Shadowing Practice: I Built a Fake Home Theater… - Learn English Speaking with Video
Choose a practice mode
Each mode opens a full-screen practice room.
285 sentences
If sentences are too short or too long, click Edit to adjust them.
1
This is meant to be the home theater room of the tech house.
2
A house designed from the bones up with a certain techy inhabitant in mind.
3
We know it's gonna have a big screen with big sound from all around,
4
but exactly how big is the screen and where actually are we putting the speakers?
5
And I come to think of it that kind of depends on where we put the couch.
6
What the heck?
7
Before we spend a bunch of money though, we need a plan.
8
So I brought you these.
9
Lockups!
10
Love this.
11
We are going to simulate different screen sizes, viewing distances, and speaker locations to lock in a plan before we pull out the credit card.
12
But not before the segue to our sponsor.
13
Whisperflow.
14
It's voice to text that works in every app on every device.
15
Wherever you can type, Whisperflow works.
16
It does all of the formatting and editing for you on the go.
17
Learn more at the link below.
18
The first thing we need to figure out is the orientation of this whole setup.
19
And I gotta admit man, I thought it was a no-brainer this whole time that it was gonna go this way But now that I'm in here, it's way more square than I thought.
20
It really is, but the one thing we can be sure about, the couch doesn't go here.
21
The great thing about this orientation is that it's not the other orientation, which would actually put the TV in front of that window.
22
Which even just talking around the office has been really contentious.
23
Nobody wants to block a window.
24
Yeah, and honestly, there's a lot more room this way than I thought there was.
25
But we have to contend with light behind us which is a major problem for reflections.
26
You're cursed either way either you put the TV on this side
27
and the windows are behind it That looks weird
28
or you mean at least with this you could like use that light to read or something
29
And we can get blinds or blackout curtains or something.
30
Easy, but there's another issue that they give us
31
which is you want to be centered like we are now with them And if you do that, there's kind of a useless amount of room over there.
32
Okay, what if
33
Put like a table or something over there for the games
34
or something or you have like a little wet bar in the closet here maybe or...
35
I don't know.
36
I was into this orientation when I thought
37
that it would only be like three feet from the wall and we could build a bench in there.
38
That would be cool, but now it's like you could break dance over there.
39
It feels a bit weird.
40
And also if we add more chairs outside, the viewing angle is going to be crap.
41
Oh yeah, the farther sideways you are, you're already 30 degrees off axis just being on the couch.
42
Yeah.
43
And I am concerned about how big of a TV we can even put here.
44
So I don't know about the aspect ratio, but this is something like over 80 inches, not counting that flap on the end.
45
Honestly, it seems a little bit small to me.
46
We could go bigger than this.
47
Really?
48
Okay.
49
That kind of changes things.
50
My main concern with this orientation would be that we can only really fit a 65 or 77 inch TV, Which is a big TV,
51
but is it home theater big?
52
I have some trauma here One time a neighborhood kid came over to my house
53
and was like I heard you have a home theater
54
And then she got in there
55
and she was like that's just a TV I don't want the future owner of this house to go through that goddammit.
56
Okay.
57
Yeah Yeah, we do have to consider there'll be like a TV console underneath it There's a good amount of space behind it, which is a blessing and a curse It could look weird
58
if there's too much
59
But it is nice to be able to go back there actually work with your wires and stuff like that
60
This way you see the back of the couch
61
when you walk in which I don't love and also
62
if you're taller than me You're probably gonna hit your head on this.
63
This is gonna be even lower when it has drywall and stuff
64
It's kind of a nice view without the TV there at all actually How does that feel?
65
Does it feel bigger yet?
66
Not really Size wise it feels pretty samey to me, but we could get more people in here on like beanbags or bar stools behind the couch
67
So if we're gonna entertain that's kind of a big factor
68
But we would have to be a little more creative with how we mount the TV
69
right because those really big ones
70
and I think we can get a bigger one on this
71
wall with those really big ones I think some of them have to be wall mounted
72
and there's we're like we're gonna have to we're gonna have
73
to like build something picture me as a stud you know
74
what man let's just make the call we're all feeling it let's set up the other way
75
and do the screen size testing over there okay okay the
76
weight of this decision what will Linus think what is this Linus isn't here.
77
Okay, so you put your end there and I'll just put like that there.
78
We've got our Walmart sheet hung up here and we've got it positioned so that 48 inches
79
digitally is the same as 48 inches physically.
80
So let's try a couple different screen sizes.
81
50 inches basically looks like I'm holding up my phone at arm's length right now.
82
Pretty much, yeah.
83
I'll feel a little bigger.
84
65 is not a home theater.
85
Nope.
86
Keep going bro.
87
Okay, even at 80 or 85, it doesn't seem that big.
88
It's not big.
89
How far away are we from this thing?
90
This has got to be like 12 feet or something.
91
12 feet?
92
9!
93
What?
94
Well, my head is more like...
95
Yeah.
96
More like 11 to the head.
97
I only have a 65 at home from 9 feet away, but it somehow looks bigger than this right now.
98
Now we're bigger than our sheet.
99
Yeah.
100
But honestly, it looks like if you could do it, you could go bigger than 110.
101
If a 120 shows up at our warehouse somehow...
102
We wouldn't be upset about it.
103
We wouldn't be upset about it.
104
I think we can safely design the room around 100 to 110 inches.
105
Okay, now projector or TV though.
106
Ugh.
107
Well, as you can see, we already had to block out...
108
The windows just to be able to do this experiment, so there's some drawbacks with Projectors.
109
I'm breaking my cardboard couch Especially in this layout Projector placement is just about impossible Oh,
110
yeah, because projectors typically need a long throw unless you buy a short throw projector
111
But you don't have the height like it would be right here.
112
That's gonna be hot and noisy so I'm blocking the third person
113
I think projectors are pretty much a right off here
114
and that's not really a sad thing given how the price of these large format TVs has really come down
115
and picture quality tends to be better on TVs anyway.
116
Can we get a TV up the stairs here though?
117
This is pretty much it.
118
If you can slide the box through here into this room, pivot and go up the stairs, you can make it.
119
But what about sitting off axis like if we do put a bench here?
120
It's gonna depend on the technology, but This is fairly extreme.
121
It's like a 45 degree angle
122
Wouldn't be a problem for an OLED TV or a lot of the new mini LEDs
123
So but honestly you don't want to watch a movie here anyway
124
We can do like beanbags or pillows on the floor or something.
125
This spot is more just so you can chill Have an eye line.
126
Yeah more hang out.
127
You could game from here
128
Especially if you're like a four player quad screen kind of thing
129
and you have a little bottom corner screen But you're not gonna want to hang out in this spot.
130
The main spots are gonna be here.
131
Maybe a chair over here It wouldn't be where I would choose to sit
132
if I'm alone
133
But you could watch a movie from here in a chair
134
The thing you remember with the exercise we're doing here is
135
that we're not picking the ideal viewing distance for ourselves And this is subjective thing,
136
but we're picking this for the eventual owner of the tech house their partner their kids and If we're being honest Linus,
137
so how can we be sure we're picking a screen size or a viewing distance that other people will like?
138
Well, there's actually standards around this.
139
We also did a previous video around this, but basically THX, somewhat of movie buffs,
140
they think that around 40 degrees is the optimal field of view fillage of a cinema display.
141
Maybe as low as 36 or even in a pinch 26 degrees.
142
When we tested this before, most people did prefer between 35 degrees, 40 degrees, and maybe even 45 if they were gaming,
143
where they preferred it a little more immersion.
144
One neat trick you can do to figure out how much
145
of your field of view is filled by display is you put your fist out in front
146
and then count how many fists wide it is.
147
I'm counting right now about, I don't know, 43 or 45 degrees field of view from this 98 inch TV simulation.
148
Jordan has typed in the actual numbers to a website built for this
149
and he's gonna tell us whether or not that fist trick was accurate.
150
Pretty close actually.
151
So we're 98 inches of screen.
152
I'm 11 feet away to my head.
153
We're aiming for 40 degrees roughly.
154
We're at 35.9.
155
This is safe and a lot of people will like this field of view.
156
We could go a little bigger, maybe 110 inch and we'd still be in a safe zone or even a preferred zone for some people.
157
110 is actually perfect.
158
40 degrees.
159
I have a feeling we're gonna get 110.
160
Now let's switch gears to audio.
161
Where are we gonna put all the speakers?
162
The drawback of getting such a big TV in a room with angled ceiling like this
163
is that you're getting a lot of distance here, which is gonna be a blessing when you have to mess with stuff, but it could look visually weird.
164
However, all that is an advantage when it comes to placing the front speakers
165
because you don't really want your speakers to be very close to a wall.
166
You want them to be out in the room, and that often looks really weird.
167
But here, it'll just be in line with this TV.
168
You have all this space.
169
We can even put an acoustic panel here to suck up a lot of the energy
170
that gets put out this direction from the diaphragm.
171
And it won't look weird at all.
172
How sick are these, eh?
173
The most important speaker for movies is the center channel, because that's where most of the dialogue comes from.
174
And this is an area where a projector is actually a bit better, because if you have an acoustically transparent screen, you can actually position the center channel right around the mouths of the actors,
175
so the sound is coming from where you see it.
176
We're going to have a TV in here, so it's going to have to be a bit lower.
177
And we're gonna have to buy a console
178
that has a cutout for it to go in
179
or wall mount the TV and then just have it on its own little shelf or stand or floating or something, right?
180
Floating.
181
I got you.
182
Oh.
183
Oh.
184
Oh, God.
185
There you go.
186
The surround speakers are always placed either directly in line with your ear or slightly behind, which is not going to be a problem here.
187
Now originally when we were thinking about having the theater go this way, we were thinking we should have in-wall surrounds
188
So that we are not eating up any actual walkway more than we need to because I'm a guy who has
189
Surrounds on the wall like that
190
and I'm always worried about hitting them with my shoulder But now that we're using this orientation
191
It'll be no problem to just put these on the wall right here
192
Or even angled a bit
193
or even on this side We could have one here although
194
not having them completely symmetrical since the other one will be over here, bothers me a little bit.
195
So we'll probably tack these on something like this.
196
That's our five speakers, but the 0.1 and 5.1 is a subwoofer.
197
For that, we actually want to do something called an infinite baffle, which is, it's going to be a future video that's its own DIY project where we buy a driver
198
that does not have a big speaker cabinet behind it.
199
And what we're going to do is put it in the wall using this soffit cavity.
200
So for example, it could be mounted in here,
201
and then we'll make a box cabinet in that cavity for the subwoofer itself, which is pretty sweet.
202
And if we had just one sub, we would probably position it here, but what about second sub?
203
Placing multiple subs can be a little finicky and use some trial and error that we're not gonna do in this video, but just at a high level, it's likely that the best place for your second sub
204
is opposite in the room from the first one because you don't want destructive interference from the two hitting each other.
205
Now why even have a second, third, or even fourth sub?
206
Most people intuit that that's because you want more bass, more loud.
207
But it's actually not that.
208
It's that you want more even bass across all the listening positions.
209
I don't think we're gonna go four subs in here.
210
That's a little hardcore for Gi, I think.
211
But we probably do want to do two, and my hunch is we'll do one over there, maybe one back here or over here or something.
212
But we do need to keep in mind we did have
213
a second idea for this soffit cavity space We're thinking maybe making some drawers
214
that pull out that can store extra blankets pillows beanbag chairs or something and Then tuck them away.
215
No mess no clutter one drawer over here and one drawer over there
216
Maybe we could even have one boxed-out cabinet for both the drawer and the subwoofer with a shared wall
217
Ideas So that's 5.2, but there is another decimal place these days.
218
We're probably gonna go for a 5.2.4 setup, and the 4 would be 4 height channels.
219
You can do 6 heights and get a real complete sweep of, like, something's in front of you, then it's over you, then it's behind you, but that's overkill, especially in a small space like this.
220
All we're really looking for is something's in front of me, and there's a sense of motion going behind me.
221
So the first ones would go up here, maybe three-quarters of the way between the seat and the TV.
222
But the second ones are a little more challenging now that we've gone with this layout.
223
If I want to hear a helicopter fly overhead and then go into the distance behind me, that second height speaker should be kind of behind me.
224
But because of the angle of this roof, that kind of puts it right there.
225
Which might be acceptable if we turn the volume on it way down.
226
It's either that or maybe it goes just kind of...
227
No, that's in front of me still.
228
It would have to just be directly overhead or slightly back.
229
And you've got to keep in mind most people are kind of leaning back.
230
So, lower down might be better.
231
I don't like it.
232
Do you have to have four?
233
You don't have to.
234
You could do two.
235
It's just that then you're only going to get any movement like left to right stereo.
236
And you wouldn't get any of this kind of dimension front to back.
237
Although you might get some...
238
Surrounds might cover that a little bit.
239
Surrounds might cover that depending on how it is mixed.
240
Maybe there then?
241
I think that's the spot.
242
That's the front back dimension, but there's also the left right dimension to think about where we are actually a bit constrained here
243
because of this HVAC unit that's right there.
244
However, if we go to the inside of that,
245
I think we will still be sufficiently wide to get a stereo effect which puts us right about here.
246
Of course all of these speakers need to be wired and while we have the studs exposed, it's a great time to route that out.
247
I would actually, even though that's pretty close to the ground, it might be better for us to route it up and over into the rafters
248
and then down behind the TV where our AVR is going to be.
249
Ha!
250
Oh, damn it.
251
That's all the speakers we're going to have in this room, but if you're wondering what those other speakers in the Dolby diagram are, the ones in the back are called surround backs,
252
and a lot of people skip those because you're just not very good at hearing sounds directly behind you.
253
And these ones at the front are called front wides.
254
Those can be very cool and they kind of made a bit of a resurgence in the past couple years, but they only really move the needle if you've got a really large space.
255
And that would just be silly in here.
256
In fact, they'd block the door.
257
I stab my own finger.
258
Here we go.
259
There we go.
260
So what are we actually buying?
261
That is a question for another video.
262
Alright.
263
But now we know what we can buy, and all the stuff we do buy, you can actually view in our companion site
264
that has this cool render of the whole tech house and all the stuff in it.
265
And you can also check out our sponsor.
266
Get more mileage out of this thing.
267
Whisper Flow.
268
If you've ever used voice to text apps, you've probably hit the same few hurdles over and over again.
269
Misspelling both tricky and simple words, unformatted walls of text or just not working with every app.
270
Whisper Flow can learn on the fly, though.
271
Have a coworker with an unconventional spelling of their name.
272
Whisper Flow can pull from things like your contacts.
273
It can do the same thing for difficult to pronounce project and product names as well.
274
When using a speech-to-text tool, it should do one thing and it should do that one thing well.
275
It's right there in the name.
276
Whisperflow doesn't just transcribe mouth sounds, it pays attention to context so you can get a well-formatted document or message.
277
Which is great for efficiency because no matter how fast you write or type, your third grade teacher was right.
278
You're a fast talker.
279
It's built to work with any app like Gmail, Slack, Notes, the LLM of your choice, and so many more.
280
It works in all of the places you do your best thinking,
281
on walks, commuting, even when you have those genius shower ideas so you don't lose your best ideas in transition between tasks.
282
Try your first month of Whisperflow Pro totally free by clicking on our link in the description.
283
like chair or a cocktail bar.
284
That's where you put the treadmill you never use.
285
There it is.
Download App
Everything you need to speak fluently
AI PronunciationScore every sentence
IPA PracticeMaster every sound
VocabularyBuild your word bank
Vocab GameLearn while playing
Same Channel
B21
My Son Needs a New Laptop
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B23
Even Valve is Disappointed - Steam Machine Review
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
C12
USB4 is a Glorious Mess
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B2Stretching $5000 dollars to the limit - AMD $5000 Ultimate Tech Upgrade
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B2True 4k Gaming PC (2026) - Classic LTT Build Guide
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
FOR YOU
Recommend Video
B21
373 sentences
I built my dream podcast studio in Austin.
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B283 sentences
Ray-Ban Meta Glasses Tips and Tricks You Need To Know!
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B2114 sentences
How to Arrange Your Living Room Furniture (An Architect’s Guide!)
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
305 sentences
The Wall Outlet Computer
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
461 sentences
Home Updates | Trying your ideas, decorating the living room & bamboo blinds
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
244 sentences
Ice Cooled Tent Camping
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B22
35 sentences
Backrooms dinner scene but with a laugh track
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B2371 sentences
Building the world's largest WORKING iPhone!
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
407 sentences
are you still watching?
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B23
231 sentences
simple tricks to hiding lights in a scene
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
397 sentences
Can I fit an ENTIRE HOUSE in only a 2x2 square?
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “I Built a Fake Home Theater…”. This video has 284 sentences and 3342 words to shadow. The speech runs for 17:08. The speaker talks fast, about 195 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 86% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| projector noun | /pɹəˈd͡ʒɛktə/ | Someone who devises or suggests a project; a proposer or planner of something. |
| surround verb | /səˈɹaʊnd/ | To encircle something or simultaneously extend in all directions. |
| orientation noun | /ˌɔː.ɹi.ənˈteɪ.ʃən/ | The determination of the relative position of something or someone. |
| couch noun | /ˈkaʊ̯t͡ʃ/ | An item of furniture, often upholstered, for the comfortable seating of more than one person; a sofa. |
| drawer noun | /dɹɔɹ/ | An open-topped box that can be slid in and out of the cabinet that contains it, used for storing clothing or other articles. |
| beanbag noun | /ˈbiːnbæɡ/ | A small cloth bag filled with drybeans, used as a toy or for exercising the hands. |
| subwoofer noun | /ˈsʌbˌwʊf.ə/ | A loudspeaker designed to produce low-frequency sound, especially subbass. |
| cavity noun | /ˈkæv.ɪt.i/ | A hollow area within the body. |
| whisper verb | /ˈ(h)wɪspɚ/ | To speak softly or under one's breath, so as to be heard only by one near at hand; to utter words without sonant breath; to talk without that vibration of the… |
| fist noun | /fɪst/ | A hand with the fingers clenched or curled inward. |
| dimension noun | /daɪˈmɛn.ʃən/ | A single aspect of a given thing. |
| drawback noun | /ˈdɹɔˌbæk/ | A disadvantage; something that detracts or takes away. |
| soffit noun | /ˈsɒf.ɪt/ | The visible underside of an arch, balcony, beam, cornice, staircase, vault or any other architectural element. |
| stereo noun | /ˈstɛəɹ.i.oʊ/ | A system of recording or reproducing sound that uses two or more channels, each playing a portion of the original sound at different locations in order to… |
| overhead noun | /ˈəʊvəˌhɛd/ | The expense of a business not directly assigned to goods or services provided. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| figure out verb | To come to understand; to discover or find a solution; to deduce. |
| go up verb | To move upwards. |
| pull out verb | To withdraw; especially of military forces; to retreat. |
| check out verb | To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.). |
| come down verb | To descend, fall down, collapse. |
| eat up verb | To consume completely. |
| go back verb | To return to a place or state after having been there at a previous time. |
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- I'll feel a little bigger.
- How far away are we from this thing?
- We wouldn't be upset about it.
- Where are we gonna put all the speakers?
- Do you have to have four?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is meant · be centered · is filled |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has been · has really come · has typed |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | here, which is · behind, which is · guy who has |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 105 contractions and reduced forms, such as we're, gonna, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: orientation /ˌɔː.ɹi.ənˈteɪ.ʃən/, dimension /daɪˈmɛn.ʃən/, contentious /kənˈtɛn.ʃəs/, immersion /ɪˈmɝʒən/, sufficiently /səˈfɪʃəntli/
- Long words — get the stress right: orientation /ˌɔː.ɹi.ənˈteɪ.ʃən/, digitally /ˈdɪd͡ʒɪtəli/, inhabitant /ɪnˈhæb.ɪ.tənt/, symmetrical /səˈmɛtrək(ə)l/, visually /ˈvɪzju.əli/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like projector, surround, orientation.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.