entropy

Home Theater Room Dimensions

I have been slowly finishing a 1500 sq ft basement. I intentionally saved the home theater room for last for a few reasons, such as, keeping me motivated while doing less interesting rooms, allowing me to focus more on the theater when the time comes, and of course to save money.

It's now time for me to create the room by building a dividing wall. I plan to build a staggered stud wall with insulation and other sound proofing. I've been struggling for some time with were to put this wall. I came to the conclusion that I needed to find an online community such as this one where I could ask questions of people whom have the expertise and know how to help me. ...so thanks in advance for your time and help.

Attached is a diagram I drew of the two room possibilities. The dashed red line is the wall in question. One room is much shorter at only 14' in length but does not include any windows. The other possibility is a larger room at upwards of 19' in length, but it would include a window. I'm concerned that the 14' room is too small. In contrast I'm concerned that the window in the 19' room would let in too much light (I'm planning to use a front projector and screen). If possible, I (my wife) would prefer to uses any extra space, such as the 5' and window in another room, a room where the window would be accepted and loved.

If possible I would like to have two rows of seating (for at least 6 people). I was envisioning the screen on the 10' wall. I'm open for suggestions.

Attached Images

Theater.jpg (19.8 KB, 31 views)

Robert_J

Re: Home Theater Room Dimensions

Go for the bigger room. I have 3 windows in my theater and no light at all. All of the curtains are backed with blackout cloth. I'd also extend the wall to make the room more of a rectangle and create an equipment closet. That way any equipment with a fan (like a DVR, receiver or amp) will be tucked away and not interfering with the sound in the theater. It will also allow symetrical placement of the surround speakers. If you don't follow my suggestions, I'll post a pic later today when I get some time.

-Robert

BruceSpielbauer

Re: Home Theater Room Dimensions

A 10 X 14 room can be done for a nice smaller intimate theatre, almost like the "listening rooms" that some audiophiles build. BUT... if your desire is for two rows of three across seating, and you will need an aisle alongside one of the rows (presumably) so that people can access the "other row," then I believe your room dimensions are a bit too small to be realistic. Add to this the fact that the type of wall you mentioned has to eat up even more real estate from somewhere, and you MAY end up with less than you believe. Then, you should also factor this in: Building a single wall which has been constructed for sound isolation (trying to reduce volume levels, what is commonly called soundproofing) is a useless exercise if you do not intend to treat the other three wals, and also the ceiling, or possibly the floor, depending on which direction you are trying to prevent sound from traveling. IF you decided to do all walls with sound isolation (which you must, if you are going to try to sound isolate), then we are talking even MORE real estate stolen from somewhere... either this room, or the one(s) adjacent to it.

If it were me, I would try to go with the larger room; this would allow a larger screen, and that always means a more "immersive" experience. If you or your wife are resistant to this idea, then I would look carefully at adjusting your seating desires.

What TYPE of seating are you hoping for? If it is home theater recliners, these require quite a bit of room. However, if it seats similar to those found in commercial movie theaters, these take up a lot less.

IF it is the recliners that you hope to use, then you could go to Berkline's web site, and choose a few models using their "Home Theater Design Planner," and jot down the width across in inches (and also the length when people are reclining). Then, add an aisle, and see what the absolute minimum "inside width" for such a room would be. Try the 090s, because they are so popular. Also, try the 088s, because they are the smallest or most compact in width in the Berkline line. (This doesn't mean you have to buy their chairs -- but this will give some idea of the "usual space requirements" for this type of seating.)

Link to Berkline's excellent planner: http://www.berkline.com/secure/planner/intro.html

I know of no such calculator for commercial-style theater chairs, but I suspect you could do a Google search and come up with several, and then deduce your own "usual" width.

Just my first thoughts,

-Bruce
-The ultimate add-on for a Home Theater: http://www.S2Digital.com

entropy

Re: Home Theater Room Dimensions

Thank you both for your suggestions. Sounds like bigger is better... I'll have to sell my wife on the idea of losing the window in the other room.

Robert, as you suggested, I was planning to build an enclosed equipment closet on the side wall (bottom wall in the diagram) that juts out. It is nice to hear someone else recommended the same thing.

Bruce, thank you for the link, I'll definitely use that as a resource in designing the room. I would prefer recliners, but I would also like the idea of maybe one love seat. You are right, 3 in the front 3 in the back might not allow enough space for someone to comfortably walk by, thank you for pointing that out.

Regarding the soundproofing, I'm planning to heavily insulate the ceiling and interior walls. I'm also thinking of using a product like QuietRock on the walls. Although I was thinking of not using the QuietRock on the two exterior walls which are part of the foundation of the house and are an extremely thick concrete/foam combination as well as being for the most part underground. I'm at the moment leaning towards a drop ceiling because it would allow for easy access to wires overhead and I believe I can find some nice sound absorbing tiles.. I've also heard/read that caulking corners instead of taping and mudding is better for sound isolation. I'll probably hang some sort of drapes, fabric, or other sound absorbing material on the walls. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I feel like that is something that can be added later on as needed and does not require as much planning.

Thank you again for your time, I really appreciate your advise.

Robert_J

Re: Home Theater Room Dimensions

A drop ceiling won't stop the bass. You need mass to stop the bass and that only comes with Quiet Rock or two layers of drywall. With a large enough sub, even that won't stop it. I have a pair of 15's powered by a 2,000w amp and I can feel the vibrations through the foundation of the house.

-Robert

BruceSpielbauer

Re: Home Theater Room Dimensions

There is also an additional issue that you should keep in mind. IF you end up with recliners, they take a lot of room from "front to back." This is true in any situation where recliners are used. Two rows of recliners means you must allow for the second row to have suficient room to recline without the footrest butting into the front row. Yet, somehow, this must be accompished so that the front row is not sitting TOO CLOSE to the screen. And, of course, reclining means that the back of the chair suddenly also extends outward from where it is when the chair is in an upright position. This part of the equation is not always a major issue, since a lot of brands offer models where the back only extends an additional three to 5 inches. But, that footrest tends to stick way, way out. Many recliners allow one to almost lay down, so just think of any recliner as if it probably take up (at least) a six foot space.[/quote]


I have two rows of recliners. I also have to have a walkway BEHIND the second row, since my door is in the back of the theater. My room is 23 feet 4 inches by 14 feet 6 inches. I wish it could have been wider, as my walkway on the sides of the recliners is at a bare minimum. My "front to back" dimensions worked out very well, though, with 23' 4."


Even thick concrete can still transmit audio, especially the low bass stuff rom a subwoofer (LFE frequnecies). Treating that last wall would probably still make a large impact, since you would be negating a potential large area where flanking noise could travel to the rest of the house.


As Robert said, you gotta have mass, and ceiling tiles, if you use them, do not have that. If you use them, you will probably find that a lot of your extra effort on the walls was pretty much wasted, since the sound will pass right through those tiles and then vibrate the ciling joists (or similar structure) above, which will easily translate to the floor above, and the rest of the house. There are ceiling tiles which claim to be speacially treated to stoop sound. None so far has anywhere near the effectiveness as (for example) drywall. In fact, if this is a basement, this is the one surface which probably MOST calls out for either double layers of heavy mass-filled dryall (I used two layers of 5/8") or at least the Quietrock treatment. Two layers of 5/8" Drywall if the most economical means, in terms of best bang for the buck. And, no matter what you do, as Robert hinted, a really good sub will put out audio that can STILL get through. The other sounds can be "lessened" a lot, though, with mass.



Correct, correct, and correct. 100%, from what I have repeatedly read.

-Bruce