New house construction - dedicated home theater room - initial questions

[John]

Hi guys,

I need suggestions for a dedicated home theater room stacked with bar for an upcoming project.

• Screen size: Not decided yet, should be good enough for 12 people or so.
• Projection system: Initially will use existing Optoma HD65, later will probably change the projection system.
• 5.1 system to start off with. May upgrade to 7.2 in due time (2 subs).

Home theater should be able to seat up to 12 people in comfy couches/seats...

What should be the ideal size of the room?

What if a pool table is thrown at the back. How large then?

Height of the celing?

Is there a good place to buy home theater seats from? One with coke and popcorn holders?

 

[vinay]

Hello John,

Welcome to the world of personal theatre.

About the screen, video gear, seating arrangement etc can surface later, before that you have to climb the mount everest in form of planning, civil, acoustic work etc.

The room length and breadth should be around 40 & 20/25 feet while the ceiling height can be the normal one. To have a pool table technically may not be a good idea.

I have a suggestion that please consider to help other forum members with your knoweldge because i have never seen you helping anyone, it is just that when you have a query you come at the forum.

V.

 

[John]

Sorry Vinay,

I know I should be here more often than not. Will definitely heed your advice. It is not that I have helped "no one." I have not helped as many, I guess, and definitely not as many as you have! - I guess I am not as knowledgeable either.

The floor plans are in the head right now. I am meeting up with my architect today, so I need to give him an idea what I need, and we can take it from there.

Also, I have mentioned the equipment as they are already present (as per my siggy line below). I will just move it to the new room, when it is ready. I will make the upgrades later on.

Cheers.

 

[nshankar]

John,

I have observed online that 'ideal' dimensions for HT room is 1.28H wide and 1.54H long, where H is the height.

12 people seating could ideally be 3 rows of 4 seats. Take care of elevations of second and third row. This way, probably, there may not be adequate space for a pool table in the rear.

Lazyboy seats are quite popular for HT.

Consider wiring for 7.2 right away if it is a possible future upgrade. Also consider acoustic treatment for the room. I am sure that the gurus here will have more specific details. Keep us posted...

 

[santhosh]

I recently came across an ad of a product called Wienerberger. They make clay bricks which supposedly offer acoustic and heat insulation. Since you are starting construction, you may want to consider these for your Home Theater or even for your entire home. I know for fact that they are available in India, since the ad was in a local newspaper but have no details of dealers/distributors or costs.

Here is a link to their UK website:
Wienerberger - Product Range

 

[santhosh]

As for your room size, try and build to the Golden Ratio..

Quoting from another post here by audio_engr about the Golden Ratio:

For a room that would give you minimal acoustical problems, you are advised to stick to the "Golden Ratio" which would be [ 1.00 : 1.60 : 2.30 ]; i.e. 10 Ft Height x 16 Ft Width x 23 Ft Length. If you increase the ceiling height to 12 Ft, ideally you should be doing : 12 Ft Height x 19 Ft Width x 28 Ft Length

I am not sure if you will be able to accomodate 12 people, bar and pool table. Btw, both bar and pool table are a bad idea from the acoustics POV. Try and move that to a room just outside the HT. Adding a pop corn counter will be a nice touch too. All the best for your project.

 

[John]

Thanks a lot guys. I am off to the architect in a couple of minutes and see what he can do. I was also wondering if I could make the height of the room lower instead of higher than the rest of the house. Yes, a pool table might mess it, so maybe just a bar and a popcorn corner on one side. You guys rock for sure!

Also, I am thinking of making the no of seats less, to 5 or 6 recliners. Rest will be temporary seating.

Also, what exactly is a Lazy boy. Is it the same as what is listed here. http://www.la-z-boy.com/

I will keep you guys updated.

 

[santhosh]

Also, I am thinking of making the no of seats less, to 5 or 6 recliners. Rest will be temporary seating.

Also, what exactly is a Lazy boy. Is it the same as what is listed here. Furniture - La-Z-Boy Sofas, Chairs, Recliners and Couches - Find a Furniture Store - Official La-Z-Boy Website

Yes John, Lazboys are the ones in the link posted by you. Dealer in India is Stanley Seating (based in Bangalore, but have showrooms in major cities). Search on hifivision and you'll find more info on its comfort, advantages and even contact details IIRC. Vinay uses Lazboy and swears by it. I have experienced Lazboy for a few minutes at Stanley and felt I was in the lap of luxury. It will definitely keep you comfy through the movie.

 

[Rajiv]

As for your room size, try and build to the Golden Ratio..

Would second the suggestion.:thumbsup:

Rajiv

 

[John]

Thanks guys, back from the architect; this guy was familiar with the golden ratio! He will bring out a draft in the next few days. I originally wanted to HT room in the ground floor, but he suggested taking it to 2nd floor (where there will be only this room, a small kitchen/pantry, and the terrace - nothing more).

 

[nshankar]

Thanks guys, back from the architect; this guy was familiar with the golden ratio!

Make sure which 'golden rule' i.e.
Sepmeyer Room A: 1.14C x 1.39C x C (9'1" x 11'1" x 8')
Sepmeyer Room B: 1.29C x 1.54C x C (10'4" x 12'4" x 8')
Sepmeyer Room C: 1.60C x 2.33C x C (12'10" x 18'8" x 8')
Louden 1.4C x 1.9C x C (11'2" x 15'2" x 8')
Volkmann 1.5C x 2.5C x C (12' x 20' x 8')
Boner 1.26C x 1.59C x C (10'1" x 12'9" x 8')

 

[santhosh]

Make sure which 'golden rule' i.e.
Sepmeyer Room A: 1.14C x 1.39C x C (9'1" x 11'1" x 8')
Sepmeyer Room B: 1.29C x 1.54C x C (10'4" x 12'4" x 8')
Sepmeyer Room C: 1.60C x 2.33C x C (12'10" x 18'8" x 8')
Louden 1.4C x 1.9C x C (11'2" x 15'2" x 8')
Volkmann 1.5C x 2.5C x C (12' x 20' x 8')
Boner 1.26C x 1.59C x C (10'1" x 12'9" x 8')

Shankar, more info on this please. Also why is C always 8ft... or am I reading it wrong?

 

[John]

Shankar, please enlighten me more on these ratios please..

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

Thanks guys, back from the architect; this guy was familiar with the golden ratio!

I'd be very surprised to meet an architect that wasn't!

 

[GeorgeO]

Shankar

That's an interesting list of Golden Ratios! Would like to know a little more about them.

 

[jitubisht]

Make sure which 'golden rule' i.e.
Sepmeyer Room A: 1.14C x 1.39C x C (9'1" x 11'1" x 8')
Sepmeyer Room B: 1.29C x 1.54C x C (10'4" x 12'4" x 8')
Sepmeyer Room C: 1.60C x 2.33C x C (12'10" x 18'8" x 8')
Louden 1.4C x 1.9C x C (11'2" x 15'2" x 8')
Volkmann 1.5C x 2.5C x C (12' x 20' x 8')
Boner 1.26C x 1.59C x C (10'1" x 12'9" x 8')

This seems to be very close to my HT room. what a fluke

 

[nshankar]

The golden ratio or Phi is approximately defined as (1+sqrt(5))/2, which is 1.618.

Historically, this has been used for design of recording studios and musical instruments such as violin etc.

Various 'ratios' for design of acoustic rooms have been proposed by various people, as listed in this thread. The value of C (height) as 8' has just been used as an example, to illustrate how different the sizes could be.

What has always puzzled me is that only in Sepmeyer Room C [1.60C x 2.33C x C] does the 'golden ratio' figure. This ratio was also suggested by Santhosh in this thread. Audiophiles do seem to swear that the other 'ratios' also work very well!

I stumbled upon all this info online when I planned to build a dedicated HT room in my duplex apartment in Bangalore (I already have room + terrace, which needs a bit of 're-build' to make it suitable). I do not have a dedicated room for HT here in Muscat.

I am still in pursuit of this subject to try and understand things better. What I have observed online till date is that just the room size will not help, acoustic treatment is always required. But the information has always been subjective, i.e. what works for one setup may not suit another.

 

[nshankar]

This seems to be very close to my HT room. what a fluke

Maybe you can post a hand-drawn sketch of your setup. I would love to see if a 'standard design' for HT rooms is really possible, in terms of size of room, acoustic treatments etc regardless of the equipment in the setup.

 

[jitubisht]

Maybe you can post a hand-drawn sketch of your setup. I would love to see if a 'standard design' for HT rooms is really possible, in terms of size of room, acoustic treatments etc regardless of the equipment in the setup.

Already have one running in another thread - http://www.hifivision.com/av-enhancers-room-acoustics/13648-jitubishts-ht-build-thread.html

 

[captrajesh]

I recently came across an ad of a product called Wienerberger. They make clay bricks which supposedly offer acoustic and heat insulation. Since you are starting construction, you may want to consider these for your Home Theater or even for your entire home. I know for fact that they are available in India, since the ad was in a local newspaper but have no details of dealers/distributors or costs.

Hi Santosh,

They have several dealers but unfortunately only in South India.

A link to their Indian Office

Given below are the locations and contact details of the dealers: -
Bangalore

Chennai

Pondicherry

Trichy

Madurai

Coimbatore

Calicut

Cochin

Hyderabad

Hope this helps.