# layout of 25x18 home theater



## Tobiaipp (Feb 18, 2012)

I am building a home theater 25x18 in a basement with 10foot ceilings and no windows. The layout naturally lends itself to enter the room from the end of the long end with the screen 25 feet away on the far wall. Our home designer has recommended that we enter a double door stepping up two two steps and then having a knee wall that runs 12 feet left and right infront of you. That creates two lanes on the sides for 3 foot walkways as you step down the platforms.

My concern is that will limit me to four seats per row and by taking the first 4 feet of the room before the knee wall, that pushes the first row (total of 3 seating rows) too close to the screen.

I am just getting started and was wondering if my concerns are valid?


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

Welcome

A few comments.

The room is very nice sized. It's great to have that kind of width and height to deal with. 

Double doors are going to make it a lot tougher to achieve good acoustic isolation. A good single door, solid core, with proper seals is a much better solution.

3' around the edges seems a bit excessive to me. Nothing wrong with it if you like that look, you just don't need that much.

As for the seat location and screen, always, always place the seats for best acoustic performance, then select the screen size. Never allow screen size to dictate seating location. You can achieve the same included viewing angles from a smaller screen with closer seating as you can with a larger screen and farther seating.

THX minimum (some people don't like the included angle but prefer to use the height as the limiting factor) recommended viewing cone is 36 degrees included angle. If you keep any seats out of the 40-60% length area in the room and try to keep them away from walls as much as possible, then follow that THX recommendation as the minimum, you'll end up with a properly sized screen for the locations and them sounding tood at the same time.

Welcome to the madness.... :dumbcrazy:

Bryan


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## Tobiaipp (Feb 18, 2012)

Bryan,
Thanks for responding. I don't understand your 40 to 60% comment. Would you mind clarifying that for me?
Tobiaipp:scratch:


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## bpape (Sep 14, 2006)

In a 25' long room, 40% of that length would be 10' from the front wall. 60% would be 15' from the front wall. Generally speaking, that is the area that will have the most problems with the low frequency modes that are the hardest to deal with.

Bryan


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