Get The Right Light For Your Media Room

It is easy to get your media room up to the task of hosting fans and providing the best atmosphere for cheering your team to victory. The American Lighting Association (ALA) offers great play-by-play tips to create an effective and enjoyable viewing atmosphere.
Brent Protzman, manager of energy information and analytics for Lutron Electronics Company Inc., says Lutron conducts extensive research to determine how lighting and shading controls influence visual entertainment. Often, people like to check their fantasy football teams or catch highlights on their laptops, tablets or smartphones while still watching the game on TV.
Protzman says, “Glare from the amount of daylight can be overwhelming on these devices. The trick is to lower shades and dim overhead lights to make it easier to do tasks.”
Joe Rey-Barreau is an education consultant for the ALA and an associate professor at the University of Kentucky’s School of Interiors and College of Design. “Using different lighting layers is always the best option for media rooms,” Rey-Barreau says. “A single lighting layer could be fixtures that are of the same type. For example, one layer could be recessed lighting in the media room, another layer could be wall sconces, a third layer could be an integrated architectural lighting system such as a cove or niche.”
Adding three layers of light, along with dimmers, gives homeowners the maximum level of control with their lighting, which effectively illuminates the room without too much glare.
Light fixtures, such as pendants and glass globes, tend to create bright spots in a room, which can be a problem for viewing television screens with direct glare and reflections on the glass. To create the perfect atmosphere, Protzman suggests dimming light fixtures to a very low level. “Your eyes will be able to quickly adjust and adapt to the changes in light levels,” he says.
According to Protzman, people tend to perceive smaller decreases in light level than what really changes. This means if you dim a light by what seems to be 30 percent in brightness, you will actually reduce the light level by as much as 90 percent. Not only do light dimmers allow you to create a media space to your liking, but, as an added bonus, they save energy as well.
To find professional expertise and the best product selection for your media room, visit your local ALA-member retailer.
For a list of ALA-member showrooms, please visit AmericanLightingAssoc.com.