# Home theater design help



## Dave129 (Dec 13, 2012)

I'm new to the forum and also new to having a home theater.

I'm building a new house that is currently only in the foundation phase. I've been surfing the forums and its clear there is no standard room size so I wanted to upload my basement prints and get some opinions.

I have uploaded the raw basement with engineering plans, and I have uploaded a proposed basement layout that the builder has come up with.

Any feedback is GREATLY appreciated as this is all pretty foreign to me.

Thanks in advance
Dave


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## Wardsweb (Apr 2, 2010)

Is there a reason your theater space is so much smaller than your TV space? If it were me, I would swap the two spaces and have a really nice large home theater (approx 19x26). It would give you plenty of space to build a false wall for your screen, speakers, and sub(s). You could have acoustic panels down the sides, recessed gear and plenty of seating.


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## Dave129 (Dec 13, 2012)

I have a toddler and another one on the way. The "tv area" we are planning to have a fireplace / tv room / game room continuation from the pool table area......

This layout however was not designed by me... it was made by the builder. I literally have no idea how much room a nice theater room requires....

I liked that the bar area left a good viewing perspective to the TV area....


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## Dave129 (Dec 13, 2012)

My vision with the media room is to have a nice room for my family to enjoy with a weekly movie night... and then as my kids grow they have a room to enjoy with there friends to watch movies or play video games.

I'm not looking to spend a ton of $$ or have anything extreme....

I would like to have the front of the room be something kid friendly that kids can lay / recline. With some standard leather seating behind.


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## Wardsweb (Apr 2, 2010)

The angled walls will not make for an efficient use of the space but could work. To get a feel for the space, take some blue painters tape and start laying things out on the floor. Put down a piece about 8 feet wide and see how far into the room you have to go without hitting the angled walls. A 96inch screen is 92 inches wide and of couse it just gets bigger from there depending on what size screen you want. Then you need to place pieces on either side to account for front speakers. Next go back 6/8/10 feet and see where your chairs or couches would be. Then think about where you can put your audio and video gear, where the power runs need to be and how you will route the cabling. This should get you started.


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## Dave129 (Dec 13, 2012)

Thx wardsweb

I'll do that next time I stop over the house.

As far as the equipment. I was thinking about having them do some built ins in the bottom back corner opposite the door, and having the built in's bump back into the storage area.....


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## MrAngles (May 1, 2012)

My first thought is to extend the theater further into the storage area, make the angled section the rear wall of the theater, and have the interior wall be the screen wall.


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

MrAngles said:


> My first thought is to extend the theater further into the storage area, make the angled section the rear wall of the theater, and have the interior wall be the screen wall.


That was my thought as well. Having those angled walls up where the mains / CC are will make for some really interesting boundaries as it relates to sound. Having that in the back where the surrounds are should make them sound livelier and reduce the ability to localize them IMO.

Plus, if you ever wanted to acoustically treat the room to manage your LFE, super chunk corners (which are the easiest to DIY IMO) would not be an option.


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## Dave129 (Dec 13, 2012)

I took the advice provided and put blue tape down in the area currently slated for the media room... I was not happy with how it came out. I have sketched up a revised drawing that I'm hoping is large enough to fit my vision of the room.

The diagram shows my vision as far as seating...


Do you guys feel that this seating arrangement will work in this room size? better sound experience?

The depth is a hard set ~ 17'4" ..... the width could be slid anywhere from 11'5" to 14' +/-


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## MrAngles (May 1, 2012)

That room looks good to me, and the play room could be a cool use of that space. The only thing is having your seating that close to the screen will limit how big you can make it, and if it was me and I was in a new construction situation like you are, I'd put the media room back where it was in the original layout and extend the screen wall to the left, giving you more length for your room, allowing for a larger screen and more seating.








(I didn't specifically measure anything out, but that gives you the idea.)

The shape of the rear of the room could make a cool lounge type seating area, or you could wall it off so the room is rectangular.

In this layout the "storage" area next to the room could be used for media and equipment storage as well, and you'd even have room to make a false wall with an acoustically transparent screen if you wanted to get fancy, which would hide your speakers and let you have an even larger screen.


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

Dave,

If I am reading your diagram correctly, you look to be trying to get three rows of seating into that room. If that is the case, you may wish to reconsider. The seats in the back would need to likely be right on the back wall - the bass will more than likely be very boomy in those seats. You really want to try to keep the seating at least a couple feet from the back wall if you can.

That would also make the bean bags have to be fairly close to the screen - probably not a good experience as you would probably feel like you were watching a tennis match.

I would suggest two rows of seats - put the couch at around 14.5' and then the bean bags in front of that. I would go right about the 15' width for the room. That way, you could go with 4 chairs or a couch that has the width of 4 theater style chairs.


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## Dave129 (Dec 13, 2012)

wow i'm glad that I found this forum. I had no idea that putting seats near / against the wall was a no-no.

I'm really just looking to do two tiers. The chaise type couch, with standard seats in the back.

The bean bags were sort of an afterthought as a way to include some additional seating (in the abnormal event that more is needed) - they were only really intended as extra seating for small children. 

I would optimize the room and screen size based off the couch and the chairs in the back. I just thought that if my kids had a bunch of friends over or something... the bean bags were just a concept to throw down up in the front to fit more people.

As far as the distance from the back wall - 2 feet? 3 feet?

I really appreciate the help you guys are providing. This home is intended to be our forever home to raise our children in and I really want to do things right.


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## ALMFamily (Oct 19, 2011)

I would just go with 2 feet - you really do not want to lose anymore floor space than that.

If you want to do 2 rows of seats, the second row will need to be on a riser. Here is a calculator I found some time ago to help you determine how high to make your riser:

http://www.diymovierooms.com/calculator_riser_height.aspx

As far as going with 2 rows, early on in my build Bryan from GIK suggested to me that you want to try to avoid the 40-60% area in distance from the walls as this is where the most room modes will occur. At 17.5', this puts you at roughly 7' to 10'. It may not be feasible to avoid this area, but be aware that you may have to deal with tough room modes if you do locate seats there.


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## Dave129 (Dec 13, 2012)

New concept idea.... based off an open media room instead of a dedicated theater room.

Thoughts? Anything you guys would change?

Total room width: ~ 19'
Total room DEPTH: ~26'
RISER Depth ~7 '
Screen to first row persons head ~17 '
Screen to Second row seating head ~ 24'
Proposed screen size: 120"...????

Questions:
My basement is 9' but this room is under a sunken family room so height would only be ~8'4" - How big of a screen could I fit? Keep in mind there may be other basement dwelling ceiling obstructions

Would you turn the room to put the screen on the back wall of the house? and possibly move the bar over near the steps?

In the current model would you put the step out of the back off the riser? or half wall the whole way and then add a fifth seat (best seat in the house / my seat)

I tried to use SKETCHUP to model this but I was unable.. I'm not sure how long that takes but any chance someone create some 3d images on this? I would pay a small fee if someone wanted it to do it for me. Let me know.


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## bamabum (Dec 7, 2012)

Is that bar a seating area against the wall?

I have noticed issues with sound against the back wall with my draft 7.2 setup.

I've moved everything up a ft so that my back bar seating was at a minimum 3' from the wall.

You have a similar setup it seams with my room with a open access wall to a pool table area.

From what Ive read our sound wont be perfect but I have had really good response from my speakers in the current setup. I also have noticed that room mode calcs don't show as many issues as a typical enclosed box room.

If you use a Mac I can sketch it up quick in Live Interior 3D for some small exchange. Maybe you have something in the cables or equipment closet you are not using or something. I cant stand Google sketch-up software. Very annoying in my opinion.

LI 3D Pro allows for very easy calcs of dimensions once your done as well as plan prints. You can take it to the n-th degree with textures and what not. I have enjoyed the interactive walk through. It have given me a lot of perspective of my theater.


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## Dave129 (Dec 13, 2012)

There is a bar to the far side opposite the screen. 

I'm familiar with your build - they are def comparable. 

I don't have a Mac , only iPads


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## bamabum (Dec 7, 2012)

My favorite part of your build is the play room next to the bar. You need a half door there so parents can check in kids like a coat check and sit at the bar watching the game. I can just imagine some mother who is enjoying a cocktail just yelling repeatedly from the bar at her kid to stop eating glue because she doesn't want to get up from the seat. Everyone is thinking..."Why doesn't she get up instead of yelling".


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## MrAngles (May 1, 2012)

I would think that with that seating distance you could do a lot bigger than a 120" screen. With a 19' screen wall width you have plenty of horizontal room as well. 8'4" is plenty of height for pretty much any size screen, as an example, a 120" 2.35:1 screen is just under 4 feet tall.

I can see why having the pool table to the left of the theater without a wall would be nice, but I wouldn't do it that way just because of acoustics. My preference is always to have the room somewhat symmetrical.


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