Before you head out to buy a new television or home theatre system, the obvious questions buzzing in in your head are what to buy, where to buy, where to get good discounts and so on. But in case of a home theater, another pertinent question is how best to position it in your hall or bedroom to get the best sound output. Installing an LCD in a 8x10 feet bedroom (that's about the space a studio apartment in a metro typically offers) can be quite a task. Correct positioning of the display and speakers keeping sufficient distance between the display and seating area - these are some of the aspects to remember before installation. Also, getting your grip on space craft before setting up your home theatre system is a must. Of course, a good vision and a couple of tips always help.

We caught up with architect-couple Prashant and Anu Chauhan, masters in the art of space. They live in a studio apartment in suburban Mumbai. Here's what they have to say to our readers.

Prashant: "We did a bedroom makeover after buying the home theatre system by using up some of the space in our kitchen; that got us the additional two feet in our dimensions.” A rust green couch was put against the wall of the bedroom and on the adjacent wall in the centre hung the Samsung R7 26-inch LCD TV. We placed three Mitashi speakers on the wall. The thumb rule for speakers, as we all know, are – two on each side, left and right, and one in the centre. The central speaker is dedicated for sound output of dialogues, while watching movies. Also, the speakers should be placed at ear level for optimum sound."

Anu: "We placed the sub-woofer in a shelf beneath, along with the set top box and a Mitashi DVD player. Subwoofers are normally placed opposite the seating area and add to the total sound output. Floor standing speakers not only look chic but are also great for the sound and enhance the overall viewing experience but since we don't have much space, we avoided floor standing speakers.

"The green couch in the bedroom doubles up as a bed. This is the most interesting feature of our bedroom. Our living room becomes our bedroom at night," says Anu.

The couple converted the hall into a small studio cum office as home is required to turn into office very often. In the bedroom, there is a large bay window, which allows daylight to stream into the room. For a home-theatre experience in the daytime, the curtains pull out a blackout screen resulting in a completely dark room.