Whilst the vast array of speakers that help make up a surround sound system don’t have to dominate an average living room like some audio Stonehenge, it’s probably fair to say that the bigger the screen in a cinema style set-up, the better. Despite falling prices space saving alternatives such as flat plasma screens are still way above the price range of most people, leaving the traditional big, heavy and bulky sets as the only real option for anything approaching a sensible price range.

Given the ridiculous amount of space that, say, a wide-screen 32” television takes up, installing one could easily make it not a focal point of the lounge (as the television has often been over the past few decades) but the dominant one. Whilst some might be prepared to put up with this intrusion, or even embrace it, others balk at the prospect.

Of course to a certain extent this is self-selecting; if people don’t want a cinema in their front room, then they won’t go shopping for one. But if someone wants the facilities offered by the technology but doesn’t want it to dominate the room, or someone wants the kit but their partner refuses to have their lounge taken over, then somehow a balance has to be found.