A home entertainment system will be a source of pride once a certain amount of time and effort has been put into it, alongside a lot of money. It’ll form the basis of your living room and be something the entire family gathers around in the evening.
You’ll naturally need to make sure you look after it. That goes beyond ensuring any software that needs an update gets it. You’ll need to know how to protect your home entertainment system to do this.
You could wonder why you’ll need to do this. There are more than a few reasons for this, including:
- If poorly maintained, it could lead to fires.
- Certain parts may be connected to the internet, leaving them vulnerable to attacks.
- You’ll have invested a lot of money into it.
As persuasive as these could be, you mightn’t know how to do this. It doesn’t need to be as complicated as you’d assume. Taking a few steps and keeping a few tips in mind is recommended.
What’s In A Home Entertainment System?
Before you figure out how to protect your home entertainment system, it’s worth figuring out what you’re actually protecting. These can vary from household to household, as what’s included depends on personal preferences.
In short, a home entertainment system is a collection of connected audio and visual equipment that, as the name suggests, you use for entertainment. Video game consoles are becoming an increasing part of this.
As you might expect, that could include various pieces of technology. Some of the more common parts of this includes:
- Television
- DVD or Blu-Ray Player
- Video Game System
- Sound System
Various other pieces of technology can also be included in this, although these are the most obvious. Now you know what it is, you’ll realize how large your home entertainment system is. Even though it could be a small one, it’s still worth looking after.
To do so, you’ll need to know how to protect your home entertainment system. Thankfully, that doesn’t need to be as complicated as you’d expect. Taking a few particular steps is essential.
How To Protect Your Home Entertainment System: 7 Effective Tips
Install Firewalls
While not all of your home entertainment system will be connected to the internet, some of it might be. Some of the more notable aspects of this include smart televisions and video game consoles.
If you have any other smart devices, then these will also be hooked up to the internet. You’ll need to make sure these are taken care of. While there are multiple ways you can protect these, one of the more basic is with a UTM Firewall.
Installing one of these will ensure that your system is as protected as possible. It could also be worth adding in a virtual private network and similar software.
Though these come at a cost, they’ll offer you a significant amount of attention. While the chances of your system and its related network being hacked is minimal, there is a risk. You’ll want to make sure that you’re protected against it.
Doing so takes relatively minimal effort. You’ll simply need to install your firewalls and related software when you first set up your home entertainment system. Make sure none of this goes out of date.
Use Surge Protectors
If you don’t know how to protect your home entertainment system, then you mightn’t know what surge protectors are. The name says it all; it protects your equipment in the event of an electrical surge.
Having these is vital when you have any electrical equipment. In many cases, you wouldn’t need to go too far out of your way to get this. It’s as simple as making sure you pick up the right extension cords.
If you take a look at the packaging, you should notice whether or not it says it features surge protection. Options that do could come highly recommended. Those that don’t, however, may be worth skipping.
While that could mean paying a little more for your extension cords, it’s worth it to have that extra layer of protection. At a minimum, it’ll give you some extra peace of mind.
Dust Regularly
Dusting mightn’t seem like it has anything to do with protecting your home entertainment system. It matters more than you’d first assume, however.
Much of your home entertainment system’s equipment will have built-in fans. When operating, these take in cool air and run it through the equipment.
Should the surrounding area be dusty, then your equipment will take in this dust. Over time, that’ll cause it to build up within your equipment. That can cause more and more damage.
You’ll avoid this by dusting regularly. As low-effort as this is, it’s more effective than you’d assume. Think of it as a preventative measure for looking after your equipment.
By doing this, you should ensure that the dust doesn’t affect your equipment. If you think there’s some dust in your home entertainment system, using a compressed air can could be helpful.
It wouldn’t be a long-term solution, however. Dusting regularly will make sure the dust doesn’t build up or start affecting your home theater.
Think About Adding Fans
All audio visual equipment is known to get hot. Though this mightn’t be a problem in short doses, it can be an issue if you use your home entertainment systems for hours on end.
Though equipment will have built-in fans, that sometimes isn’t enough, especially with long gaming or movie sessions. It’s worth adding some fans of your own. These don’t need to be expensive or large for them to be effective.
Instead, something small and affordable should be more than enough. Placing this in the right area is vital, although it shouldn’t take you much time to figure this out.
Avoiding having all of your equipment in an enclosed environment – such as a closed cabinet – is recommended. While that could mean getting a little creative about how you set things up, it’ll be worth the effort.
Not only can you cool things down more effectively, but it could look more decorative.
Avoid Stacking Equipment
If you’re short on space, you might consider stacking some of your equipment on top of each other. That’s quite a mistake to make, even though it may not seem like it when you do.
If space isn’t able to properly circulate, then this could be an even greater mistake. Heat can transfer quite easily between your equipment if this is the case. If left to run for a while, then these could become much hotter than you’d expect.
That not only damages your equipment, but also poses a fire risk. A/V equipment is particularly well-known to get warm, making this a priority.
Getting over this doesn’t need to be as difficult as you’d think. Installing a mounting system can be relatively easy and shouldn’t take up much space.
Though you’ll need to invest in this, it’ll be more affordable than you’d expect.
Limit Speaker Volume
You mightn’t have thought that the volume on your speakers would have an impact on how long they last. It matters much more than you’d think, however.
While you wouldn’t need to keep this as low as possible, you should avoid cranking up the volume too high. Should things be too loud, it can damage the speaker’s receiver. Over time, it’ll become increasingly less effective.
Though speakers are designed to have a maximum output, it can only sustain this for so long before giving out. If you want to prolong your speakers’ lifespan, find a happy middle ground.
Doing so will have the added benefit of avoiding irritating your neighbors.
Don’t Daisy Chain
While you mightn’t be familiar with the term ‘daisy chaining’ before, you’re likely familiar with its practice. It involves plugging an extension cord into an extension cord – or similar equipment – and then into the outlet.
You can see the same thing with surge protectors and other pieces of equipment. You should avoid doing this at all costs. That’s especially true with your surge protectors.
Your equipment has its restrictions and limitations. If you daisy chain them, they become increasingly likely to malfunction or cause a fault. Sparking and similar things become increasingly more likely.
Prevent this by avoiding daisy chaining. While that could mean getting creative with your plugs and wiring, it’ll keep your home entertainment system.
How To Protect Your Home Entertainment System: Wrapping Up
There are more than a few reasons you should protect your home entertainment system. It’ll be something you invested a lot of money into and that you’ll get a lot of use out of.
Figuring out how to protect your home entertainment system doesn’t need to be difficult, however. Taking a few steps is more than enough to do so.
You’ll need to spend time at this; it isn’t simply a one-and-done affair. Instead, you’ll need to maintain this protection. Each of the above tips will help you do so with minimal time or stress.
What’s stopping you from protecting your home entertainment system?
