Room Acoustics & Setup Tips for First-Time Home Theatre Users

[Swamps]

Hi everyone,

I'm planning my first home theatre build and I've realized that choosing the right gear is only half the battle - getting the room setup and acoustics right seems just as important.

I could really use some beginner-friendly advice on:

• Ideal room layout and speaker placement

• Acoustic treatment options (DIY or store-bought panels, bass traps, etc.)

• Common mistakes to avoid in room design

• Tips on lighting, furniture placement, and cable management

The room I'll be using is around 400 sq ft and rectangular in shape. I want the best audio-visual experience I can get within my budget.

Would love to hear how you all approached your setups - photos, diagrams, or links to helpful guides would be amazing!

Thanks in advance!

 

[ajuvignesh]

If you’re going with projector, choose the dark colored paint for the room. Preferably black or gray.

If you’re the only one gonna watch or listen to the movie, you can skip for the center speaker for now and can rely on phantom center of the front left and right speakers.

If possible go with an avr with 9.2 channels minimum. Because 4 channels for atmos will be much better.

Go for a receiver with Dirac Live room correction. This helps to calibrate the sound for the best poss Way.

For now you can get away with a single subwoofer and can later add one more. If you don’t have budget for a good sub skip it for now and when budget permits opt for one.

When buying a sub, don’t choose a sub that goes lower but look for a bigger driver and tuning on or above 25hz if the driver is 12 inch and similar if the driver is 15 inch. If you’re a music fan go with a sealed subwoofer than ported. But for movies go with a good ported subwoofer.

If you listen to music for more than 70% of the whole time, skip the avr route all together and go with a stereo setup and be happy with it. But if movies are primary go with avr based setup.

If you can afford go with a floor standing speaker for movies. Else bookshelves are good. For music unless your room is very big, go with book shelves.

Acoustics is important. Don’t go with foams based solution. Go with rockwool based solution. Treat the first reflection point as the starting point.

If projector you can go with diy based spandex screen and place the center speaker behind the screen. If budget permits go with branded acoustically transparent screen. Diy spandex screen would do.

As far as the projector goes, take a demo first. If dlp, look if rainbow effect is bothering you. If dlp, and if budget allows go with 4k if not 1080p will be good enough and you will be satisfied with the sharpness u less you go for a way big screen above 150 inches or you sit too close to the screen less than 8 feet.
But if you’re going with epson, 4k is must. Or atleast faux k. If budget allows, sony or jvc dila projector is the best recommendation ever.

Hdr is very important and don’t skip that. If you want to skip hdr, look for good tone mapping devices like pc running kodi or the ultimate madvr.

Mount the projector in a way that 2/3 of the screen stays above eye level and 1/3 below eye level. Go with the higher ansi bright projector but you might not require over 2000 ansi lumens if the room is dark. But if it is a living room choose epsons with 3000 lumens or higher.

These are my general tips and tricks. If you have doubts please ask below. Don’t be overwhelmed. Start good and you will stay happy for a lomger period of time. Really longer.

All the best.