a much better sounding Home Theater as well as the potential for a better looking theater.

You can actually save quite a bit of money by using decorative acoustic panels in your theater. Traditionally, aesthetic Home Theater designs required the installation of expensive architectural elements in the theater. Just the expense of sending a crew to your theater to install these features can be quite daunting. Decorative acoustic panel are easily installed, and you won't necessarily need to add other expensive design elements to your theater to create a unique Home Theater experience.